Thursday, August 6, 2015

Building our farm barn

April 2016

March 2016

As the sun sets on the barn you can see some final details added towards completion: the windows and door are framed to connect to the shape of the earth and to open to the sky, the circular window is framed with an egg shape, and the tractor and golf cart are in their homes!

This image highlights the intentional shape of the frame around each window. The bottom and top are curved like the earth and the sides are spread open in welcome.

The egg shape of our window frame.
Silvano Biffis and Lynne Boudreau join Violet and Journey in the new Food Processing Room. Their big smiles reflect the joy and gratitude we all feel to have this beautiful barn.

Bill Symonds is putting the finishing touches on the barn this March 11.

Bee keeping supplies and Ball jars stand at the ready.


Refrigerator for milk and yogurt sales, stove and oven, triple sink, dish washer, water heater, and wood stove.

An unlikely sunny day in March illuminates our campus that is springing to life.

February 2016

Welcome to Kroka's second farmer, Silvano Biffis! Silvano is helping Vermont Semester student, Sebi, hang the barn's gratitude sign on this snowy morning. Sign handcrafted by Finn Mahoney VT Semester '14

The snow has returned!

January 2016

New weathervane (designed by our neighbor Bob the Welder) and cupola installed



Green floors going in from our local friends at Monadnock Flooring

The makings of a beautiful office for our farmers


Miron Golfman working with Bill Symonds on the cupola.

Happy New Year from Brita!

Happy New Year from Tully and Sebastian!

Happy New Year from Petia!

December 2015

Installing insulation in the food processing room. The December weather was unseasonably warm. Where was the snow?

Installing insulation (used newspapers) in the food processing room and walk-in refrigerator. Thank you Celluspray!

November 2015

Sunday morning, November 1

October 2015

Oct. 30


Oct. 11

Tully's new calf born Monday, October 19, 2015

Mama Tully

Looking south into the middle floor of the barn

First floor spiral staircase with hay chute

Looking out on campus from the food processing room

Stefan and Bill working to finish the animal stalls before the snow accumulates



September 2015


Hugh and '15 Ecuador Semester student, Isiah, working on a column
Basement spiral staircase designed and created by Bill, master timber framer

August 22, 2015: Last day of Barn Apprenticeship!


August 2015




 

July 2015 





June 2015



May 2015


November 2014

Little Mathias helping spread the concrete last fall.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Meet the Barn Crew!

I, Mary Kate, came back to Kroka from my hometown of Cincinnati after completing the 2014 Ecuador Semester. This is my first experience building and I am learning how to be exact in my measurements.  I have been nominated as the most proper chiseler.
Ben Nochimson first came to Kroka five years ago with the Montclair Cooperative School. Since then, Ben has been a Wild Crafter and explorer on Expedition Pre-Columbus as well as graduating high school. This fall Ben will be taking advantage of his gap year by volunteering in South America.
Sam Suarez-Friedman discovered Kroka in his elementary school gymnasium when Misha handed him a knife and cedar piece to start carving. Sam was hooked and has been coming to Kroka since 2007. He has spent the past year apprenticing with a fine woodworker in Massachusetts and is excited to apply his new skills on a grander scale. 
Clara Devine-Golub has been adventuring with Kroka since the days of Pumpkin Hill in 2009. Over the past six years Clara has come back for Wilderness Adventures for Girls, Intro to Rock; Caves, Cliffs, & Waterfalls; Climbers & Paddlers Journey Up North, and now the Barn Raising Apprenticeship. Clara also attended the Montclair Cooperative School and is looking forward to continuing high school this fall.
Jennifer is at Kroka for the first time this summer. Her first time working with wood, she is discovering the quality and personality of hemlock.  Jennifer has taken to drawing out each beam from all sides before we start working with them- we've had significantly less communication errors between beams since then.

Rose, fellow 2014 Ecuador alum, is back for the first two-thirds of the summer. Between building and meals, she enjoys making countless gallons of fresh yogurt for the Kroka community. Rose plans to use the skills she learns here to someday build her own post and beam home.
Parker came to Kroka to learn timber framing after working in California for two years as a carpenter. He relishes all the fresh, delicious, and local meals we share together. Parker brought his woodworking experience as well as hundreds of tools. When he arrived we were able to stop waiting in line for the circular saw.
Finn, 2014 Vermont Semester alum, joined us with prior timber frame experience.  He already knew what girt, mortise, strut, joist, bent, lap, and tenon meant before we even started!  At home he works at a restaurant, but only licks some of the plates. He is excited to be living a healthy and growing lifestyle here at Kroka.  His favorite tool is everyone else's pencil.
Maja, 2014 Vermont Semester alum, hopes to learn timber framing and carpentry so that she can build future dwellings. Maja has moved on to be a paddling apprentice at Kroka this summer, but as she goes off of waterfalls in Class 5 rapids, her mind is still on the barn, thinking about how all the pieces fit together.
Forest, 2014 VSP alum, is more comfortable on a beam 10 feet in the air than he is on the ground.  He returned to learn carpentry, and to spend time with friends and his brother at his long-time second home of Kroka. His favorite tool is the sledgehammer.
Danya would happily spend the entire day moving beams from point A to point B, and maybe back to point A again.  He loves hard work, and using the biggest circular saw.
Oliver, our building apprentice coordinator, spends his free time making cheese from our cows' milk, fiddling, and learning Norwegian.  He is embarking on a year of woodworking, and is already making plans in his head for the layout of his future home.  His favorite tools are his own two hands.