In tonight’s story, we join Cuddle the Puggle as she and Kevin change the world. As little as they are, the duo have some big dreams! And this one’s wonderful. They decide there should be a Sleepy Forest community garden, where everyone can grow vegetables and fruit, and enjoy the flowers and plants. So, they take their idea to Mrs Bloomington, and soon, the plan is put in action! Relax, get sleepy, and let's begin!
Upgrade to Koko Club Today! 🔓👑
Remove the ads, enjoy bonus episodes every Wednesday and go Yearly to get a shout out from Abbe!
Start your 7-day free trial now on Spotify, Castbox & more 🤩👉https://kokoclub.supercast.com
Join via Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/joinkokoclubonapple
Follow For More Fun 🥳🪄
Check out our YouTube: @koalamoonfm
Instagram: @koalakids.fm
Tiktok: @koalakids.fm
About Koala Moon 🐨🌕
The No1 kids bedtime stories & sleep meditations podcast that helps children sleep like a dream. Hosted by the world's biggest fan of bedtime stories, Abbe Opher! All episodes are safe for babies, children and really big kids 0 to 100, so settle down tonight and get sleepy with the world's greatest bedtime stories & sleep meditations for kids.
How are we doing with the show? Let us know ✍️
Upgrade to Koko Club 🔓👑
- Bonus episodes every Wednesday.
- 100% Ad-free listening, for quicker bedtimes.
- Go YEARLY for a shout-out from Abbe.
- Exclusive 12-Hour Compilation episodes.
- The entire back catalogue of 200+ episodes.
- The full series of favourites like Hector & Sunny & Jupiter Twins.
Start your 7-day free trial now 🤩👉 https://kokoclub.supercast.com
Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Author ✍️ Jane Thomas
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of
00:00:14
Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime
00:00:20
Speaker 1: a dream. Let's start by welcoming our newest friends into
00:00:24
Speaker 1: the clubhouse. Welcome and thanks for joining us, Brave and Ronan.
00:00:29
Speaker 1: Brave has just turned nine, whoa happy birthday, and I'm
00:00:34
Speaker 1: so pleased we're announcing your shout out on a Cuddle
00:00:37
Speaker 1: the Puggle story. Although it isn't the crossover you requested,
00:00:41
Speaker 1: it's another brilliant story and I know you're going to
00:00:45
Speaker 1: really really love it. Your crossover idea is an inspired one, though,
00:00:49
Speaker 1: and we'll work on it. Also, I'd like to say
00:00:51
Speaker 1: a really big thank you to Ronan in British Columbia,
00:00:54
Speaker 1: Canada for listening so often and for the very long
00:00:57
Speaker 1: and heartwarming message your parents sent in. It really made
00:01:00
Speaker 1: my day reading how happy you are with the podcast.
00:01:03
Speaker 1: Your ideas were also genius and we're adding them to
00:01:06
Speaker 1: the list now. In tonight's story, we rejoin cudd All
00:01:10
Speaker 1: the Puggle as she and Kevin changed the world, I mean,
00:01:14
Speaker 1: actually change the world. And the wonderful thing is that
00:01:19
Speaker 1: by listening and learning from them, it is highly possible
00:01:22
Speaker 1: you could do it too. For as little as they are,
00:01:26
Speaker 1: the duo have some big dreams, and this one's wonderful.
00:01:31
Speaker 1: They decide there should be a sleepy forest community garden
00:01:35
Speaker 1: where everyone can grow vegetables and fruit and enjoy the
00:01:38
Speaker 1: flowers and plants. So they take their idea to Missus Bloomington,
00:01:43
Speaker 1: and soon that plan is put into action. Let's lie
00:01:48
Speaker 1: back in bed and imagine a garden. What comes to mind.
