Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt

Okay, our friends.

So today we are following down the pathway of springtime stories.

And I've got a good one for you today.

It is called Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt.

This story was written by Kate Mezzner with Art by Christopher Silas Neal and friends.

It looks like it's gonna be a fun one to read.

There are all kinds of beautiful sketches of different kinds of plants.

So if you've ever wondered, what does a pepper look like?

What about a zucchini?

What about a cucumber plant?

I just care at plants.

Well, friends, this is the book for you.

You're gonna love it.

And so we shall jump right into it today's story is read by mommy and who are ya?

Hello.

Hello.

Hello, what?

Oh, is that your name?

Hello?

Oh.

Okay.

Mommy and...

Hello.

Are you ready for your story?

Uh-huh.

Okay.

Up in the garden, I stand and plan.

My hands are full of seeds and my head full of dreams.

And in the picture we can see there's some, it looks like maybe snow kind of around the garden.

And everything is very dead in this garden, don't you think?

Yeah.

There's dirt everywhere.

Spring sun shines down to melt the sleepy snow.

Wind whizzles through last year's plants.

And mud sucks at my rain boots.

Ooh, it's sloshy and gross, right?

That does happen, doesn't it?

When it gets wet and gross during the springtime sometimes at the end of winter?

It's not quite time, Nana says.

Down in the dirt, things need to dry out and warm up.

What's down there?

I ask.

And we can see in the picture the grandma and the little girl are looking down in the dirt they're trying to see.

And in the picture we can even see what's in the dirt.

There's roots for the plants and worms.

Down in the dirt is a whole busy world of earthworms and insects digging and building and stirring up soil.

They're already working down in the dirt.

And in the picture boy do we see them.

All kinds of critters, ants and spiders and slugs and snails and critters.

And they are working hard.

And she know what they're doing.

They're digging tunnels through the dirt, which me, which leaves air in the dirt.

And the air likes, the air likes to be in the dirt and the dirt likes it when there's air in there.

Up in the garden we snap brittle stalks and scoop rusty armfuls and wheel away weeds for the chickens.

While they squabble and scratch, we spread compost over the soil.

Compost is left over foods and plants or vegetables that has all kinds of good things for the dirt in it.

Down in the dirt, pill bugs chew through last year's leaves.

I give a gentle poke.

They roll up tight and hide in plated suits of armor.

Rolly-poly round.

You ever look at rolly-poly's?

They're kind of interesting, aren't they?

Some people call them pill bugs.

They do kind of look like little armored creatures.

And when they roll into little balls, they're pretty interesting to look at, aren't they?

But did you know that they do something important?

They eat through those old leaves.

And that's super important.

Up in the garden, it's time to plant.

I trail a furrow with my finger and sprinkle seeds in a careful row.

Now give them a drink.

Nana says, and we pat them down to snuggle in the dark.

See what she's done?

She's made a space for those seeds to fall into the dirt.

And they'll be happy there.

Down in the dirt, a tomato hornworm rests, waiting for wings and the leaves, where she'll lay her eggs.

Ah, yet hornworms are pretty big critters.

And they do like tomatoes.

This one is red, up in the garden, carrot plants, sprout, and pea blossoms bloom,

and wasps around the prowl, and honeybees visit, legs loaded with pollen.

Yeah, because those are pollinators, right?

And they're helping the plants grow.

It's important to have pollination in order for seeds to do what they need to do, to blossom and bloom.

I weed and wilt and sun so strong, even Nana looks for shade.

Down in the dirt, earthworms, tunnel, deep.

I'm jealous of their cool, damp, dark.

In the picture, we can see them down there hiding out.

Digging around in the dirt.

Sometimes it's hard to be a human when you're out in the hot sun.

I recommend wearing a hat.

Yeah.

And we'll try to wear a hat.

Yeah.

Up in the garden, rain shower!

Nana turns the hose on me.

We see her running because, oh yeah.

In order to take care of those seeds that they have planted, they have to also water them.

