Enchanted Forest!

There has been a black bear sighting at Merry Lea! Alert the authorities!

     This weekend at Merry Lea was our annual event called Enchanted Forest. It was a chance for kids from all over to come out to the Farmstead and meet friendly animals while being led on a lantern-lit hike in the dark of night. The animals can talk to you, answer your questions, and even give you bear hugs! However, they can only talk for these two nights out of the year!
     Also, live music was being performed in the Farmstead and plenty of hot cocoa and pretzels were served. Little kids could also color sheets with pictures of the animals they were going to meet while they waited for their turn to go on a hike.

I think we have the black bear contained pretty well! It doesn't look too threatening.

     The animals that came out this year included an opossum, raccoon, flying squirrel, woodcock, firefly, bear, bat, mosquito, turtle, owl, skunk, and a second bear! I wanted to represent my Baylor Bears and be Momma Bear on Friday night and Bat on Saturday night.

 Momma and Poppa Bear posing before heading to our spots in the woods!

    There were two hiking loops that you could travel in the dark with a guide. Loop 1 was where you could meet opossum, raccoon, flying squirrel, woodcock, firefly and bear. On Loop 2 you could meet bat, mosquito, turtle, owl, skunk and bear. I was the last animal on Loop 1 on Friday night and one of the first animals on Loop 2 on Saturday night.

Should I try to climb this tree?

    On Friday night, all the animals went on a hike to see where we would be stationed for the night. During the hike, I became very cold, and therefore went to gather more layers and warm clothes from my closet. I chose to wear a smartwool long-sleeved shirt with a fleece jacket over it and long john underwear under corduroy pants. I had smartwool socks on with heavy winter boots along with a hat underneath my costume. I had no idea how much I would regret my decision to layer up later in the night.

Can I even climb this tree? I can BEARly see!

     On top of being sick and being nearly hoarse, I literally cooked in my own pool of sweat while I was outside dressed up as Momma Bear. It was about 40 degrees outside, and probably 102 degrees inside my costume. The mask was really thick, so I pretty much had to shout when I was talking and the heat from my breath added to the steaminess inside my bear costume.

I had to throw in a Sic 'em!

     Thank goodness Dave’s youngest son Sam was there to hold my hand and guide me in the dark to my station because I could BEARly see anything through the mask! On top of that, when I got to my stump, I was the last animal on the loop and therefore had to sit alone for 45 minutes before I got my first group. Then, suddenly I got one group, then another, and then no groups for about 30 minutes... and then 4 groups back to back! I was so exhausted and sweaty at the end of the night that I had to have help taking off my costume. My friend who helped to untie me kept saying “Please don’t fall over!” My clothes and costume were soaked with sweat and my hair looked like I had just been in a swimming pool! Also-- a funny fact -- during my time as a bear, I had lost so much water weight that my pants (inside my costume) decided to fall down. On my way back to the barn, I was trying my best to hold my pants up that were inside my costume! I had not realized they decided to fall until I began walking back. Luckily no one could see!

     Other than the fact that I cooked, I had a great time. When the kids would come up to where I was hiding, I’d be behind a tall, skinny tree. I’d slowly stand up and pretend to hide. Once they said, “It’s a bear!” I’d reply: “You can’t see me!” Then I would slowly come out from behind the tree and say to them, “I can smell you… and I can hear you… but I can BEAR-ly see you! What I lack in eyesight I make up for with an excellent sense of smell and precise hearing.” After the laughter subsided, they would ask me questions.

     I talked a lot about myself, however, because some children were frightened by me for some reason! I talked about the fact that I was a black bear but I had brown fur. Black bears can be black, grayish-blue, or brown. I also told them about the fact that I can reach almost 6 feet standing on my two feet, or 3 feet standing on all fours. I am the smallest bear in North America—averaging about 200-500 pounds!

     The children would ask me where I like to live, and I would then ask them to tell me what we were standing in… which was a forest! Where do you go when it gets cold? Well… I like to go into a special sleep called ‘hibernation’. However, I am a special bear, because I can do what is called a ‘semi-hibernation’, which means that I can wake myself up during the winter and go look for food if I need to refill my belly! Did you know that you, the average human, consume around 1,200 calories a day? Well, guess what? In order for me to prepare for hibernation, I need to eat at least 15,000 calories a day! Now, most little boys and girls have a tendency to think that I eat… well… boys and girls. This is not true! I mostly eat berries, nuts, small mammals, eggs, animals that are already dead, and garbage. What’s that? Did you just ask if I like HONEY? Well, I LOVE HONEY! It’s my favorite thing to eat! But, do you know what I love to eat more than honey? HONEY BEES! Yum! They are so delicious! Can they sting me? Well, they can try, but my thick skin and fur is no match for them! I will eat as many as I can find!

     Speaking of hibernation, did you know that I have my babies during hibernation? I can have up to two babies in a year, usually in January or February. My cubs will stay with me for up to two years!

     Why am I at Merry Lea tonight? Well, you see, I love trees… and Merry Lea has plenty of trees! Even though I am pretty heavy, and not the most graceful animal… I am very good at climbing trees! I LOVE to climb trees! Do you know what else I love to do and am pretty good at? I can swim up to 1 ½ miles in water before I get tired! I mean, not to brag or anything.

