Bedtime with Mrs.
Honeybee Today,
We'll be going on an adventure in the Honeybee neighborhood where a special delivery is already on its way just for you.
All you have to do is close your eyes,
Get cozy,
And listen to the sound of my voice.
Mrs.
Honeybee will be your guide.
Let's begin.
You are here in the Honeybee neighborhood,
About to turn the corner and walk up our driveway to knock on the door.
As you walk,
Enjoying the sunshine and the warm breeze,
You hear footsteps behind you.
Who could that be?
You walk a little faster toward the brightly colored front door.
You're just about there.
Right foot,
Left foot,
Right foot,
Left foot.
Just then,
You feel a tap,
Tap,
Tap on your shoulder.
You slowly turn around to see our friendly mail carrier smiling back at you.
Hi there!
He can't even remember the last time he saw you,
But he is so,
So happy to see you now.
He's in a rush today.
He has more packages than he does time,
And you're just the help he needs.
The mail carrier looks down to rummage through his enormous messenger bag.
He has a very special delivery.
He knows he can trust you with this package that was sent urgently with a fragile sticker on it.
If he could only find it,
He needs to deliver it because there's no return address.
He asks you to hold what was in his hands,
And you grab a stack of magazines and envelopes from him.
The mail carrier continues to dig through his bag,
Placing more and more packages that tower in your outstretched arms.
It's a struggle to balance it all,
But he knows he had it in here somewhere.
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Distill your mind and find balance.
Then,
Slowly,
Breathe out through your mouth.
Your exhale blows the front cover of the Honey Bee Neighborhood bulletin up.
Peek over the pile of packages to see a glimpse of an upcoming neighborhood-wide ceremony.
But the mail carrier finds the package before you can even get a good look.
He quickly takes everything from you and,
In exchange,
Hands you the tiniest box you've ever seen.
You take it from him and see the bright orange fragile sticker,
And that it's addressed to Mrs.
Honey Bee.
You sign your name on the mail carrier's scanner,
And it beeps when it's accepted.
He rushes off down the driveway to deliver the rest of his packages for the rest of the day,
And you spin around to walk up to the front door.
What can be so tiny and so important inside this package?
You inspect it on all sides and hold it up to your ear,
Wondering whether you can hear anything.
In all of this,
You still haven't knocked on the door.
You lift your hand to now,
But before you can,
You hear Harold rushing to the door and Melody Bee shouting from inside.
They're here!
They're here!
The seats are here!
Yes,
Harold,
I do too know that they're here.
The pigeons sent their signal.
Wait,
I always forget how to unlock this door.
Is it this way?
No,
No,
It's this way.
Actually,
It goes this way,
And like this.
Not expecting anyone to be on the other side and unable to contain their excitement at the delivery,
Both Harold and Melody Bee dash out of the house and right into you.
When they realize it's you,
They give you a big hug instead and completely forget about the delivered package.
Harold jumps up on your legs,
Eagerly waiting to be pet,
Then sits down at your feet.
Hello,
My little honeybee.
I'm so happy you're here.
What do you have there?
Did I hear someone say that the seeds are here?
Oh,
Hello,
My little honeybee.
It's so nice to see you again.
Oh,
That must be the seeds for the.
.
.
Well,
You'll see.
Come on in.
Now that you're here,
We'll be able to get started on one of the most important events in Honeybee Neighborhood history.
Harold never lets you out of his sight when you're here.
Harold,
Give our friends space to walk in the door at least.
Silly pup.
Still holding the package,
You walk through the open door with Harold happily trotting by your side,
Wearing a big puppy smile.
We will sit down at the kitchen table where freshly baked cookies are cooling.
Mr.
Honeybee pulls a chair out for you,
Our special guest.
This is where you usually sit when you visit,
Right?
We always think of this as your chair at the dinner table.
You sit down in the comfy chair and place the tiny box on the table next to the glass that Melody B fills up with freshly squeezed lemonade.
We all sit around the table looking at the package.
Melody B asks,
Did you shake it?
How do they sound?
