Late Winter – early Spring
On the glacial carved mountains that divided the Loupe Falls
watershed from that of Point-du-Farme there was a large and prosperous farm
owned by Stanley Boris Bear. Boris, as
he was known in the temperate forest, was a large black bear who provided
communities on both sides of the mountain with a wide variety of products. As season followed season throughout the year,
his many customers purchased a variety of sweets, and summer crops provided by
Boris, all produced on his farm.
The farm had
belonged to Boris’ grandfather, for whom he was named, and keeping with the
example of his grandfather, Boris was a bear who took his den to hibernate for
only three months of the year. He had
tucked into his bed late last fall, after the last of the leaf drop in his
maple grove was covered by the first snow.
Waking now as the season was beginning to change again, Boris stretched,
yawned and began to move around to get his systems going again.
Spring was a
busy time of year, with maple sugaring first on the list, trees needed to be
tapped and buckets hung to collect the sweet sap as it ran through the stems
and trunks of the large grove of sugar maple trees that grew on the higher
slope of the farm.
Over the first few days since he woke from hibernation, Boris
walked in the maple grove, clearing branches and trees that blew down over the
winter to make gathering sap easier for all involved.
Boris hired
students from the Temperate Biome University, to help with the work. Most of
the students were studying forestry, botany or were interested in earning some
extra money and class credit, with an opportunity to work outside of the
classroom walls.
This morning several students were arriving as Boris finished
his breakfast and cleaned up his porridge dishes.
Stepping outside
to greet his helpers, Boris noticed a young wolf among the group. He had never had a wolf on his maple sugaring
crew before..
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