00:01:53
Speaker 1: Fruit trees, swushy grasses, a veggie patch, neat and tidy,
00:01:59
Speaker 1: fewer beds, perhaps big blousey roses. All of these are
00:02:06
Speaker 1: perfect for our garden. Keep flitting through images and ideas
00:02:11
Speaker 1: and filling your mind up with a blooming green space
00:02:15
Speaker 1: whilst you breathe evenly in and out in and maybe
00:02:26
Speaker 1: stretch a little, wriggle a little and imagine yourself surrounded
00:02:31
Speaker 1: with flowers. As I begin cuddle. The Puggles Community Garden
00:02:37
Speaker 1: by Jane Thomas cud All. The Puggles scratched her head
00:02:48
Speaker 1: with a pencil. She looked across at her friend Kevin,
00:02:52
Speaker 1: a bouncy young kangaroo, and he shrugged his shoulders. Nobody
00:02:56
Speaker 1: in the class seemed to know the answer to Missus
00:02:59
Speaker 1: Bloomington's question. Come on, DearS, said the big fuzzy bumblebee,
00:03:05
Speaker 1: buzzing to a halt and landing on her desk at
00:03:07
Speaker 1: the front of the class. I'm sure you must know.
00:03:12
Speaker 1: Why are bumblebees so important? Cuddle raised a tentative hand.
00:03:20
Speaker 1: Missus Bloomington nodded eagerly well said, puggle, um is it because?
00:03:30
Speaker 1: Is it? Because bumblebees know a lot and teach us
00:03:34
Speaker 1: things like you? Missus Bloomington. The bumblebee on the teacher's
00:03:38
Speaker 1: desk adjusted her glasses and sighed, she should have seen
00:03:43
Speaker 1: that one coming. You're half right, dear, Well done for trying.
00:03:50
Speaker 1: I was really hoping that someone would know just how
00:03:54
Speaker 1: much bees do. Without us, there would be no tree
00:04:00
Speaker 1: and wild flowers, and without those there would be no insects,
00:04:07
Speaker 1: and without insects there would be no birds or animals.
00:04:12
Speaker 1: The class was clearly impressed, as they all sat there
00:04:16
Speaker 1: with their mouths open. Missus Bloomington finished with a flourish
00:04:20
Speaker 1: and soared up towards the fluffy white cotton wall clouds
00:04:24
Speaker 1: that hung over the children's heads. Without bumble bees, there
00:04:30
Speaker 1: would be no sleepy forest. The class then set about
00:04:35
Speaker 1: one of Missus Bloomington's favorite Friday afternoon games. She would
00:04:39
Speaker 1: hold up a picture of a flower and they would
00:04:42
Speaker 1: all try and name it. The first was a gorgeous,
00:04:46
Speaker 1: complicated looking thing with lots of pink and white and
00:04:50
Speaker 1: some dashes of gold in the center. Yes, she said
00:04:55
Speaker 1: to an eager beaver in the corner, it was indeed, honeysuckle.
00:05:01
Speaker 1: The next was a whole field of rows of purple flowers.
00:05:06
Speaker 1: The flowers glowed with a golden light in the background,
00:05:10
Speaker 1: as if the picture had been painted just as the
00:05:13
Speaker 1: sun was starting to set. Yes, she said to Kevin,
00:05:18
Speaker 1: who bounced up and down in his chair until she
00:05:21
Speaker 1: finally picked him. It was lavender. The class went through
00:05:26
Speaker 1: a whole range of pictures, identifying wild roses and golden dandelions,
00:05:33
Speaker 1: delicate sky blue forget me nots, and gorgeous pink, fluffy
00:05:39
Speaker 1: buddlier And what else is that? Known? As missus Bloomington asked,
00:05:47
Speaker 1: and the whole class stretched their hands to the air
00:05:51
Speaker 1: and then said in a chorus, it's a butterfly bush.