These seeds traveled so far.
You pick it up and lightly shake it for everyone to hear.
Ooh,
They sound strong.
This is so exciting.
Well,
My little Honeybee,
You intercepted a very important delivery that traveled all the way down the Honey River to get to us.
What's in that box will be with us with the Honeybee neighborhood for the next 300 years,
Or maybe even 400.
You are such a special part of the neighborhood that we wanted to make sure you were here when we started this important process.
We're going to plant an oak tree.
Can you believe it?
An oak tree in the middle of the Honeybee neighborhood for hundreds of years.
As you know,
The mighty oak grows from the tiniest acorn.
Once we get it started,
The whole neighborhood is going to be a part of a very special tree planting ceremony.
This isn't just any tree.
It will be at the heart center of the Honeybee neighborhood,
And it will grow along with us,
Nurtured by all the love and friendship found here.
We can watch it grow over the years.
Maybe we can even build a tree house when it's big enough.
And to have a tire swing or a hammock or both.
It will be the perfect addition to the neighborhood.
Go ahead,
Do us the honors of opening the package.
You look to the sides of the tiny box to see where you can open it.
You pull a flap up on the side and peek inside.
There's an even tinier paper bag.
You slowly pull it out and unwrap four little acorns.
One by one,
You place them gently on the table in a line.
They are each wearing little beige caps and wobble as they settle on the tabletop.
Mr.
Honeybee steps away for a moment to grab something from the kitchen cover.
These are four of the best acorns harvested from the mightiest oak tree in the whole forest.
Hopefully,
At least one of these will be strong enough to be our Honeybee neighborhood tree.
We will,
Of course,
Have to do the float test first.
Melody B picks up one of the acorns and holds it up close,
Inspecting it.
You do the same.
Reach out to pick up one of the tiny acorns between your fingertips and hold it up to your eye.
This teeny tiny acorn that's no bigger than your fingertip now will grow over 70 feet high.
That's two two-story houses stacked on top of each other.
It just goes to show that no matter how great something seems,
It started off as something very,
Very small.
Just like us,
The tree has to be ready to experience its own greatness.
Until then,
It quietly grows.
Mr.
Honeybee comes back from the cupboard and places two more glasses down on the table,
Each one in front of a seed.
He then goes back to the cupboard and comes back with two more glasses.
You set the acorn back down on the table so he can put a glass in front of it.
Then you take a refreshing drink of the sweet lemonade.
Harold jumps up into your lap for a better view of the acorns.
You pet his fluffy ears as Mr.
Honeybee continues.
We just need to do a quick experiment to determine which of the seeds are ready to become oak trees.
First,
We fill up all these cups with water.
Then we put the acorns in the water to see if any of them float.
Did you know the float test also works with eggs?
You can tell which eggs are fresh if they stay at the bottom of the water.
If they float,
They're not fresh eggs.
Same with these acorns.
We're going to be acorn scientists this afternoon.
Before we dunk the acorns,
We need to remove their caps.
Sitting around the table,
We each take one of the acorns and gently pull their beige caps off.
Harold holds his snout up to sniff the acorn cap.
He tries to eat it like he tries to eat everything,
But you make sure he doesn't get it.
You set the acorn and its cap back on the table out of the reach of Harold's snout.
All five of the acorns are solid and strong.
It doesn't look like the birds or the worms got to them yet.
Sometimes,
Acorns will be hollowed out by little forest creatures.
If so,
The little holes will make the acorn float and we know they won't germinate or sprout.
We need heavy acorns that stay at the bottom of the glass.
Mr.
Honeybee picks up the first acorn that's closest to him.
He plops it into the water.
And it falls all the way to the bottom.
Little bubbles float up to the top and we all watch in anticipation.
The acorn wobbles side to side at the bottom of the glass until it slowly begins to float up to the top.
This one won't work.
I'll go next.
Melodybee's acorn doesn't even make it to the bottom of the glass before it begins to float and settles on the surface of the water.
Ugh,
Darn.
Okay,
Your turn,
Little Honeybee.
