8.2.25 - Part 2

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to Reis Charns story out as a reminder.
Ray Ei is a reading service intended for people who
are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
to read printed material. Today we will be reading from
various books on plants and trees. Your reader today is Diane.
We will begin with the book Seed to Plant and

(00:25):
it was published by National Geographic Society has a copyright
year of twenty fourteen and the author is Christian bird
red A teeny. What is a plant? Plant is a
living thing. It stays in one place, but it grows
and changes just like you. Plants can be big or small.

(00:48):
Some have flowers. Others also grow fruit. Trees are plants too.
Plants are a big part of our world. Farmers grow
bergs and vegetables. These plants give us food. Some plants
can be used to make clothing. Your t shirt is
made from cotton plants. Other plants are cozy homes for animals.

(01:12):
Parts of a plant. You can use your body to
remember the parts of a plant. Your arms are like leaves.
Your body is like a stem. Feed are like roots.
Roots hold the plant in the ground. The stem helps
the plant stand up. Tall leaves soak up the sunlight.
How does a plant begin? One, let's dig in. Most

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plants start as a seed. Two the seed splits open,
A shoot pushes out. This is called germination. A new
plant is beginning. A seedling starts to grow. Roots reach
down into the soil. A stem pushes up into the air.
A plant grows just like you. A plant grows bigger

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and bigger. The roots spread out and down into the soil.
The stem gets thicker and stronger. More leaves and branches grow.
What do plants need? Water and some food come from
the soil. The roots soak them up. Sunlight in the
air enter through the leaves. Plants use them to make
more food. Plants also need a space to grow. Six

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fun plant facts. One This palm tree seed can weigh
as much as a fourth grader. It's the heaviest seed
in the world. Two. Scrub a dub in the tub.
Plants are used in many soaps and shampoos. Three the
paper for this book was made from trees. For one
sunflower can make as many as one thousand seeds. Five.

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Bamboo grows the fastest of any plant. It can grow
as tall as three year old kid in one day. Six.
The tallest living tree is taller than the Statue of
Liberty in New York, USA. Flowers bloom. Many plants grow flowers.
They start as a bump called a bud. The bud

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slowly opens, petals gently unfold. Surprise, it's a flower. Sticky pollen.
Flowers make a sticky powder called pollen. Pollen sticks to
birds and bees when they fly from flower to flower.
Then the pollen rubs off on other flowers. This is
called pollination. It helps flowers make seeds. Pollination the moving

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of pollen from one flower to another. This makes seeds
grow seeds. Plans keep seeds in different places. Many plants
grow a case around the seeds. The case is called
a pod. Peas and maple tree seeds grow in pods.
Orange seeds are different. Their seeds are on the inside,

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but strawberry seeds are on the outside. Now the seeds
take a trip. Some float on the wind, others are
carried away by animals. The seeds fall to the ground.
Soon they sprout or germinate. A new plant begins. Past
The plants please people and plants to eat plants to

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stay healthy. How many plants did you eat today? Make
your garden grow. You can grow your own bean plant.
Ask a grown up for help. You'll need one lima
bean seed, a cup of water, a four inch flower pot,
glass shar or paper cup, and soil. One. Soak your

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seed in a cup of water overnight. Two fill the
flower pot with soil. Push your seed down into the
soil about one inch. Three, Add a little water to
moisten the soil. Four. Place the pot in a warm,
sunny spot at a little water. Whenever the soil gets dry.
Your seed should sprout within one week. Our next book

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is titled The Cottonwood Tree and it was published by
Tillbury House Publishers with the copyright ear of twenty twenty one.
Was written by Serena Mangus. I am a teeny tiny
brown seed sleeping in a fluffy white bed. My bed
is warm and cozy as it rocks gently in the

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breeze day after day, until one day suddenly I feel
too hot. Pop. Cottonwood trees live in the riparian zone
that borders the lake pond of Marsh River or Stream.
This special zone crease of buffer between the aquatic ecosystem
of the water body and the terrestrial ecosystem of the