00:05:58
Speaker 1: They could name flowers that didn't even grow in sleepy
00:06:01
Speaker 1: forest and that they'd only seen in pictures. They could
00:06:05
Speaker 1: name flowers by their important names, and their friendly names,
00:06:10
Speaker 1: and even some of their Latin names. This was a
00:06:14
Speaker 1: class who had learned a lot from Missus Bloomington, and
00:06:19
Speaker 1: who hung on every word the fuzzy black and yellow
00:06:22
Speaker 1: bumble Bee said. There couldn't be many young creatures around
00:06:27
Speaker 1: the world who knew that Anthriscus sylvestris was often called
00:06:32
Speaker 1: cow parsley, which was also called far more prettily Queen
00:06:38
Speaker 1: Anne's lace, and Missus Bloomington was sure that very few
00:06:43
Speaker 1: other creatures would recognize the sunshine yellow shapes of Linaria vulgaris,
00:06:49
Speaker 1: and that it was known by some as common toadflax
00:06:53
Speaker 1: and by others as far more whimsically butter and eggs.
00:06:59
Speaker 1: Flowers were the very center of Missus Bloomington's world, and
00:07:04
Speaker 1: she wanted to be sure that her class knew that,
00:07:07
Speaker 1: whether they liked it or not, flowers were very much
00:07:11
Speaker 1: at the center of their world too. So a few
00:07:16
Speaker 1: days later, when Cuddle and Kevin came up to her
00:07:19
Speaker 1: after class and presented her with the idea to create
00:07:23
Speaker 1: a small garden at the edge of the playing fields,
00:07:26
Speaker 1: it is hardly surprising that Missus Bloomington was very excited
00:07:31
Speaker 1: by it. She immediately buzzed her way across the fields,
00:07:37
Speaker 1: Cuddle and Kevin rushing to keep up so that they
00:07:40
Speaker 1: could show her the patch of ground that was neither
00:07:43
Speaker 1: used for one thing nor another. It was where the
00:07:46
Speaker 1: children of Kokobarra Kindy sometimes disappeared to if they wanted
00:07:50
Speaker 1: to share a secret or just have a few moments
00:07:54
Speaker 1: away from the busyness of the world. You see, said Cuddle.
00:07:59
Speaker 1: You said that flowers are important, and we thought we
00:08:03
Speaker 1: could put some here, and well that might be good.
00:08:08
Speaker 1: Just think how pretty it will look, too, said Kevin,
00:08:12
Speaker 1: bouncing along the edge and indicating where they could plant
00:08:16
Speaker 1: lilies and roses and lavender. The next day, during their
00:08:21
Speaker 1: lunch break, the rest of the school watched as Missus
00:08:24
Speaker 1: Bloomington's class walked in a long line across the playing fields.
00:08:29
Speaker 1: Some were carrying plants safely wrapped up in little terra
00:08:33
Speaker 1: cotta pots, and others were carrying spades or forks, and
00:08:38
Speaker 1: an alligator at the back pushed a wheelbarrow in front
00:08:41
Speaker 1: of him, and the other animals took it in turns
00:08:45
Speaker 1: to jump in and out of the wheelbarrow and be
00:08:47
Speaker 1: pushed along for a few meters before somebody else leapt
00:08:51
Speaker 1: up with a my turn, My turn. There was a
00:08:54
Speaker 1: flurry of activity for all of thirty minutes, and when
00:08:58
Speaker 1: the class had finished walking back across the playing fields,
00:09:02
Speaker 1: armed with the spades and forks and wheelbarrows, but none
00:09:06
Speaker 1: of the plants, children rushed across to see what had
00:09:10
Speaker 1: been done. They saw the little patch of forgotten ground
00:09:14
Speaker 1: had become really rather glorious, all bright colors and flowers
00:09:19
Speaker 1: turning themselves towards the sun. And in no time at all,
00:09:24
Speaker 1: word got around to the bees and butterflies, and they
00:09:28
Speaker 1: fluttered and buzzed over to enjoy the new garden. Cuddle
00:09:32
Speaker 1: was very proud to tell Snuggle and Huggle later that
00:09:36
Speaker 1: evening that it was her and Kevin's idea to create
00:09:40
Speaker 1: the little garden, And it was Snuggle who said, Wow,
00:09:45
Speaker 1: they had done such a wonderful job in such a
00:09:48
Speaker 1: short space of time. Why didn't they try and do
00:09:51
Speaker 1: something bigger? Cuddle was rolling the idea around in her mind.
