Kroka Vermont Semester 2014: Vermont Semester Update #14

Kroka Base Camp, 06/04/14

Three more days left on our incredible semester. We’ve had hard times, and the best of times, and it’s all coming to a close. The prospect of the future is a looming one, but we’re headed straight for it and there’s no turning back now.

This past week was a busy one. We’ve been charging around camp with our finished moccasins and pack baskets crammed with raincoats, journals, books, and most of our other possessions. We’ve also been doing chores with school groups in the morning.

We have been building a Cree earth lodge over the past 10 days and we’ve finished our portion of the process. The lodge has been waterproofed, so you can sleep in it, and all that’s left for the summer is to collect and layer-on the sod. We worked to harvest and peel hundreds of poles, set the foundation and the frame, and fill in the gaps between the vertical poles. For the first four days, we worked on the lodge all together. The lodge is live-able now, and it feels amazing to sleep in a building that you’ve constructed together with a wonderful group of friends and teachers.

Sever the golden rod

From its standing post

At ease, though ever steady and strong,

Your work is far from over.

Pull away the outside layer

To reveal the golden inside,

And smooth the cutting sharpness

From tip to tip.

Create the building blocks,

Foundation, frame---

And fill the gaps with gold.

Then, come night,

Sleep in golden shelter

Not to hide from rain or wind

But to see the sunrise

Through the beams

When morning comes around.

-Semester student, before the lodge was waterproofed

On the bike portion of our expedition back to Kroka, we stayed at Basin Farm in Bellows Falls, VT. While there we were invited to a wedding celebration and last Saturday, we made our way there. We arrived late, since we had our final math test earlier in the day, but we got there in time for the vows and the bride and groom’s departure. Then there was the celebration with incredible music, lots of dancing, and a wonderful tea called Matte. We were really honored by the invitation and were delighted to attend and participate in the festivities.

It’s almost time for all of us to part ways and venture off, back into the front country, or back into the woods we came from a few weeks ago. We all are thinking about the future. Some of us will return to school, some of us will move forward to do other things. Some of us will travel far and wide, some of us will stay around our home states, but we’re all connected by a semester spent together in the outdoors, learning about the world, each other, and ourselves. We are connected by the trails we’ve skied, the rivers we’ve paddled, the lake we rowed, the roads we biked, the fires we made, the trees we climbed, the wild edibles we ate, the places we camped, and so many other things.

Adrian: Semester was amazing! I have become stronger and more willing to take on responsibilities. I am going to miss this group! I can achieve anything I want if I put my mind to it.

Jazmine: Semester has given me the confidence to continue the rest of my life as an expedition. Yay! I will never forget the friends I have made here.

Molly: Semester is totally rad. I’m biking home and will be there some point later in June. If you want to play music, make things, or cook, hook me up!

Cassandra: Everything in my world seems to scream yes. Whatever it may be, I can do it. I can hike the long trail, and go on long trips by myself. My fears no longer keep me at home.

Zac: Semester has been a great way to end my high school career. I’m excited for all the possibilities semester has opened up for me, and for the next stage of my life.

Maja: Semester has been an amazing challenge. My challenge now is to hold it dear and use what I’ve learned to accomplish the things I love to do.

Meg: Semester is amazing. Do it. After this, I plan to bike, play music, and cook amazing food. Maybe tan a hide or two.

Rosa: Semester was more than I had ever imagined. My semester mates are my family, and I will always remember them. I’ve become so much more than I was when I started, and I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to face my future.

A hundred feet above the ground, I am high on height, adrenaline, and air. Climbing this huge white pine was a dare that I couldn’t turn down. Right now, my head is above the tree line, level with the highest needles of the tree itself. I sway in the wind with the trunk, perched on branches so skinny that one individually wouldn’t hold my weight, but together I know that they will. Far below me, my friends are ants scurrying about a toy-sized camp with little model row boats. I am watching the sun set in the west for a second time, because it has already gone down on the ground. The wind picks up and I scream and laugh at the same time. I feel so alive, and now that I have conquered this, other challenges seem easy. It’s time to come down.

-Semester student, during the rowing leg

On Depth- after Morris cave

Pounding. The throb. Weight immeasurable settled down above thy head. Whether it be stone or water- a more lovely tomb never has there been.

I stood beneath the mountain. His roots were about me as a fortress. Over me- his whole being sat enthroned. The pressure was intoxicating and the silent black a succor in my heart. Trapped was I not, the mountain granted me safe passage through himself freely.

Beneath the sea. The black more flowing velvet than the rock’s dusty interior. Colors parade their faded selves by- each colder than its predecessor- a blue streak, a purple hue, a green fog. Next, a heavier presence passes me, the ocean’s heart pushes me as it is displaced by an entity of the deep...

Pounding. The throb. Weight immeasurable above thy head. Whether it be stone or water- a more lovely tomb never has there been.

-Kevin Wood

We only have a little time left, but we still have things planned. We are performing skits of our own creation based off the idea of “A Hero’s Journey,” for the children from the Cambridge Montessori school tonight. We had a transition workshop today with Lisl Hofer, and Katie and Bill, the owners of Badger Balm. It was a really interesting experience, to set out your life in front of you and change it to what you want it to be. We’re really grateful for their help and knowledge. We are also planning an earth ceremony with “Grandfather” Ray Reitze, and preparing for our graduation on the 7th.

Its been splendid to share this journey with all of you out there, and this is the last post there will be for the Vermont Semester of 2014. We made it!

-Rosa Dews, spring scribe

Not all who wander are lost.