And so it begins

Hello! My name is Mary Kate and I will be maintaining a weather log, taking notes and sending out periodic updates detailing our marvelous adventures this semester.

So much has happened this first week that it seems ridiculous that only a week ago we were strangers. It seems like a lifetime ago that past semester alumni presented us with an acorn and wished us all the joys and challenges of a beautiful journey. This past week we have biked at 5 in the morning as the sun rose, sung together at meals, cooked together, cleaned chicken trailers together and learned to live together as a community.

On Thursday Laurel, Nicole and Mathias assigned us our big jobs which each of us must take responsibility for in order for the group to function as a community.

Lucas is our camp manager. He will design our home on expedition and keep it organized at base camp. He also puts our stuff in trees if we leave it where it doesn't belong.

Isabel (Izzy) is our hygiene manager. She is in charge of making sure we bathe and brush our teeth as well as learning about humanure and grey water systems here at Kroka.

Laura is our logistics manager and time keeper. She is responsible for knowing what we're doing and making sure it gets done.

Bethany is our trusty medic. She is responsible for making sure we have clean water, caring for us when we are sick, supporting us when we are down and fixing us when we get hurt.

Lara is our navigator. She planes routes and arranges transportation and makes sure we get where we need to go.

Emma is our food manager and it is her job to to make sure we are all fed. She plans menus, calculates the amount of food needed for expeditions, and works hard to fuel our community.

Isaiah is our energy manager. Here at Kroka he is responsible for everything related to fire and he gets to research alternative energy sources such as solar. He is also responsible for monitoring our overall energy consumption.

Harrison is our gear manager and it is his responsibility to make sure we have the correct gear and that the gear is kept in good condition.

Elsbeth is our our treasurer and semester book manager.  She monitors our money and facilitates the creation of our beautiful semester book.

Adin is our repair manager. He is in charge of making sure our bikes tools are in good working order and will fix them when they are broken.

Amelia (Amy)  is our sewing and craft manager. She will organize all of our crafts and projects and make sure we all finish sewing backpacks before expedition!

Rose is our kitchen manager and food processor. She will make delicious expedition food like dried fruits and sauerkraut and is responsible for keeping the kitchen supplies is good condition.


As we all learned the ins and outs of our big jobs this week we've fallen into the rhythm of life here at Kroka. We start each morning early with a bike ride as the sun rises and return to base camp just as the mist rises off the pond, the sunbeams warming our faces and shining pure and defined through the crisp morning air. Then we do farm chores, cook and clean until it is time for breakfast (we've had the most amazing breakfasts.) The bulk of each day has been spent sewing backpacks with Lisl, learning wilderness skills with Hans, discussing navigation with Nathan and having hilarious Spanish classes with Elissa in which, among other things, Adin became a princessa mariposa hermosa (beautiful butterfly princess.) Each evening we come together to eat a beautiful dinner, go over the day, play music and take time to talk and grow as a community. Our days are full of meaningful work and learning.

Saturday night we split into pairs and spent the night in the forest under the stars with only the clothes on our backs, matches, water, firewood and our newly made backpacks to carry it in (and of course some cookie dough to cook over our fires). It was a wonderful experience to be completely one with the night, hearing the small sounds of the dark forest, so different than all the daytime noise. We felt the earth below us and the starry sky above us and strength of the trees around us and each of us learned and grew as an individual. Some of us had more success with the fire and actually getting sleep than others, but all of us walked out of the woods the next morning more grounded and closer to our solo partners and the wilderness. It was an amazing experience and one that we will now carry within us and draw strength from.

On Sunday we took a special trip to visit Bill and Katie, the founders of the WS Badger Company, creators of healing balms and believers in ethics in the business world. In their beautiful house we ate the best gluten-free lasagna ever made while we listened to  Bill's stories and Katie's ideas on what they see as a good business model (one that allows parents to bring their babies to work and actually feeds their employees.) We ended the evening with a song and left with a new sense of direction and hope for the world.

Tomorrow we leave for a week-long bike expedition to various farms, now a cohesive community with each of us an indispensable part of the whole.

Hasta Luego,

Mary Kate

Reflections

Community

Laughing and singing

Singing we join our hearts 

The heart of the forest 

Forests teach and create

Create loving souls

Souls that share

Share a common goal

The goal to be alive

Alive and wondering

Wondering about other lives

Lives that bind together

Together as a community

 ~ Lara

Intentions

Coming out of Kroka I hope to have enough self-awareness so that wherever I go

 I will not loose myself.

~ Harrison

If it should break it would mean death or pain,

Yet the caterpillar hangs

By an invisable string

Of his own making.

Why does he do this?

Perhaps it is what he has always done.

Perhaps he knows no easier way.

Perhaps he feels no fear.

Or, perhaps he knows that if he doesn't

He will never find his wings

~ Adin

Harrison sewing his backpack

Bethany playing with Ayra in the sewing room

Isaiah sewing his backpack

Izzy learning navigation in Nathan's navigation class

Lara sewing her backpack

Mary Kate and Lucas working with Lisl in the sewing room

Rose working on her backpack

Nathan teaching navigation in the Carriage Barn

Amy and Laura studying a map

Elsbeth enjoying some solo time in the field

Emma working on her Big Job

The 2014 Semester Crew ready to ride!

Laurel taking on an off-road water crossing

Students helping Katie and Bill stack wood for winter

Students listening to Katie and Bill's stories