00:09:56
Speaker 1: The next morning, when she went to catch the alligator
00:09:59
Speaker 1: bust school, Apollo came into view cap in place, slowly
00:10:06
Speaker 1: moving his way along the river of tranquility, and Cuddle
00:10:11
Speaker 1: and her brother and sister hopped aboard and leaned back
00:10:15
Speaker 1: against the scales. Cuddles stared out at the river bank
00:10:20
Speaker 1: as they passed by, looking at the gardens that stretched
00:10:24
Speaker 1: from the backs of distant houses and all the way
00:10:27
Speaker 1: down to meet the river. In some there were benches
00:10:32
Speaker 1: where koalas and kangaroos sat with their morning coffee, enjoying
00:10:36
Speaker 1: a moment of peace as the sun slowly rose in
00:10:40
Speaker 1: the sky. In others there were colorful garden sheds or
00:10:45
Speaker 1: green houses made of glass that glinted and shone. There
00:10:49
Speaker 1: were flowers in pots, and flowers in baskets, and flowers
00:10:54
Speaker 1: in beds, And in some gardens there were neat rows
00:10:58
Speaker 1: of canes where beans wound their way up and raspberries
00:11:03
Speaker 1: clung And the next stop. Kevin climbed onto Apollo's back
00:11:09
Speaker 1: and shimmered along until he was sitting next to Cuddle,
00:11:13
Speaker 1: And as they set off, Apollo careful to weave his
00:11:16
Speaker 1: tail very gently in the water. Cuddle gripped Kevin's arm
00:11:20
Speaker 1: and said, look over there. Kevin followed her gaze and saw, well,
00:11:28
Speaker 1: he saw nothing at all. Really, there was a bit
00:11:31
Speaker 1: of earth and a load of weeds, and a couple
00:11:34
Speaker 1: of bushes that looked as if they'd been very much
00:11:37
Speaker 1: forgotten for a very long time. What if, whispered Cuddle
00:11:43
Speaker 1: to him, what if we made a bigger garden, one
00:11:48
Speaker 1: that everybody could use. Don't you think that's the perfect place?
00:11:54
Speaker 1: Kevin looked back over his shoulder at the patch of
00:11:57
Speaker 1: land now retreating into the distance. He tried to work
00:12:02
Speaker 1: out where it must be, and realized that if you
00:12:06
Speaker 1: walked to the far side of the land, he'd come
00:12:09
Speaker 1: to the back of Betty's Bakery. For a moment, he
00:12:12
Speaker 1: closed his eyes, almost smelling the fresh bread and seeing
00:12:17
Speaker 1: the lines of shining glazed doughnuts, imagining cookies and muffins
00:12:24
Speaker 1: and cakes drift right in front of him. Focus, Kevin, Focus,
00:12:29
Speaker 1: he told himself, A garden for everybody, Cuddle has said.
00:12:35
Speaker 1: By the time they reached the school gates, barely remembering
00:12:38
Speaker 1: to wave goodbye to Snuggle and Huggle, there was so
00:12:41
Speaker 1: deep in conversation Cuddle and Kevin had dreamed up an
00:12:46
Speaker 1: entire garden together. It would have seeds where people could
00:12:51
Speaker 1: sit and enjoy the space, and flowers to make the
00:12:55
Speaker 1: place beautiful, and rows and rows of vegetables and fruits
00:13:01
Speaker 1: that anyone who needed them could come and eat, and
00:13:05
Speaker 1: if everyone just did a very little bit of work,
00:13:09
Speaker 1: it was something that could be created in no time
00:13:12
Speaker 1: and looked after easily. A lot of little, easy things
00:13:18
Speaker 1: would add up to one big, amazing thing. They couldn't
00:13:24
Speaker 1: wait to tell Missus Bloomington all about their idea, but
00:13:29
Speaker 1: they would have to wait until after break time, because
00:13:32
Speaker 1: as soon as they walked into the classroom, Missus Bloomington
00:13:36
Speaker 1: was already buzzing her way into a busy morning. She
00:13:41
Speaker 1: had handed out maps of the world and was calling
00:13:44
Speaker 1: out the country's children had to find. She liked to
00:13:48
Speaker 1: do this on what she called World Wednesdays. Missus Bloomington
00:13:54
Speaker 1: always started with the easiest countries, the really big ones