Yeah, sunshine is only part of it.

The plants need sun and water.

I hide behind the cucumber vines, but their leaves can't save me.

I shiver and laugh, drenched in Nana's rain.

And down in the dirt, water soaks deep.

Roots drink it in and a long, like it's spider.

Stilt walks over the streams.

And we can see that spider.

He likes to be where those cucumber plants are because there's other little insects that will climb around inside of them, like aphids or things like that.

You don't want to have those in your garden, but those spiders will eat them up.

And so will the ladybugs.

Speaking of ladybugs.

And aphids.

Up in the garden, there's so much to eat!

Ladybugs feast on aphids.

What was I saying? Same thing, right?

Nana crunches green beans.

I bite a ripe tomato warm from the sun and juice dribbles down my chin.

Looks like she needs a napkin.

Down in the dirt, a robin's beak finds a cricket and a beetle and a grub.

Slugs are scrumptious too.

Robins, which are the first birds of spring, really like to eat all the random bugs that they can.

Most birds do.

They're out there eating the bugs.

Which is good and bad, because you also want to have some bugs in your garden, but not all of them.

Up in the garden, we pick cukes and zucchini harvesting into the dark.

Bats swoop through the sunflowers as I pick as I plucked June bugs from the basil.

Bats swoop through the sunflowers and I plucked June bugs from the basil until it's time for pad.

It's a beautiful picture.

That is a beautiful picture.

Down in the dirt, skunks work the night shift.

They snuffle and dig and gobble cutworms while I sleep.

Yeah, they will eat those inconvenient insects.

But you don't want to mess with a skunk.

You're happy that they come out at night and not during the day.

Because out at night, they can do what they need to do undisturbed, but during the day.

You might get a spray from their smelly side, right?

That's no good.

Up in the garden, a praying mantis wakes to hunt mosquitoes.

Nana sprays away the aphids and I'm after grasshoppers.

Ready to swoosh, but in the picture we can see she's got a net.

She's catching grasshoppers in a bug catching net.

Snap!

Someone else is faster.

Down in the dirt, a smooth, shining garter snake crunches on supper.

Because as you know, snakes will also eat big old bugs.

And this particular garter snake is no exception.

Jump up in the garden, the wind grows cool.

It begins blush orange and sunflowers bow to September.

And Nana ties them together to build a house for reading.

Ah, the season so changed again in this story.

Down in the dirt, an orb weaver.

Which is a kind of spider, right?

Spins her web, strand by silken strand.

She'll munch on moths tonight.

And in the picture we see she's caught moths.

Yum yum yum.

If you're a spider.

Up in the garden, colored leaves litter the squash vines.

And we know the gold is coming.

Hurry hurry and harvest.

There's enough for our neighbors too.

And so you can see they're going through and picking up all the stuff that needs to be picked up and eaten.

Before the wind changes into what?

Snow.

No.

Down in the dirt, frantic ants gather what we leave behind their storing food for cooler days ahead.

Up in the garden, frost draws lace.

On leftover leaves were secret a sacks.

Hang.

Waiting for the warm to return.

We say goodbye and spread the winter blankets.

Down in the dirt, beetles burrow.

Ants scurry home.

Earthworms curl tight in the dark.

Hmm.

Well, they got to keep themselves warm somehow.

When grandpa calls us in for soup, an autumn moon is rising.

Up in the garden, dry corn stalks.

Tremble and the wind smells like winter.

But the long ripe days of summer still rest in the garden beds and the lady bugs and the bumblebees and the earthworms in the ants are hunkered down, hiding and biting their time.

Dreaming of sunshine and blossoms and sprouts.

Under the bear arm of trees and the blanketing snow, a whole new garden sleeps down in the dirt.

And that is what seasons do.

Before you know it, it's time for spring again.

And that, my dear friends, is, yep, that's the cycle.

And it is also the end.

Is there anything else you want to say?

Hope you can join us for another story tomorrow.

Need to.