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surrounding dry land. Cotton was and other water loving trees
and shrubs sink the roots deep into the rich, moist
rap Haerian soil. They slow floodwater, stabilize river banks, filter
contaminated water, shade and cool the surface waters, and provide
homes to birds, animals, and insects. I join millions of

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other seeds, flying like snow through the air. I float
for miles and miles on the wind, drifting here and there.
Where will I stop. Cottonwood fruit pods ex float in
early summer to release thousands of tiny brown seeds. Each
seed is attached to soft white fibers that act like
sails in the wind, helping disperse the seeds great distances

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from the parent tree. Seeds that land between rocks or
in crevices contain fallen leaves or soil have the best
chance of growing into new trees. At last time land
on a river bank, I settle between the rocks and rest.
I am one of the lucky ones. I've land in
a place where I can grow. I am a cotton
wood seeds. I stretch, cracking my seed coat, reaching for water.

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My roots grow deep into the river bank. I feel
cramped inside my coat, straining with all my might, I
push it off me. I straighten my small stem, spread
two little green leaves, and stretch high into the air
to bathe in the warm sun. Every day I grow
a little taller, addy, more branches, and glossy green leaves.
I cannot wait to be to be big and strong.

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I am a cottonwood sprout. Cottonwoods from one of the
fastest growing trees in North America and can live fifty
to one hundred and fifty years or more. They can
grow up to six feet a year and reach over
eighty feet tall with a trunk six feet in diameter.
The largest known cottonwood tree lived in Colorado and was
believed to be more than three hundred years old, was

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one hundred five feet tall and thirty six feet around
at its space. Like other plants, cottonwood trees food by
combining energy from the sun with water, nutrients from the soil,
and carbon de oxide from the air. On my first birthday,
a woman or baby visit me. They sip aside my

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small branches, eating a picnic, and watch a mother duck
in or ducklings floating along the river. The baby giggles
and hugs my thin trunk. I am a cottonwood. Singing
Mathlards are among the most common ducks throughout the world.
Female mallards usually hatch eight to thirteen ducklings each spring.

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The fluffy yellow ducklings can swim as soon as they hatch.
On my second birthday, deer visit me. They scratch their
thick fur on my trunk, nibble my new growth, and
wrist in the shade of my leaves. I'm glad the
deer don't eat all of me, and I'm glad they
don't push me over. I am a cottling sapling. Deer

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have a big appetite for saplings. They eat leaves and
young twigs in large numbers. Deer can kill a sapling
by eating all the new growth or by breaking the
saplings trunk. By my six birth I am as tall
as a school bus, standing on his nose. Each spring,
my sticky leaf buds open to reveal bright green leaves.

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Young cottonwoods have thin, smooth, gray green bark that becomes thick, rough,
and deeply grooved as the tree grows older. A little
boy visits me. He smiles as he listens to the
wind rustling my leaves, climbing up to my lower branches.
Now strong enough to hold him, he sits nestled against
my trunk. Running his hands across my smooth bark, he

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counts the ducks floating on the river. He jumps down
and gives me a hug. He is my friend. I
am a cottonwood tree. Cottonwood leaves are generally triangular, with
small teeth on their margins. Some take the shape of
a heart. Only the narrow leaf cottonwood and its subspecies,
the lance leave cottonwood, have long and narrow leaves. Perching

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songbirds have four toes, three pointed forward and one backward
to help them hang onto branches. I have other friends too,
perching birds returning spring. Some like robins and warblers, tuck
small cup like nests among my branches. Others, like the
oriole we plant fibers and spider webs into sock like

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nests hanging from my limbs. Before long, these nests are
filled with baby birds. They peep, sheep, cheap, and chirp,
begging their parents for food. Soon they are fluttering from
branch to branch, protected by my canopy of leaves. One
day they fly away to explore their own new worlds.

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I am Nature's nursery. I am a cottonwood tree. Most
perching birds like colored eggs. The young hatch featherless and blind,
but they grow quickly and leave the nest within ten
to thirty days, depending on the species. Even then, the
fledgings stay near their parents until they are are fully independent.

