The Adventures of Jack Sprout
Chapter 4 - JACK SPROUT MEETS PIERRE LeTRU

Hi I'm Jack Sprout, the sunflower seed who grew up to be a farmer.

Meeting Sawdust Miller at his sawmill in the East Woods was an amazing experience. He's the caretaker of our woods and forest, and he decides which trees get cut. He knows that trees provide homes whether they're cut down or left standing. Their roots hold back the soil from being washed down into the meadowand their shade provides protection, while fallen leaves and needles add fertilizer to the soil below. He's been around for a long time and has great stories to tell. His story about Redtail McCallister made me want to meet that spirited red-tailed hawk.

I was waiting for Whoopee and Stretch, the two Whooping cranes from the Long Neck Shoreman Company, to deliver my lumber. I heard a commotion in the sky, looked up and saw them flying towards my farm singing their work song, “Whoop, Whoop, Whoopee; Whoop, Whoop, Whoopee.” I went out of the woods and started waving my hands and jumping up and down so they could see me. They saw me and started to circle down. I was sure they knew what they were doing but it didn't look like it. Whoopee was flapping his huge wings up and down and Stretch was trying to steer with his. Their load was swaying back and forth and starting to tip. They were yelling at each other and it looked kind of dangerous to me. I ran back into the woods for cover until it was all over. They finally landed my lumber gently in a nice neat pile and no one was hurt. They took off for another load of logs and I told them thank you and goodbye. They delivered four more loads to my farm that day. Those two birds were a little crazy, but they knew their job and did good work.

I built myself a small cabin in my meadow on the edge of the East Woods. It wasn't much but it kept me warm and dry. I covered the rest of the lumber with tall grasses until it was time to build my house.

I was ready to get busy growing the sprouts and vegetables that The Beaver Creek Meadow needed me to grow. That's why I'm here, remember? I get to live in this beautiful meadow but I have work to do to belong here. Sawdust Miller had told me that I would need to 'power up' before I could run a farm.

When I asked him what 'power up' meant, he told me to go see a tall red fox named Pierre LeTru at his Power Paddle Wheel on The Beaver Creek Creek. It was just below Fred Beaver's pond. He'll tell you all you need to know, he said. Pierre's one smart fox and we all trust him. We used to make power all different kinds of ways, some things worked and some didn't. Pierre sat us down one day and just said to follow his ideas because he knows what's right from years of practice. He said he knew how to use the sun, wind and other parts of nature, things we'd never have thought about. His name used to be just Pierre. After we learned that he was always right and wanted what's best for our meadow and ourselves, we started calling him Pierre LeTru. What he says is true and that makes him a true friend.”

Early one morning, I left my small cabin on the edge of the woods and headed up stream to visit Pierre LeTru's Power Paddle Wheel. When I got there, he and his wife were putting new paddles on their huge round wooden wheel. I shouted “hello” really loud so they could hear me over the loud roar of the creek as it sped underneath the giant paddle wheel. I said, “I'm Jack Sprout.” (Of course everyone knows me by now, but I don't know them, so I always say hello to be nice.)

“Hello Jack Sprout, I'm Pierre LeTru and this is my lovely wife De-lite. You can call her Dee. I call her De-lite but her name is Dee-lila and you can call her Dee. They asked me how my new farm was coming along and when would the new sprouts and vegetables be ready. They said they could hardly wait for some new healthy food. I told them that Sawdust Miller had told me that I'd need to power up before I could start farming. He sent me here to learn about the power I needed.

“Yes, Sawdust Miller is a good friend of ours. We helped him power up his sawmill. What do you mean, learn about power, don't you know anything about power?” asked Pierre.

I felt a little dumb but I didn't act like I knew anything. “No I don't. Can you teach me?”

“Well you do have the biggest ears I've ever seen,” said Pierre. “You must be a good listener!” I saw a little twinkle in his eye when he said it, so I knew he was just kidding. I started laughing and was glad to see Pierre and Dee laughing too. My ears are big and I am a good listener so it's funny and true at the same time. “What kind of power do you want?” he asked.

“Well, I'm going to run a farm so what kind of power do I need?”

“Oh for crying out loud,” said Pierre. “De-lite you'd better bring us herb tea and some of Iris Miller's biscuits. This is going to take a while. This Jack Sprout has a lot to learn if he's going to be a good farmer for our Beaver Creek Meadow.”

Pierre stopped the work on the paddle wheel and we set down on a nice warm flat rock on the edge of the creek. Pierre was very smart and very precise. He told me everything I needed to know from A to Z on how to power up my farm with out damaging the meadow or using up too many resources.

“First,” he said, “ you'll need water to feed your plants, to drink, shower and wash your dishes. We'll build you a tall wooden wind mill with big fan blades four feet long. We'll dig a well and when the wind blows the big fan blades will turn and draw water to your farm. You'll need to build a big tank to store the water. The wind blows pretty steady down from the mountains but not everyday. You'll need to use the water from the storage tank when the wind doesn't blow. We'll also dig a trench to the creek in case you need to irrigate sometime. You got that Jack Sprout? Are you listening?”

“I sure am,” I said.

“Don't worry about all the building you'll be doing. We'll all help you get started. We'll help you build your farm but when we're done, you have to do the farm work yourself.” I remembered Grandma Elderberry telling me the same thing. Everyone in The Beaver Creek Meadow wants everyone to do their fair share to keep their beautiful meadow home clean and growing.

“Okay,” said Pierre, “now we'll need to heat your house and greenhouse and make you hot water at the same time. We build our houses and greenhouses around here using a passive solar design and heat them with solar glass panels. We call it solar, because we use the energy from the sun.”