00:13:58
Speaker 1: like America and China and Australia, and then she would
00:14:03
Speaker 1: move on to slightly trickier ones like Mexico and France
00:14:09
Speaker 1: and India. The class had done this so many times
00:14:13
Speaker 1: they could almost do it with their eyes closed. Now
00:14:16
Speaker 1: they waited eagerly, pens poised, while Missus Bloomington chose some
00:14:23
Speaker 1: of the really difficult countries like Togo and Mayan mar
00:14:29
Speaker 1: and Austria, and then she would pick some of the
00:14:33
Speaker 1: island countries for them to find, and everyone disappeared into
00:14:38
Speaker 1: day dreams of coconuts and palm trees and golden sand
00:14:43
Speaker 1: beaches and turquoise seas as they found Saint Lucia and
00:14:51
Speaker 1: Vanuatu and Sanzibar. At break time, Missus Bloomington always found
00:14:59
Speaker 1: excuses to buzz around her desk in case anybody wanted
00:15:03
Speaker 1: to talk with her, and today Cuddle and Kevin were
00:15:07
Speaker 1: the first in line. They told her all about their
00:15:12
Speaker 1: garden idea and the bit of ground they'd seen while
00:15:15
Speaker 1: taking the bus to school, and what did she think
00:15:18
Speaker 1: and could it happen and when might they start. They
00:15:22
Speaker 1: were so eager and excited that everything spilled out in
00:15:26
Speaker 1: the wrong order, and it took a while for the
00:15:28
Speaker 1: fuzzy bumblebee to really understand what they were saying. But
00:15:33
Speaker 1: at last the jumble of words all made sense, and
00:15:38
Speaker 1: she buzzed the little buzz of excitement. You mean like
00:15:42
Speaker 1: a community garden, she said, and Cuddle said she supposed that, Yes,
00:15:49
Speaker 1: she did mean that, and Missus Bloomington said it was
00:15:52
Speaker 1: a wonderful idea. Indeed, she would see if she could
00:15:56
Speaker 1: find out who the land belonged to and if it
00:15:59
Speaker 1: might work, and let them know as soon as she could. Fortunately,
00:16:05
Speaker 1: impatient Little Cuddle and Kevin didn't need to wait long,
00:16:10
Speaker 1: because Missus Bloomington disappeared during the lunch break and went
00:16:14
Speaker 1: rushing over to the bakery. She inspected the land before
00:16:19
Speaker 1: going inside and talking to the owner, Betty Badger, who
00:16:23
Speaker 1: went and flipped the sign from open to closed on
00:16:26
Speaker 1: the door and followed the excited bumblebee outside. Yes, she said,
00:16:33
Speaker 1: the land did belong to the bakery, and therefore to her,
00:16:37
Speaker 1: and it would be rather lovely to have it made
00:16:40
Speaker 1: into something useful, rather than be filled with weeds and
00:16:44
Speaker 1: bare patches of earth doing nothing much at all. Many
00:16:49
Speaker 1: other animals saw the badger and the bumble bee going
00:16:52
Speaker 1: back and forth over the ground, and they came to
00:16:55
Speaker 1: see what was happening. So by the time Missus Bloomington
00:16:59
Speaker 1: went back to school for the afternoon's lessons, she had
00:17:04
Speaker 1: promises of seeds and flowers and canes and wood and
00:17:09
Speaker 1: all the things that would be needed to make a
00:17:12
Speaker 1: glorious garden for everyone. Words spread quickly around the school
00:17:19
Speaker 1: that over the weekend anyone who wanted to help create
00:17:23
Speaker 1: some magic could meet behind the bakery, And when Cuddles
00:17:28
Speaker 1: stepped onto Apollo that Saturday morning. There was barely any
00:17:32
Speaker 1: room for her, because it seemed as if half the
00:17:35
Speaker 1: forest had come out to help. Creatures came from all
00:17:41
Speaker 1: directions with wheelbarrows and bags of earth, and forks and
00:17:46
Speaker 1: spades and buckets and all the things they thought would
00:17:50
Speaker 1: be useful. The first task was removing all the weeds
00:17:55
Speaker 1: and clearing the space so that they could start afresh.