(11:04):
By my tenth birthday. I grow long, green flowers as
well as my new leave. Each spring, the flowers become
fruit pods, dressing me in streams of green pearls that
dance in the wind. In early summer, my pods burst open,
releasing tiny brown seeds wrapping a fluffy white fibers. My cotton.
Female cotton with trees grow green floral spikes called cat skins.

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Each cat can is made of numerous flowers. Male cottonwoods
grow purple red cat cans, and these produce pollen that
is carried by the wind to pollinate the female catkins.
After pollination, the female flowers develop fruit pods, and in
the early summer, these release. They're cotton like fluff with

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tiny seeds attached. My seeds sell on the breeze up
and down the river, and some will find a perfect
place to set on grow. I am a mother. Now
I am a cottonwood tree. Some perching birds or cavity nesters,
and so are many ducks and owls. Sometimes when a

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strong wind house, a few of my branches snap and break,
leaving hose where they used to grow. Birds, mammals, and
bees arrive to nest in these hose. Living within my
hollow spaces, my new friends take shelter and raise their young.
I am a natural condominium. I am a cottonwood tree.
Cavity nesters are animals and birds that nest inside the

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trunks of trees and hoes made by birds such as woodpeckers,
or left by fallen branches. Common cavity nesting animals include squirrels, raccoons, possam,
and even bats. Wild honey bees can survive many years
in one tree cavity. A teenager visits me. As he
hugs my trunk, I notice he can no longer reach

(12:56):
all the way around me, climbing up into my branches.
He sits in his favorite place and runs his hands
over my now bumpy bark. I feel and relaxes. The
wind rustles my leaves, and ducks dabble for food. Along
the river bank. Gribbet allow bullfrog calls from the pond
behind me. The teenager climbs down to investigate and gives

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me a pat goodbye. He is my friend. I am
a lookout tower. I am a cottonwood tree bottoms up.
Dabbling ducks feed along the surface of shallow water, or
by tipping headfirst into the water, leaving their tails in
the air. They eat aquatic plants, vegetation, insects, and larvae.

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Areas of still water occur where river water is collected
and cannot easily drain. These ponds make perfect habitat for amphibians,
bull frogs and coarse frogs, reptiles, painted turtles, insects, dragonflies,
and crawled down Insects climb up and down my groove trunk,

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and back and forth along my branches. Some climb into
the crevices of my thick bark, looking for a place
to spin a web, a cocoon, or hang inside a crysalices.
Beetles drilling to me, laying eggs under my bark. Many
insects live on cottonwood trees, and spiders, mites, butterfly, caterpillars

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and other enjoy the sweet sugary sap that runs under
the bark, through the branches, and out to the tips
of the leaves. Thank goodness for the insect eating birds
that come to feast. Thank goodness for the woodpeckers who
pick my bark searching for beetles. We all live in harmony,
the insects, the birds, and me. I am Nature's bed
and breakfast. I am a cottonwood tree. The cottonwood boor beetle,

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found in North America east of the Rocky Mountains, drills
into the base of the tree and lays its eggs
under the bark. When the larvae hatch, they eat the
softwood under the bark and in the trees roots. After
pupitating in the root zone, the beetles tow their way
out and fly away. Cotton tree wood trees were used

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by Native Americans to mark their trails, as many meeting
places and hiding places when hunting bison. The wood we
used for toys, tpee posts, ceremonial posts, and canoes. When
food was scarce, cottonwood branches were fed to horses. A
young man visits me in autumn. He smiles when he

(15:35):
sees my bright yellow leaves swaying in the wind. He
climbs up into my strong branches and settles into the
familiar place that fits him just right. The wind rustles
my leaves while ducks bring their feathers on the river bank.
Reading his college book out loud, he tells me how
cottonwood trees were used by Native Americans, early explorers, and

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pioneers as landmarks and as source of wood, food and medicine.
I'm glad my forebears could be of help. The young
man jumps down and gives me a pet goodbye. He
is my friend. I am a historical icon. I am
a cottonwood tree. The sap of cottonwood trees contains the
same substances as modern aspern Native Americans and early settlers

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chewed on the bark, made a tee from the leaves,
or made a healing ointment from the oily leaf buds.
In the spring, big beavers crisscross my roots at night.
They are always busy gnawing on my trunks, tough outer bark,
chewing off my lower branches, or collecting those that have fallen.

