Inch by Inch: The Garden Song by David Mallett

Inch by Inch: The Garden Song by David Mallett, illustrated by Ora Eitan

Rating: 5 stars

It's February.  My least favorite month of the year.  I'm just not a winter person.  As much as I try to appreciate what winter has to offer, I look out at our woods and see what is not there rather than appreciate what is there.  And it is so darn cold.  I try to keep a cheerful attitude, if just in front of my kids, because I don't like to hear anyone complain, including myself.  But when Lorelei started talking about how excited she was for Spring, I wondered if she had the winter-stinks gene, too.

When I saw this book in the library last week, I actually gasped with excitement.  The book is based on a song that I sang in my fourth grade class at Sacred Heart School in Savannah, Georgia.  Wearing my red plaid uniform and donning an amusingly unattractive feathered 'do, I belted my Catholic school girl heart out on the stage.  And I swear I have had this song stuck in my head ever since, though anyone who knows me well knows that that means I've only had a few lines of it stuck in my head.  I just can't remember the lines to many songs! But this is such a sweet song with such a sweet meaning that I might buy the book so I can actually commit it to memory so I can sing it to my kids.

Just read the lines:

Inch my inch, row by row, gonna make my garden grow.
All it takes is a rake and a hoe, and a piece of fertile ground.
Inch my inch, row by row, someone bless these seeds I sow.
Someone warm them from below till the rain comes tumblin' down.
Pullin' weeds and pickin' stones, we are made of dreams and bones.
Feel the need to grow my own 'cause the time is close at hand.
Grain for grain, sun and rain, find my way in nature's chain.
Tune my body and my brain to the music from the land.
Plant your rows straight and long, temper them with prayer and song.
Mother Earth will make you strong if you give her love and care.

Or you can listen to the song with another flashback of my youth, John Denver.  His voice sends me immediately back to our family's car, where my parents would put a cassette of his in and my mom would sing loudly (and well) to him.  "Montana Skies" is still one of my favorite songs (I know almost all the words, by the way...another decade and I'll get 'em down solid).

Spring is right around the corner...just 6 more weeks according to Punxsutawney Phil!  Here's a book to enjoy with your little one as a count down through the cold, to the warm.