00:18:00
Speaker 1: A group of herons volunteered themselves, and they strode slowly
00:18:04
Speaker 1: through the overgrown patches, leaning down and plucking weeds out
00:18:08
Speaker 1: with their long, probing beaks. Then the soil needed to
00:18:14
Speaker 1: be tilled, and moles stepped forwards, hard hats at the ready,
00:18:19
Speaker 1: pointing out that they were the perfect creatures for this task.
00:18:24
Speaker 1: They worked in a long line, each rumbling along in
00:18:28
Speaker 1: the ground and pushing it upwards in perfectly sifted mounds
00:18:33
Speaker 1: so it would be easy to dig and plant and
00:18:36
Speaker 1: sow the seeds. As they worked, the herons at the
00:18:41
Speaker 1: head of the line and the moles following close behind.
00:18:45
Speaker 1: Missus Bloomington rolled out a huge diagram she had drawn up.
00:18:51
Speaker 1: It showed a map of the area and where everything
00:18:54
Speaker 1: should go, and the creatures studied it carefully, so they
00:18:58
Speaker 1: knew exactly where to plant the potatoes and the beans,
00:19:03
Speaker 1: the apple trees and the pineapple plants, the chives and
00:19:08
Speaker 1: rosemary and coriander. They looked at where the flower beds
00:19:14
Speaker 1: were going to go and saw how Missus Bloomington has
00:19:17
Speaker 1: cleverly planned to put the tallest plants at the back
00:19:21
Speaker 1: and the smaller plants towards the front, so everything would
00:19:24
Speaker 1: get enough light to be able to grow as big
00:19:28
Speaker 1: and beautiful as possible. There was a small area where
00:19:32
Speaker 1: she had even drawn in a pond, and she explained
00:19:36
Speaker 1: that this was perhaps a dream too far. But no,
00:19:40
Speaker 1: said a group of spoon billed stalks, pink feathers fluttering
00:19:44
Speaker 1: with pride. This is what their beaks had been designed
00:19:49
Speaker 1: to do, and a pond she should have. Once the
00:19:54
Speaker 1: herons had cleared the ground and the moles had tilled
00:19:58
Speaker 1: the soil, Cuddle and Kevin found themselves rushing from project
00:20:03
Speaker 1: to project, wanting to be a part of everything. They
00:20:08
Speaker 1: learned to lean the bamboo canes and tie the tops together,
00:20:13
Speaker 1: ready for the beans to pull themselves up. A gruff
00:20:17
Speaker 1: old badger explained all about companion planting, and they watched
00:20:22
Speaker 1: as he put marigolds alongside tomatoes, and carrots next to leeks,
00:20:28
Speaker 1: bright blue borage next to strawberry plants, and time was
00:20:33
Speaker 1: teamed up with roses. It would ensure, he explained, that
00:20:39
Speaker 1: each of the plants would grow as well as it
00:20:42
Speaker 1: possibly could because they worked together. Cuddle announced she was
00:20:48
Speaker 1: going to be known as Colenngula and Kevin must be
00:20:52
Speaker 1: Courgette because they were best friends and they worked well
00:20:57
Speaker 1: together too. But Kevin, much as he had daughter, refused
00:21:02
Speaker 1: to be called corget I'm Kevin, he said, keV in
00:21:08
Speaker 1: an emergency, Kevlar if you have to, keV star if
00:21:14
Speaker 1: you must. But never ever corget fair enough, thought Cuddle,
00:21:22
Speaker 1: although she did plan to go home that evening and
00:21:25
Speaker 1: change the notes she'd written on the first page of
00:21:27
Speaker 1: her diary, from the Tales of Cuddle and Kevin to
00:21:32
Speaker 1: the Secret Lives of Klendula and corget A group of
00:21:39
Speaker 1: beavers worked together in a corner to create a series
00:21:42
Speaker 1: of benches to put around the garden, munching their way
00:21:46
Speaker 1: through tree trunks and branches to create the perfect seats.