Holding Harold with one arm,
You pick up the acorn that's closest to you with the other hand.
Then you reach over to the glass of water and drop the acorn in.
It sinks all the way to the bottom and seems to stay there.
We watch for a couple more seconds in case it decides to float like the other one.
It continues to stay at the bottom.
That means this acorn is good to go.
This is the last one.
Do you think it's going to float?
I think it will sink.
I can just tell.
I don't know.
It might be a floater in disguise.
We'll see.
Here it goes.
The acorn sinks slowly down,
Much slower than the others.
As we watch closely,
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
When you breathe all the way out through your mouth,
Let yourself be heavy and sink down,
Down,
Down,
To be even more cozy.
It looks like the acorn floats perfectly still in the middle of the glass.
It bobs back up a little,
Then falls all the way to the bottom where it settles.
This is another contender.
We have two acorns that are ready to move on to the next step.
We just need two paper towels and plastic bags that can zip closed.
The heavy,
Healthy seeds that sink to the bottom will need to germinate next.
Seeds like to germinate in cool,
Dark places,
Just like how us humans like to sleep when it's cool and dark.
When we sleep,
Our brains restore our bodies and replenish our energy.
When seeds are in cool,
Dark places,
They open up and send out their sprouts.
You take one of the paper towels and dip it into the glass of water until it's completely submerged.
Then you take it out and wring it out until all the water drips away.
We lay the paper towels out flat on the table and wrap each of the seeds in their own paper towel blanket.
This will give them enough moisture to sprout.
Once they're wrapped up,
We place them in the plastic bag,
Zip them up,
And let them rest for as long as they need.
We can put them in the back of the refrigerator where it's cool and dark so they acclimate to what it would be like to live outside in the honeybee neighborhood.
Harold jumps down to lead the way to the refrigerator.
You open the door and place both baggies on one of the back shelves.
You see a container of Harold's treats on the same shelf.
Since he's been such a good boy,
You take a treat out and ask him to sit.
He quickly sits,
Waiting for the next command.
You ask him to shake and hold out your hand.
He lifts his paw up to your hand and wags his tail.
You pet his head and give him his treat.
You are one of his favorite people.
We wait and wait at the germination station,
Careful not to disturb the sprouts.
When the day finally comes to check in on the acorns,
We all stand before the shells.
You grab the first baggie and carefully open it to take out the acorn and paper towel.
You gently unwrap it to reveal a strong root that has grown out of the bottom of the acorn.
A tiny green stem has sprouted out of the top and it has an even tinier leaf beginning to bud.
This is a success.
Now you check the other bag and unwrap the second acorn.
It too has a root and a sprout,
But both are much smaller than the other one.
Both acorns have developed roots and can be put in water.
We set them up in their own vases of water for the roots to get even stronger.
There they continue to grow,
Slowly at first,
But then all at once.
The stems reach for the ceiling and the leaves double,
Then triple.
In the meantime,
Mr.
Honeybee has been working on a special surprise that he's excited to show you.
Follow me out to the garage.
I've been working on this for a while,
But it's finally ready to house its first visitors.
Mr.
Honeybee leads us through the side of the garage to where he's built a little green house.
It's covered with windows to let enough sunlight in to keep the room warm enough for our plants,
Even during the winter.
Melody Bee can hardly believe her eyes.
Mr.
Honeybee,
This is incredible.
We can grow so much in here.
The first tenant of the greenhouse will be our mighty oak seedlings.
This will be the perfect place to introduce the seedlings to their new pots.
I bet the roots have doubled by now.
Let's go grab them from the window sill,
My little Honeybee.
You'll be surprised how much they've grown.
Back in the kitchen,
You take hold of one of the vases.
There are several offshoots from the main stem now,
And several leaves.
This is the strongest seedling.
You peek into the vase to see the roots have tangled around each other.
Roots love to be tangled like that.
The other acorn has grown a single stem and several leaves.
Both of these are in great shape and are ready to be introduced to the outdoors,
Where one of them will eventually live for the next few hundred years.