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Beavers make dams and rivers and streams to slow the
water flow and then make lodges in the ponds that
dams create. A lodge usually has two underwater entrances that
lead to two dry rooms, an interest room and a bedroom.
In the winter time, the lodge is moist wills freeze,
adding insulation to keep the beaver family warm and dry.

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Carrying my limbs to the river lodge, they eat the
nutritious wood and feed my soft twigs and leaves to
their young kits. Stocking and peeling the leftover sticks. They
expand the river dam or reinforce the water tight lodge.
I am glad that I can help. I am Nature's lumberyard.
I am a cottonwood tree. Beaver dams benefit the ecosystem

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by creating wetland habitat for other species, reducing flooding, filtering pollutants,
and providing a nursery area for fish and warm, well
oxenated water for frogs. Beavers are mostly nocturnal, but you
can find evidence of where they have been by looking
for shoe marks on trees, down saplings, or piles of

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fallen branches. A man and a young girl visit me.
The girl smiles as the wind rustles my leaves in
a pair of ducks float on the river. The man
tells her how I've grown in the thirty years he
has visited me. Picking up a fallen twig, she cries, look, daddy,
a star lives in the twig. Yes, let me tell

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you the Native American tale about the stars and the
cottonwood tree. When the father is finished, the girl looks
up at me with big round eyes. Let's come back
one night when it's windy, she exclaims. As they leave,
the father gives me a pet goodbye. He is my friend.
I am a natural legend. I am a cottonwood tree.

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The Plains Indians, the Chyenne and araw Pio, believe that
all things come from Mother Earth's stars are no exception.
They form secretly in the earth and then drift among
under the surface until they find the roots of the
magical cottonwood tree. They enter the roots and slowly work
their way up through the tree. Finally they come to

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rest in the small twigs at the ends of the branches,
where they wait patiently until they are needed. Then, when
the spirit of the nice sky decides she needs more
beautiful stars to light up the heavens, she calls on
the wind spirit to help her. He sends wind gusts
so hard that the twigs of the cottonwood tree begin

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to break off. As each twig breaks off, the stars
are released and race up to a special place in
the sky where they twinkle brightly to say thank you.
I'm an old tree. Now in fifty years, my boughs
have become thick and strong. Hawks filled large nests in
mahas branches. A pair of bald eagles returning cheer to

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add their enormous platform nest, now as heavy as a horse.
In the wintertime, their emptiness are all that can be
seen in my bare branches. I look forward to another
spring when these magnificent birds will return to raise more chicks.
I am Mary, I am a cottonwood tree. Birds of
prey build huge flat platform nest also known as ares.

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These birds, when possible, reuse the same nest year after year,
adding to its size and weight. Bald eagles build the
largest nest, some weighing up to a thousand pounds. Seasons
come and go many more years past. My trunk continues
to grow until I am as white as a pickup truck.

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My shape changes at the as the wind twist me
and breaks off more and more of my old, fragile limbs.
One day, the wind is too strong. It breaks me
into and sends me crashing on the ground. Kaboom, ducks
come to take shelter within my fallen branches. Fish swim by,

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rest in the new shade, and nibble at the insects
crowding around me. Some branches float downstream, getting caught in
the beaver dam. Collecting this bzananza of leaves and twigs.
The beavers keep their family fed and warm. I'm glad
I can still help my friends. I am Nature's benefactor.
I am a cottonwood tree. And ecosystem is made up