00:21:52
Speaker 1: The mongoose who ran the hardware shop had donated some
00:21:56
Speaker 1: cans of paint to the project. And Cuddle helped Coco
00:22:00
Speaker 1: the Koala and his family paint the benches cornflower blue
00:22:05
Speaker 1: and sage green and buttercup yellow. The beavers also helped
00:22:11
Speaker 1: to cut the wood needed to build a little gazebo
00:22:14
Speaker 1: that would go right beside the river. This would be
00:22:18
Speaker 1: a place where animals could sit and watch the alligator
00:22:21
Speaker 1: buses glide to and fro and see the turquoise feathers
00:22:27
Speaker 1: of kingfishers as they darted around, and the emerald and
00:22:31
Speaker 1: ruby flashes of dragonflies rushing up and down. Weaver birds
00:22:39
Speaker 1: showed the others how to take long yellow straws and
00:22:43
Speaker 1: ease them together, working them round and round until baskets
00:22:49
Speaker 1: had been created. These would all be left just at
00:22:53
Speaker 1: the back of the bakery, so anybody arriving would be
00:22:57
Speaker 1: able to take a basket down to the area where
00:23:00
Speaker 1: the vegetables grew and easily carried the potatoes and onions
00:23:05
Speaker 1: poured fresh from the ground, the grapes and raspberries taken
00:23:09
Speaker 1: straight from the vine, and the cherries and apples plucked
00:23:13
Speaker 1: right off the tree. When she saw all the work
00:23:18
Speaker 1: that had been done to transform the rough patch of
00:23:21
Speaker 1: ground into such a beautiful garden, Betty was quite overcome.
00:23:27
Speaker 1: She was so inspired by what Cuddle and Kevin had
00:23:31
Speaker 1: done that she wanted to do more, even more than
00:23:35
Speaker 1: she had already done in providing the land. She went
00:23:38
Speaker 1: and spoke with Buck the beaver, who nodded his head
00:23:42
Speaker 1: up and down and set back to work on a
00:23:45
Speaker 1: new set of branches. He created a box with a
00:23:50
Speaker 1: lid on hinges that lifted easily, and inside Missus Sugarplum
00:23:56
Speaker 1: promised to put five fresh loaves of bread every morning.
00:24:01
Speaker 1: Whoever needed one could come and take it, no questions asked.
00:24:07
Speaker 1: Of course, word of this soon got around for bumblebees
00:24:12
Speaker 1: and not only excellent teachers and the little creatures that
00:24:16
Speaker 1: keep the world alive, but also some of the busiest
00:24:20
Speaker 1: gossips out there. So by the time the evening was
00:24:24
Speaker 1: starting to draw in and the final finishing touches were
00:24:28
Speaker 1: being put to the garden, a hanging basket here, a
00:24:32
Speaker 1: plant pot there, three more boxes had been added alongside
00:24:38
Speaker 1: the one for Missus sugar Plum's bread. The cheesemonger mouse
00:24:42
Speaker 1: promised to add a selection of cheeses to a box
00:24:45
Speaker 1: each day, and the hens had promised to leave cartons
00:24:50
Speaker 1: of freshly laid eggs every morning, and mister Bliss, owner
00:24:55
Speaker 1: of the Sugar Dreams candy store, would slip a few
00:24:59
Speaker 1: bars of chocolate into a box each and every day.
