What is the setting?

There are two settings in There's A Hair in My Dirt! Each is detailed with many complex visual elements in the drawings, even though the drawings are done in a rough, amateurish style. The beginning and ending frames for the narrative take place in the worm family's underground home, which is "beneath the floor of a very old forest, nestled in among some nice, rich topsoil."

When Father Worm begins telling a story to his son, he sets that story "in a forest not too far from here."

The forest setting bears a distinct resemblance to the coastal forests near Tacoma, Washington, where Larson grew up, and Seattle, where he lives now. The trees shown are mostly conifers and some hardwoods of a size and age not commonly seen outside the Pacific Northwest. The smaller plants-ferns, ivy, mushrooms, and meadow flowers—are consistent with those that can be found around Puget Sound.

With one exception, the birds, animals, and insects that Larson depicts in this forest setting are reasonable representations of species that can be found in this area, provided that one is willing to accept the notion of a gray squirrel smoking a cigarette and wearing a T-shirt. The one exception is a snake, distinctly patterned to look like a coral snake. There are no such snakes in Washington State.