We walk back to the greenhouse where Mr.
Honeybee and Melody Bee have set up two pots that we will plant the seedlings in.
Harold was very helpful to get us gardening gloves and a watering can.
Thank you,
Harold.
You're such a good helper.
Mr.
Honeybee,
Can you grab us a shovel and that big bag of potting soil?
Of course,
My dear.
With that,
We're all ready to plant our seedlings in their pots.
You dig the shovel into the bag of soil and fill each of the pots about halfway.
Then you hold the vase in the strongest seedling still,
While Melody Bee very carefully flutters above the leaves and gently pulls the stem out of the vase.
The tangled knot of roots slowly emerges.
So many have grown in such a short period of time that they have taken the shape in the vase.
Melody Bee flutters over the pot and lowers the first seedling into the soil,
Where we very gently cover the roots with more soil until they're fully tucked in.
You run your garden-gloved hand over the top of the soil and pat it down to make room for even more.
This soil is full of nutrients that the Honeybee Neighborhood Oak tree will need to grow up strong.
You put the last layer of soil along the top of the pot and Melody Bee sprinkles some of the magic plant food on the very top.
We do the second one the same way and then water both of them thoroughly,
Until water drips out from the hole in the bottom and fills up the little tray.
The roots are very thirsty and will drink this quickly,
So we'll need to make sure to water and measure the seedlings every few days.
You are very diligent about checking in on the seedlings and making sure they have everything they need.
You take excellent care of them,
Just like I knew you would.
The seedlings are both growing even more.
When we began,
The strongest seedling was about two inches tall.
Under your care,
It more than tripled its size.
Now it stands over six inches tall.
Mr.
Honeybee double checks the measurements and it's actually seven and a half inches tall.
The seedlings can be transplanted into their forever spot when they're at least six inches tall.
You took such good care of our oak tree that now it's more than ready.
The other seedling would like more time to grow,
So we'll let this one take all the time it needs.
Perhaps this one wants to grow into a bonsai tree.
No matter how a tree grows up or how big it gets,
It will be perfect just as it is.
How boring the Honeybee neighborhood would be if all trees were exactly the same.
As you took care of these special seedlings,
You might have noticed,
But they seem to have grown just as you have.
Following your lead,
These seedlings have grown in their own unique ways and are well on their way to becoming the most perfect seedlings they can be.
Just like you are growing,
A little every day into the most perfect you.
Stronger,
Smarter,
And kinder than you were yesterday.
When you come back the next time,
We will be ready to transplant the tree on the hill in the center of the Honeybee neighborhood.
You arrive back at the greenhouse to measure the seedling.
It's now 10 inches tall and so strong.
You pick up the pot from the table and see a flyer sitting under it.
There's a ring of water that dripped through the bottom of the pot,
But you're still able to read it.
This is a copy of the Honeybee Neighborhood Bulletin that's announcing the tree planting ceremony,
Which is taking place today.
All of the neighbors are invited to see you break ground on top of the hill where this mighty oak seedling will preside over the Honeybee Neighborhood for centuries.
You are the guest of honor and everyone will be so happy to see you.
Melody B joins you in the greenhouse carrying a little pouch of special plant food.
Mr.
Honeybee comes out of the garage with a wheelbarrow and sets it down just outside the door.
Are you ready to transplant the Honeybee Neighborhood oak tree,
My little Honeybee?
Together,
We walk to the center of the neighborhood carrying the seedling,
Some extra soil,
And Harold in the wheelbarrow.
The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day to plant the tree.
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Feel your chest and your spirits lift with excitement.
Then,
Slowly,
Breathe out through your mouth as we arrive at the oak trees forever home.
Here in the middle of the Honeybee Neighborhood,
There's a sprawling park with tall green grass.
Today,
It's full of people who are grateful to spend this special time with us.
For years to come,
As the oak tree and the neighborhood grow,
We will all be able to remember the day we planted this tree.
When it's 70 feet tall,
We'll be able to say we knew it when it was just 7 inches tall.
