[soft music and light rain]
Jordan: Enjoying the herb garden in the rain.
Jessie: Oh, definitely. It's so beautiful. All the colors are really popping. And I love the smells. All these edible plants. There's oregano and I see rosemary and thyme and, and basil.
Jordan: Yeah. Actually, all the plants here can be used for cooking. People sometimes call this area the kitchen garden. It's like nature's pantry or a fresh food storage.
Jessie: Oh, I really like that. I, I love the idea that a kitchen wouldn't just be a place that's inside, but it can also be this outdoor space where you can grow food.
Jordan: Right. And I love how the Getty Gardeners can make something useful, beautiful too.
Jessie: Food is definitely beautiful. Some of my favorite art pieces at the Getty Center have food in them.
Jordan: Ooh. I'd love to see your favorite art pieces.
Jessie: Really?
Jordan: Yeah.
Jessie: You wanna go now?
Jordan: Okay.
Jessie: Okay.
[finger snap sound]
Cool trick, huh?
Jordan: Nice.
[upbeat music]
Jessie: Okay. Fruit makes great art like this big bunching pot of grapes.
Jordan: Wow! They look fresh enough to pluck right outta the painting.
Jessie: I also love how shiny the apples look.
Jordan: Oh, they're probably so crisp. Mm.
Jessie: This platter is really neat because the artists use casts of real life creatures to make these animals.
Jordan: Ooh. Seafood. Though, I'm not sure about those frogs. I do like frog legs though.
Jessie: Ooh, adventurous. Yeah, I don't know about the snakes.
But honestly this is my favorite.
[confused sound]
Jordan: This does not look like food.
Jessie: Oh, well it's um, it's like a kitchen garden, but it's nature's pantry. So just not people food.
Jordan: Mm.
Jessie: You see the hare? It's the giant bunny in the middle. It's eating a piece of this plant called Lady's Mantle.
Jordan: Oh! There's so many details. It makes me wanna jump inside the painting.
Jessie: Oh, let's do it.
Jordan: What?
Jessie: Yeah.
[animal sounds and upbeat music]
Jordan: Wow. You're full of tricks today. There's so much wildlife here.
Jessie: Right! Everybody just sees the bunny, but this is a whole habitat full of producers and consumers.
Jordan: Is there a spot on the food chain for all of them?
Jessie: Well, let's ask. My lady, are you finding enough food?
Lady’s Mantle: Darling? I'm a producer. I don't find food. I produce my own by capturing the energy of the sun and using it to grow my roots, stems and leaves.
[crunching sound]
Hare: And the leaves are so good.
Jessie: Oh, hi Ms. Hare. Uh, so you're eating the lady’s leaves?
Hare: Sure am. I'm a consumer. I consume plants like leaves, vegetables, and berries.
Jordan: So, no hamburgers?
Hare: Not for me! If you want to talk to a carnivore, an animal who eats other animals, you'll have to find the spider.
Jordan: Spider? Are there spiders in this painting?
Jessie: There are! Uh, you wanna find one?
Jordan: Uh, Let's see, let's see. Where is it?
Oh, hi.
Jessie: Oh, hi, Ms. Spider.
Spider: Hello. Hello. What are y'all doing here today?
Jessie: Oh, we're just interviewing wildlife about the food chain. Oh. Uh, how do you get your food?
Spider: I catch my dinner in this web I'm weaving.
Jessie: Oh, artistic and functional. Just like the herb garden. Nothing beats a good meal of flies and fleas for this carnivore. Would you like a bite?
Jordan: No thank you, ma'am. I'm not much of a fly eater myself.
Spider: Perhaps you should learn from the snail, he knows not to turn down a good meal.
Jessie: Oh, hi friend. So what do you eat?
Snail: Oh, I can eat just about anything. Plants, fungus, even food that's starting to rot.
Jordan: And that doesn't make your stomach hurt.
Snail: Not mine. I'm made to help clean up the forest by eating food that would make other animals sick.
Jessie: Oh, like a scavenger. You're a scavenger. Ah, okay. So scavengers, like decomposers are the recyclers of the food chain.
Snail: Yes! Decomposers, like my friends the earthworms, help turn rot into soil for producers. Unfortunately, they're underground at the moment, or I would make introductions.
Jordan: Soil?
[ding sound]
Wait, don't you need soil to grow?
Lady’s Mantle: It's true. We are all part of a cycle here. Stay a bit longer and see where you fit in.
Jessie: Oh, I wish we could, but I actually hear visitors now. Um, thank you so much. We better hop out.
Jessie and Jordan: Whoa.
Jordan: Wow. All that talk about food is making me hungry.
Jessie: Yeah. Honestly, I still smell the basil from the herb garden earlier.
Jordan: You know what goes good with basil?
Jessie: I do.
Jordan: You do?
Jessie: Let's do it.
Jordan: Yeah.
[opera music]