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"Living School" Opens to Connect People to the Land

May 06, 2009 - TEMPLE -- Tucked into the back woods of Temple on 100 forested acres, a small, "local living school" has opened and is teaching people traditional and inexpensive ways to connect to the land.

Each month, owners Chris and Ashirah Knapp, both licensed Maine guides and experienced teachers of wilderness living, open the doors of their sustainable homestead/school for "Folk Arts Days."

The debut open house at Koviashuvik Local Living School on Lake Drive will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

There will be tours of the earth-bermed, stone-root cellar, the solar greenhouse, timber-frame log cabin, rainwater-collection system, and organic gardens. Demonstrations will display alternative-cooking technologies such as making a bow-drill fire; pounding brown ash for basket making; and making basswood bark into string.

Future open houses this summer will show how to bend snowshoe frames, tan deerskin into leather and process acorns into flour for breadmaking. The heart of the school is a five-acre clearing where once there were trees but now there are now gardens, fruit and nut trees, rock walls, buildings and a man-made pond.

To demonstrate the power of good compost and sustainable-gardening practices, Chris Knapp digs into the vegetable garden and holds up dark brown dirt filled with earthworms.

"This used to be all forest bottom," he said.

Chris said their power tools include a chainsaw, portable saw mill and planer and twice a year, they hire a logger and skidder to haul in harvested trees and an excavation contractor to pull stumps and dig holes. The rest of the work is done by hand.

Chris, 30, a Gorham native, and Ashirah, 29, from Ohio, have spent about 10 years learning traditional skills, guiding backcountry trips and teaching children and adults at the Earthways School of Wilderness in Canaan and at Kroka Expeditions in New Hampshire.

"We got our feet under us at Earthways and spent a lot of time learning to live off the earth," said Chris. "We started Koviashuvik in 2004 because we wanted to start a teaching center of our own."

"We want to share this great way of living with others and to show young people the joy of learning to do things on their own," he said.

The couple have a two-year old son, Owen, and are expecting another child later this summer, Knapp said.

The word "koviashuvik" comes from the Inuit language and means "a time and place of joy in the present moment."

"We have found our koviashuvik through living close to the earth and relating to friends and neighbors as part of a community," he said. "We hope to help others find their own koviashuvik." Future Koviashuvik Days will be July 11, Aug 22 and Oct. 17. Throughout the summer, fee-based classes are offered that run from half-days to a full weekend, on collecting wild greens; pack-basket making; tanning deerskins; Family Days; moccasin making; and acorn processing.

There will also be a fermentation class to teach how to make pickles, dilly beans and sauerkraut without vinegar, canning or refrigeration.

The school is also available for schools and organizations, family trips, and work/study internships, Knapp said.

To get to the school, take Route 43 west from Wilton Road, or U.S. Route 2, in West Farmington. In Temple, bear right onto Intervale Road and in about 1.25 miles, take a right on to Day Mountain Road at the one-room schoolhouse. Bear right on to Staples Pond Road, which changes to Lake Drive, and park at the "Welcome" sign on the right. There is a 10-minute walk from the parking area to the school's center. A shuttle is available upon request. Call 778-0318 for information and to receive a brochure of classes.

BY BETTY JESPERSEN
Staff Writer, Waterville Sentinel, 5/4/09


Lakes: Staples
Regions: Rangeley


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