00:25:04
Speaker 1: It had taken a single comment from Missus Bloomington to
00:25:08
Speaker 1: her class at the cooker Barra KINDI for everything to
00:25:13
Speaker 1: snowboard until it went from a small flower garden on
00:25:18
Speaker 1: the edge of the school playing fields to a wonderful
00:25:22
Speaker 1: garden filled with all the fruits and vegetables and flowers
00:25:28
Speaker 1: and food that everyone in the whole of Sleepy Forest
00:25:33
Speaker 1: could share. And that is how things happen. You see,
00:25:39
Speaker 1: a single idea that is shared and rolled around a
00:25:44
Speaker 1: little can transform into something far bigger than anyone might
00:25:50
Speaker 1: have dreamed. Now, after the Alligator bus had stopped to
00:25:56
Speaker 1: pick up Kevin, he and Cuddle both looked across at
00:26:00
Speaker 1: the little garden they helped to bring to life. They
00:26:05
Speaker 1: know that on Mondays there will be a group of
00:26:08
Speaker 1: elderly Koalas sitting in the gazebo playing cards. They know
00:26:14
Speaker 1: that on Tuesdays there's a knitting circle who meet there to,
00:26:19
Speaker 1: as they say, knit and natter. On Wednesdays, they're likely
00:26:25
Speaker 1: to see a pair of very old otters who will
00:26:28
Speaker 1: be wearing whatever the weather, scarves wrapped around their necks,
00:26:33
Speaker 1: and mittens on their paws, peering out at the water
00:26:37
Speaker 1: and the world through tiny round glasses. On Thursdays, badgers
00:26:44
Speaker 1: meet in the gazebo to play dominoes and cuddle, and
00:26:47
Speaker 1: Kevin hear the group before they've even seen them, the
00:26:51
Speaker 1: clack of the tiles being slammed down onto the table,
00:26:55
Speaker 1: echoing up and down Sleepy River. And on Friday, as
00:27:00
Speaker 1: regular as clockwork, moles sit alongside each other and pour
00:27:06
Speaker 1: over the newspapers, reading snippets aloud to the others and
00:27:11
Speaker 1: then burying themselves back into the stories of the day.
00:27:18
Speaker 1: Betty has timed her outings to the bread box so
00:27:22
Speaker 1: she will always see the alligator bus gliding past on
00:27:26
Speaker 1: the school run, and she waves at the puggle and
00:27:30
Speaker 1: her kangaroo friend, who were, as she's been told, the
00:27:34
Speaker 1: dreamers of the dream that created this magical garden Cuddle.
00:27:41
Speaker 1: Will never quite know the number of lives she's changed.
00:27:45
Speaker 1: She will never know how many animals slip into the
00:27:48
Speaker 1: garden at different times of day, taking the woven baskets
00:27:53
Speaker 1: and filling them with vegetables pulled fresh from the ground
00:27:58
Speaker 1: and leaning into the boxes to take home a treat
00:28:01
Speaker 1: of cheese or chocolate. She will never know just how
00:28:06
Speaker 1: many creatures sit on the cornflower blue bench and feel
00:28:10
Speaker 1: a deep sense of peace, being surrounded by the flowers
00:28:15
Speaker 1: and the bees and the butterflies. And she will never
00:28:21
Speaker 1: know just who it is who make sure the growing
00:28:25
Speaker 1: beans are always wrapped around their canes, or keeps the
00:28:30
Speaker 1: jasmine and the honeysuckle covering the arches and trellises in
00:28:35
Speaker 1: perfect formation. And she will never really know how many
00:28:42
Speaker 1: people secretly whisper her heart felt thank you as they
00:28:47
Speaker 1: leave the garden, refreshed and ready to go back to
00:28:51
Speaker 1: their lives again. But she does know for sure that
00:28:57
Speaker 1: the adventures of Colens, Angela and Courgette have only just begun,
00:29:04
Speaker 1: because every night, before she falls asleep, she writes another
00:29:10
Speaker 1: idea in her diary and tucks it away beneath her pillow,
00:29:16
Speaker 1: and she disappears into dreams where everyone is kind and
00:29:22
Speaker 1: giving and loving, and where butterflies rest on a field
00:29:28
Speaker 1: of lavender, and bees cover themselves in the soft dismounds
00:29:35
Speaker 1: of yellow pollen and slowly, wonderfully keep the entire world
00:29:44
Speaker 1: turning with a sprinkling of magic dust and a scattering
00:29:50
Speaker 1: of stars. D