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of living and non living and dead things. A fallen
tree branch, once living, is now dead, but still provides
food and shelter to many insects and animals. Non living things,
including air and water, shape the types of plants and
animals that can live in an ecosystem. On my eightieth birthday,
and oh Man visits me. He sheds a tears. He

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looks at my limbs in the river. Then he knows
this several young sprouts growing from my roots. He smiles,
he laughs, He knows I am not done yet. He
is my friend. I look forward to the day as
great grandchildren come to visit me. I endure I am
a cottonwood tree. Cottonwood trees reproduced from seas, but they

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can also reproduce by vegetative regrowth from strumps, roots, or branches.
Such regrowth with his most successful and younger trees, but
older trees with healthy established root systems can regrow from
their roots and stumps. Our next book is titled Echo

(22:12):
Girl and it was published by candle Wick Press. It
has a copyright ear of twenty twenty two and the
author's Ken Wilson mix. Eve lived at the edge of
a big old forest with trees as far as she
could see. She loved the forests and all the animals
and birds in it, but she loved the trees most

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of all. Her favorite was bowbab tree. Eve wondered if
the trees talked to one another, what did they talk about.
I wish I was a bow that so I could
talk to the trees, said Eve one day at breakfast.
Being a tree is all about patience, little sprouts, said Mom.
I can be patient, said Eve as she waited for

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her juice. That afternoon, Dad told Eve how each tree
has its own special part to plan in the world,
taking care of animals and people. I can help look
after everything. I'm echo girl, said Eve, putting some bird
seated on the window sill. The day before Eve's birthday, Mom,
dad and Eve left to visit Grandma. Deep in the

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forest the end of the road. Mom said, everybody out,
even little sprouts. I'm not a sprout anymore, said Eve. Okay,
my echo girl. What's bigger than a sprout, asked Mom.
A sampling, Eve said, with a giggle, standing as tall
as she could. They walked for a long time, with
trees all around them. Eve wanted to ask if they

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were almost there, but she remembered to be patient, like
a tree. At last, they turned a corner and there
was Grandma. Eve ran to her grandma, Grandma, would you
talk to me if I was a foulbab tree. Of
course I would, little sprout, Grandma said, laughing. Trees need
lots of love and care. I'm a sapling now, Eve said, proudly, Well,

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saplings need even more love and care. Grandma said, giving
Eve a hug, and tomorrow is a special day. The
next day was Eve's birthday. It was raining, but she
ran outside. She listened to the hissing rain. Then stood
like a tree and felt the warm raindrops tap tapping
on her hands. She watched the water mix with the

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red soil. Tired plants lifted up their leaves and reached
for the sky. It looked like magic. When the rain stopped,
Grandma came out holding something wrapped and bark. What's that,
asked Eve, trying to see inside. Let's go and find out,
said Grandma with a grin, and they all follow Grandma
into the forest. They came to a place where the

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sun shone down through the treetops. This is where new
life starts. A little sapling, said Grandma, picking up a pebble.
She gave Eve the bark wrapped package. Sights. Eve found
a plant and a trowel. She stroked the green leaves.
What is it, she asked, Patience, said Grandma with a

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big smile. Dig a small hoe, put in the plant
and cover it with soil. Then set this pebble next
to it. When the plant was in the earth, Eve
laid down the pebble. Then Grandma said, this is a
bow bab ceiling. It will grow into a sprout, then
a sapling like you. It is next to your dad's tree,

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which stands next to my tree, and my tree stands
next to my mother's tree. All these trees were planted
by our family. One day, yours will be as big
as the other trees in this forest. Grandma hugged Eve.
Can you love and care for your tree the same
way your dad and I and the rest of our
family care for our trees. Ee felt very proud. She

(25:53):
stood next to her seedling and called out, yes, I can,
And mom and dad and grandma all said Happy birthday,
Echo girl. This concludes the children's story for our for today.
Please join us next time as we will read more stories,
fables and fairy tales. Thank you for listening, and please

(26:15):
stay tuned for the Lexington Herald Leader on RADIOI