V
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves;
And mid-May’s eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunts of flies on summer eves.
-Ode to a Nightingale, by John Keats
Greetings,
It has been quite a week since I wrote you last. We have been working on the canoe every day, clinching the 2,800 nails that hold it together, and oiling and varnishing it. The nails glint, looking like little stars in the hull of our boat, as Melody remarked. The workshop door is kept open now to let the air in and the smell of varnish out. The canoe is coming along well, all in all. To prepare for the journey ahead we have also been making sauerkraut, butchering several quarters of venison, and scraping hides for our moccasins.
Snow fell one morning and melted away during the day—we were mistaken if we thought we were finished completely with the winter weather. On Friday, April 9th Miron Golfman and Lily Fry came with a truckload of supplies and gear for us. Both of them are semester alumni and we passed an enjoyable evening sharing stories about our winter route to the North and about our solo adventures in getting to Northwoods Lily is staying with us until we depart. She is a fermenting foods specialist, having grown up on a vineyard, and a wonderful mandolin player. We had another visitor: Ray Rietze, who was teaching a paddle-making workshop at Northwoods and came to our tent for dinner. He talked a little about how he grew up and the philosophy behind how he lives. We are all very much looking forward to spending more time with him when we make our own paddles in a few days.
As we continued canoe building the fair weather persisted, with only a smattering of rain and some wind. We varnished it and let it dry for a day and then finally put the canvas on; Rollin showed us how to stretch the canvas over the frame with an instrument called a bear claw and then tack it to the planking under the outside gunwale. The next step was to treat the canvas with filler to make it waterproof. While the canoe was taking shape we took turns practicing canoeing. Lily has given us a basic understanding of the strokes, how to portage (carry) a canoe, and how to take care of the boats. For some people this has been a review and they have been able to help those who are not as experienced learn about canoeing. Martin, who is a prolific white water canoeist, has shared his knowledge and entertained us with stories about paddling. In our spare time (which is not available in great quantities) everyone worked on tasks for their Big Jobs. Ari has been reading dense articles about hydrology and consulting Melissa Dyer, an expert who works here at Northwoods about the watershed around where we will be in the next few weeks. He is hoping to do a reach assessment either on the Nulheegan or the on the Connecticut. Oliver has been steadily sewing the liners for our pack baskets. Paul has been preparing the tools we will need for our remaining projects. And of course the navigators, Yarrow and Mistral, have been working non-stop on an expedition plan.
April 13th came, the last day Rollin was with us for canoe making. Wishing he could stay a little longer, we said goodbye. That day we bolted the thwarts, handles, and seats to the inside of the boat and varnished everything. It is wonderful to look at the boat we built so close to completion. That same day our group took turns helping out in the kitchen with a food processing event which Kendra orchestrated. Lily, Anne, and Eliot all really pitched in and by the end we had made a substantial amount of granola bars, fresh cheese, sauerkraut, sourdough crackers, ten gallons of granola, and a couple of baked goods. It was satisfying to be so involved in the food we will be taking on the rivers, and fun to cook together. Just as Iyla will continue to keep track of the coats of varnish and paint the canoe needs, Kendra will be planning more food to take with us in the next week. In the midst of our work we have had opportunities to visit other people and do a service project here and there. We visited Butterworks Farm on the 14th, a nearby farm that sells various dairy products as well as some corn and beans and grain. Jack Lazor talked to us and gave us a tour. They built their house and original barn in the 1970’s and kept adding on land and buildings as they grew from a small homestead to what is now a one hundred-fifty acre farm with many cows and a good business with the local co-ops and stores. We were shown the grain silo, the bean sorting room, the windmill that helps power the farm, the yogurt making rooms, and a number of fascinating old-fashioned machines Jack hopes to fix up and use (like a 1950’s oat roller). The group helped pick rocks out of one of the fields and was rewarded with several containers of maple yogurt—it was delicious. We spent another day at Northwoods doing a service project. We hauled brush so that it could be put through a wood chipper, pruned trees that years later will be used for lumber (to keep them from having so many knots), and removed rocks from a driveway. We were glad to be able to do something for the people who have hosted us so graciously for a month. The next trip we took was to Sterling College on the 16th. We sat in on a Fiber Arts class and a Nature Writing class and toured the campus. They have quite a few resources for their students. We also ate two very good (and local) meals in the cafeteria and gave a presentation, complete with a lovely slideshow Erica made.
Despite our busy schedule, and the unseasonable weather, which caused some damage to our camp set up, people seem to be in a good mood. I appreciate Nate spending five months with us and teaching us what he knows, which is a good deal. We witnessed him quickly skin and gut a woodchuck he found and learned from him about the cedar tree and goldthread, a medicinal plant. Lily has taught us to put dandelions in our salads as they have many nutrients, and we have found them to be very tasty. Eva Cahill, Scott and Erica’s mom, came back for a second time to teach us more about nutrition. We made wonderful fresh cheese with her and sampled all sorts of yummy local foods she brought along. Thank you Eva!!! Scott gave us a lesson in first aid, continuing on with our education where we left off: the three major systems--respiratory, circulatory, and nervous. Now we look forward to the river. Our canoe is named “The Gingerbug”, for reasons that will become clear the next time I write to you…. All the best,
Anna Soltys Morse
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