Of Baskets and Acorns: Adventures at Koviashuvik
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| Welcome to Koviashuvik! Home of the Knapps |
On April 5th, we said goodbye to Oliver and Hannah (our Uapishka teachers) and we left rainy Northwoods with Nora, eastward bound to Koviashuvik in Temple, Maine. After a foggy four hour drive we found Koviashuvik at the end of a windy dirt road. Excitedly, we unloaded our barrels and walked the path over a rushing brook. Chris greeted us with open arms and showed us to our dwelling. We got to meet the Knapp family we had been hearing about for months (Chris's wife Ashira, and children Bonnie Bee and Owen). The next morning, Chris gave us a grand tour of his beautiful Maine homestead. We were shown the garden, the running spring, the ice house and the root cellar, which was filled with apples from the previous year’s harvest. Later that day, Chris told us the meaning of Koviashuvik-‘a time and place of joy in the present moment.’ In the classroom (a large, hand-built house made of wood collected from the area) as we gathered around the blackboard, it said: "Welcome Kroka! You are here to experience the home place, make baskets, eat acorns, be still, create a goodness project, consider history, observe the weather, read Little Tree, give thanks." That night we excitedly went to bed, imagining our baskets and acorn flour, at an amazingly early hour of 8:30 PM.
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| Is it winter or is it spring? |
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| Rachel, sorting apples from the root cellar |
In order to make baskets we had to find an ash, or as we soon learned, it would find us. Setting out into the woods after a drive away from Koviashuvik, we searched for the perfect tree. The criteria was ten feet of undisturbed straight trunk, knotless and about seven inches in diameter with a medium sized crown. After half an hour of all of us searching, Edie hugged the perfect tree. Putting our hands on it, we all said our gratitude for this tall living being. We sawed the beautiful tree down, and carried it on our shoulders to the van.
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| Lillian, studying a brown ash- Fraxinus nigra |
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| The perfect basket tree! |
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| And heave!! |
Over the next several days, we learned how to process acorns: grind them, sort the shells and meat, grind the meat into flour, and leech the flour with water again and again until all the tannic acid was leeched.
We learned how to pound ash. In partners, we straddled the logs and pounded them until scored layers peeled off. We basked in the warming weather and enjoyed sessions of pounding… with one condition: we HAD to SING! Finally, we had enough strips to start weaving our baskets. That night, we stayed up late trimming all the strips into appropriate size for ‘uprights’ and ‘weavers.’ Grandfather Ray (Chris’ mentor) visited us that day, and spoke about stillness. It was so calming to be in the presence of a grounded elder.
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| Luize beginning the process |
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| Martina artfully putting together the base of her beautiful basket |
In the morning, we hammered together our basket bottoms and started weaving! Over under, over under, we wove the weavers like the top of a pie. We balanced basket weaving with a very serious game of capture the flag! Upon finishing our baskets, we marveled how every basket strangely but naturally resembled its maker.
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| Bonnie Bee and Havah, reading and weaving |
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| Liam, searching for the perfect weaver |
We drove away from the rushing brooks of Koviashuvik and met with Will Bonsall – a radical veganic homesteader. At about three-hundred words/minute, he gave visionary responses to big world problems. Later that day, back at Koviashuvik, we set out with our sleeping bags, matches, and a bag of dough and cheese for an overnight solo. Into the woods we went, and as the sun went down it began to drizzle. Edie and some others built a shelter, and stayed toasty and dry all night. Others got chilly and wet, and came back to the earth lodge. Over breakfast, we discussed the previous night. We all agreed it was an experience to remember.
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| Learning from Will Bonsall |
Being in one place gave us the freedom to explore the mountains through running. Every day, we would run five miles – some of us even enjoyed jumping in the icy brook to wash off. One day, Luke decided to go on a big run. Joyfully, he came to breakfast a little late, announcing that he had run eleven miles.
We excitedly prepared a Wicked Local Dinnah – which included but was not limited to… maple mustard rabbit (from the farm), beets and rutabaga stir-fry (from the garden), fried parsnips (fresh from the earth), greenhouse greens (chickweed), cornbread (from painted mountain corn), and apple cobbler (from last year’s harvest). The only foreign food was the butter on the acorn bread!
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| Emily practicing her yoga |
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| Ma'or- Getting close to the top! |
On our last night at Koviashuvik, we went out on the town contra dancing! In our fancy clothes of dresses and button-down shirts, we showed up to the dance and comprised almost half the dancers! We danced the night away. The next morning, we went on a last run and undertook a deep cleaning of all the spaces we lived in… and finished with mopping all the floors. We said goodbye to Chris and his family, and were bound for the Northwoods Stewardship Center once again. We left with a bag of acorn pancakes and our pack baskets. We were filled with calm and hope. As Maine and New Hampshire passed by us, we looked bravely onward towards our new spring adventure.
Signed Martina Violetta,
your spring scribe!
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