     What? Did you ask if I had babies with me? Well, no, I don’t. If I did have babies with me, chances are you would not want to be near me. I am very, very protective of my babies! Speaking of babies, if you see Poppa Bear (David was ‘Poppa Bear’ on the other trail), tell him I don’t want to talk to him! I don’t have any friends, and I don’t talk to my family, because I am a solitary creature. What that means, boys and girls, is that I like to live and travel alone unless I have my babies with me. What did you say? Poppa Bear is on the other trail? Well, I don’t care where he is! I don’t ever want to see him again!

     If I could do it over again, I would have asked someone to record my ‘performance’. I was being playful, curious, and hilarious, like bears tend to be. I was in a mask that I could BEAR-ly see out of. There was one group that was pretty large so I didn’t get a good look at everyone, and so I was doing my thing when suddenly I heard the laughter of a professor who I did not even know was with that group. Then, a few seconds later, I hear the familiar laughter of another professor! I had them cracking up! Just imagine me, in a bear costume, in the dark, with just a dim lantern to see me, standing on all fours pretending to be a bear, and attempting to climb up a skinny tree stump. I must say, it felt good to entertain the kids and adults. Also, before I could let my groups leave, they had to get a BEAR HUG! I would walk over to them the best that I could (without tripping since I could BEAR-ly see where I was going) and pick them up off the ground, hug them tight and say “RAWRR!” For those children who were afraid of me, I offered them a bear high-five. Even though I was a little bit under the weather, I had so much fun!

Unbeknownst to humans, bears and bats are friends in real life. (Me the bat and Aaron the bear).

     The next night, I was to be the Brown Bat. However, on this night, I shared a station with the Mosquito so it was nice to have the company of someone! I got in my bat costume early so that we could take pictures before the kids got there. When it was time to go to our station, the Mosquito and I didn’t have very far to walk since we were the first station.

     We planned it out perfectly: since bats eat mosquitos, she would run around in figure eights when the kids walked up, buzzing loudly and swarming to them. She then would stand there and talk about herself, and let the kids ask her questions, while I hid quietly behind a tree large enough to cover me. When there was silence between questions, I would slowly creep out from behind the tree and attack my prey! I would wrap my wings around her and say “GOTCHA!” The groups highly enjoyed this.

FYI: I had to use a step ladder to get into this tree, and I also tried to hang upside down and almost fell to my death since I could not grab onto anything with my awkward wing-arms.

     I would then say, “Well, Mosquito, I won’t eat you right now since this is an Enchanted Forest! However, I am glad that you humans are here because you attract my dinner so well!” The kids and adults would then ask us questions, and we would take turns talking. Do you suck blood? “Well, I am not that kind of bat, and I eat a lot of insects. However, I do have bat cousins who suck the blood of animals. I also have cousins who eat a lot of fruit! Me, I just love to chomp down on insects that you humans find to be pesky!” How do you see at night? “Well, since I have very small eyes, I use a nifty thing called echolocation to help me not fly into buildings and things! Also, did you know that I can use my echolocation to not only determine how far away something is, but it can also tell me how big the thing is, if it’s moving, and the texture of the object! That way I can tell the difference between a falling leaf and a delicious moth.” What kind of animal are you since you have wings? “Well, I am a mammal because I give live birth to babies and feed them milk. You’re right, I do have wings! My wings have bones in them, and veins, and are covered in sparse hair. They are made of membranes—the same things that frogs have between their toes.”

     My favorite question of the night (and my best answer) came from a young boy who asked me how many beats per minute I can flap my wings. Since I had no idea what the answer was, I provided him with this: “Well, I have a body similar in size to that of a small bird, and I also have wings like a small bird, so it would make sense for me to flap my wings about as many times as a small bird would in flight. I do not know the exact amount, because it would depend on lots of things. If I came out on a night when it was windy, I would have to work harder to flap my wings. If it was raining, I would probably work harder, too, than if it were still and warm outside.” I was very proud of my non-answer!

     Why do I hang upside down? Since I did not know the exact answer to this, I said, “I hang upside down because I have special claws on my toes that allow me to hang comfortably.” Not a bad answer, but the answer is actually because they need to rest their wings. Bats are not graceful walkers, and they cannot walk for a long amount of time. Therefore, they hang upside down to allow their wings and limbs to rest.

     One dad asked me this: So, is Batman your hero? To which I replied: “Oh man, you know it! I have a poster of him hanging upside down in my bat box!”

     I had a blast being Momma Bear and Brown Bat. It is incredible that these children have imaginations to allow them to believe that they are actually interacting with real animals. Granted, not all of them were as into it as others were. It was fun and I wish that someone had recorded me as Momma Bear!

     On Sunday, I met Chelsea and Laura in Goshen for lunch and a trip to Kercher’s Orchard! We ate at Panera Bread and then were off to the orchard. I had never been to an apple orchard until today! We arrived, browsed the gift shop, bought some fresh apple cider and chocolate covered peanuts, and decided to go on the hay ride to the pumpkin patch! On the way, we got to look at the hundreds of apple trees all planted in nice, neat little rows. The rows went on forever! It was a pretty chilly day, and when the wind kicked in we were really cold! The sun came out and stayed out for us while we were on the hayride! I had a blast!