“Never heard of that,” I said.

“I know. Just keep those big green ears tuned in will ya?” About that time Dee brought the tea and biscuits and we drank the tea and ate the delicious whole wheat biscuits as we watched the water rush by the big wooden Power Paddle Wheel.

“I'm the first one to get water from the creek after it leaves Fred Beaver's pond,” said Pierre. “Fred and I have ways to control the flow of water so it doesn't get going too fast, run over the bank and flood the meadow. It flows down to Barley & Iris Miller's Flour Mill from here. Just wait 'til you taste Iris Miller's baking. From the flour mill it goes through the heart of the meadow and finally down to the ocean. Most of us depend on the water from the The Beaver Creek Creek in one way or another.

“For instance the little brown bear, Capt. Berry, runs his tug boat called, Russell The Muscle, up and down the creek all the time. He comes here, hooks his tug boat up to my wheel and winds up the spring that powers his boat. Farmer Smith uses my power the same as you will. I taught Sawdust Miller how to build his own Power Paddle Wheel to power up his sawmill.

Anyway, let's get back to your power lessons. The multi-colored dragonfly, Won Lung, is a glassblower and will make the glass panels for your greenhouse and for the solar panels on the roof of your house. He learned the fine art of glass blowing from his ancient ancestors. He's the best there is and makes all kinds of things with glass. We use his glass in our solar panels on our roofs to trap the hot sun. We put copper pipes, that the old white haired goat, High Mountain Harry makes, under the glass and run water through the pipes. The sun heats the water through the glass into the pipes to keep your home warm and give you hot water for showers.

Sound's complicated, but I know what I'm doing. So when you're ready, just call me. I'll get Won Lung, Harry, Sawdust and all the other builders to help and we'll get your house and greenhouse up in no time. It'll be done right and won't harm our beautiful meadow.”

“How did you learn all of this?” I asked.

“Well let me tell you,” said Pierre.

Just then, Dee came over and wanted to listen. I wondered if she didn't know how Pierre got started or if she just wanted to make sure he got the story right. I hadn't been around very long but I already knew that stories can change from time to time.

Pierre started by saying that he has always liked helping others by making life easier. He also said he likes to think about the future and what we'll need to survive. “I like to think about tomorrow and beyond,” he said. “But how did you think up using the sun to heat our homes?”

“When I was just a little fox,” started Pierre, “my father and his friends would cut down trees in the forest for wood to burn in our fireplaces. Fireplaces heated our homes and the wood stoves would cook our food and make hot water. The smoke from the chimneys sure smelled good. We could even tell which trees were burning by their different smells. My friends and I liked to run around and play in the trees. There were lots of them, plenty of trees for everyone.

I had a favorite tree that was easy to climb and had big limbs to sit on so I could watch the other animals and birds playing. It was close to my house but only my friends and I knew where it was. It was my clubhouse and all my friends knew where to find me. We had fun there and talked about a lot of very important things. I loved that tree. It was kind of like a good friend. I went there one day to finally climb to the highest limb. I went down the path towards my clubhouse but as I rounded the last corner, something was terribly wrong! Somebody had cut down my favorite tree! My clubhouse was gone! I couldn't believe it. Who would do such mean thing to me! I dropped down on the forest path and cried.

I asked around about who would do such a thing as cut down my favorite tree. I found out alright. It was my own dad! I told him what he had done and got very mad at him. He said he was sorry, he didn't know it was my favorite climbing tree. But he said it was close to our home and we needed the wood to burn. I went back in the forest and I as I walked around I noticed there weren't as many trees as there used to be. I started thinking that if we cut down all the trees to heat our homes and water, pretty soon there wouldn't be any trees left to climb. I didn't like that idea, so I started to think of a better way. I thought for days and days. Then one day I was at the dragonfly glassblower Won Lung's house to see if he had any ideas.

While I was at his house, I was standing under his glass roof and got very hot. Won told me that when the sun comes through his glass roof and walls it heats his house without having to burn any wood. That's it I thought! That's what we need to do all over The Beaver Creek Meadow. But how should we heat water? Won Lung suggested that I go see the old whitehaired mountain goat, High Mountain Harry, who made copper pipes.

I went to see Harry in his high mountain cave and told him my problem. Harry said that if the sun shining through glass would heat houses, it would heat his copper pipes also. So that's how it all started. I still work to make the solar panels work better but they're working pretty good so far. At least not as many trees are being cut just to heat our homes. That's my story, what do you think?” asked Pierre.

“That's a great story,” I said. “I'm sorry about your favorite tree and your clubhouse, but at least you solved a big problem for The Beaver Creek Meadow. How long did you stay mad at your Dad?”

“For about two weeks,” said Pierre. “I was really mad, but he didn't know it was my favorite tree. Besides, we built another clubhouse together and it's still standing!”

“I've got to be going,” I said, “but when I'm ready to build my house and greenhouse, I'll come get you and and all your friends to help. I said goodbye to Pierre and Dee and thanked them for the tea and biscuits. I walked down the edge of the creek to my cabin home in the woods. I thought about the solar Pierre talked about and about how lucky we were that he'd figured it out before all the trees where gone! Especially all the good climbing ones. Well, that's the story of the time I met a tall red fox named Pierre LeTru and his lovely fox wife Dee-lila who Pierre calls De-lite and we call Dee.

My next story will be about the time I met Barley & Iris Miller at their Flour Mill on the Beaver Creek Creek. I can't wait to taste Iris's baking!

 

Keep Growing,

 

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