What a precious memory we are making together.
The seedling will be transplanted up on the top of this little hill that we need to walk up.
Left foot,
Right foot,
Left foot,
Right foot.
When we get to the top,
Mr.
Honeybee sets the wheelbarrow down and we prepare the supplies.
We have our gloves,
Our shovels,
Watering cans,
And a few other things we'll need.
The rest of the neighborhood joins us at the top of the hill as the ceremony commences.
Hello,
Lovely neighbors.
Thank you so much for coming to our special celebration.
One of our best friends here,
Whom you all know,
Has taken such good care of this seedling that now it's ready to plant.
It is that much closer to being a fixture in the neighborhood that we all get to enjoy for years to come.
As you reach for the shovel,
The crowd gives you a round of applause.
You wave to everyone with a big smile on your face.
With a shovel in your hand,
You take another slow,
Deep breath in through your nose and raise the shovel up.
When you breathe out through your mouth,
You dig the shovel into the soft soil where the oak tree will live.
Everyone cheers as you dig out the rest of the hole,
Big enough for the seedling's many roots.
Before we transplant the oak tree,
We will need to make sure its new home has enough water for the roots to adapt to its new environment.
You slowly saturate the ground with water,
Letting it seep into the soil.
It takes all four of us,
But together we wiggle the oak seedling from its temporary home and lower it into its permanent home at the center of the neighborhood.
We cover the roots completely to make sure they're cozy and tucked in.
Then we pat it down gently.
Melody B sprinkles a little extra plant food as a snack for its first night in its forever home.
Mr.
Honeybee carefully measures 10 feet out from where the tiny tree is currently planted.
He walks step by step until he's 10 feet away.
This is how far the roots will spread underground.
Within that circumference,
A 10-foot circle around the tree,
We cannot let any other plants grow.
The roots are very delicate when they're young and growing,
So we all need to protect this space.
Melody B notices a little plant that has sprouted in the middle of that circle.
She flutters down to the ground and carefully plucks it from the soil,
Roots and all.
She will give this a home back in the garden so the oak tree can have all the room its roots need.
Mr.
Honeybee brought along some extra lumber he had left over.
Around the perimeter of that 10-foot circle,
He begins to build a little fence to remind everyone of how special this space is.
Together,
We will build this little barrier all the way around the tree until we meet again where we started.
The crowd begins to thin as the ceremony comes to a close.
As everyone is walking back down the hill,
A single squirrel scurries the opposite way,
All the way up the hill to us.
Harold barks when the visitor arrives,
Doing his best not to chase our new friend.
Squirrels and oak trees have a very special relationship in nature.
Squirrels not only eat acorns,
But they also help oak trees grow more trees.
It's a very special service the squirrels provide.
They collect so many acorns that they cannot fit them all in their cheeks.
What they do is bury the acorns in secret spots like squirrel treasure.
Every so often,
A squirrel will forget where they buried their treasure,
And from that spot,
A new oak tree will grow.
This squirrel wants to help the Honeybee neighborhood oak tree grow so he can have more acorns than he's ever imagined possible.
The squirrel agrees not to bury any acorns around here so this tree can grow as big and strong as possible.
Not only that,
But the squirrel will gather a select group of his best squirrel friends to be the oak tree guardians.
Together,
They will continue your wonderful work of making sure this ceiling gets everything it needs.
They will keep it company at night when the rest of the neighbors are tucked in for sleep.
And they will make sure it stays nice and warm.
In return,
The oak tree will grow up tall and give many,
Many squirrels and birds the perfect home.
Here,
We all help each other in obvious ways and less obvious ways.
You are an important part of our Honeybee neighborhood ecosystem,
My little Honeybee.
And I'm so happy to spend time with you.
We will be able to come back and visit the oak tree to watch it grow.
In return,
Over the years,
It will watch the Honeybee neighborhood grow.
Even bigger,
Even stronger,
Even kinder than it was the day before.
Always remember that Mrs.
Honeybee believes in you.
You are special and you are loved.
We can't wait to see you again.
