Posts Tagged "garden"

Dirt is not a bad thing

Posted by cafebebemama on May 10, 2010 in Little Miss Adventures, Motherhood | 11 comments

I’m learning that dirt is not a bad thing.  This is a difficult lesson for me to learn but I am trying, and I believe, learning quite well.  You see, I’m not a huge fan of dirt.  I am a bit of a girly girl.  I know, it’s hard to believe.  Especially of a girl who wears a tiara and dresses her daughter almost exclusively in shades of pink. (albeit functional pinks…we don’t do frilly fluff)

I’ve been a bit of a Hovering Mummy.  But I’m learning to let go.  I used to sweep in at the first sign of mess, with a wipe at the ready.  Let’s face it, I still do that somewhat but I’m learning to at least let the dirt have a chance with Little Miss before it’s obliterated.  And I do let Little Miss make a mess when she’s eating.  I don’t think she’s neurotic about food or mess.  I think it’s down to wanting to have a presentable child.  Perhaps down to my need for others to perceive me as being a proper mummy by seeing my child as neat and tidy?  Yes, I suppose I should seek psychological help!

Little Miss is nearly two years old.  She’s loves being outside and we’re trying to teach her about food and gardening so she knows where her food comes from.  The picture above was taken as we started our gardening adventure.  Little Miss was more than eager to dig in, literally, to the compost bag and help Daddy (much to his consternation).  She loves to help us water the seedlings and is more than eager to go out with Grandad and tend to the tomatoes (much to his consternation I’m sure).

Yesterday we went to the inlaws to spend the afternoon and tend to our future harvest.  Little Miss practised her watering technique and we found that our seedlings are actually becoming PLANTS!  Who knew??  But the real test to Mummy’s mettle came later in the afternoon when we took a walk up the road.  My inlaws live in a glorious little hamlet on a one-track road.  It’s the perfect place for any Little Miss to explore and enjoy.  And it has the occasional muddy puddle.

Little Miss ended up SOAKED!  Muddy water IN her wellies; Muddy water up her legs; Muddy water soaked through to her onesie!  “I blame you” I said to hubby.  But I didn’t mind…really.  I want her to have fun; to get wet and dirty and not be a nutter like her mother.  So I stayed out of it.  Well, I definitely stayed out of the mud but I stayed out of HOVER mode.  And got some lovely pictures in the process.  But wait…it got harder for me when we went home!

Hubby decided, upon returning home, that the 50 degree (Farenheit…I’m American and still don’t do well with Celcius…I suppose it was about 10 degrees??) Sunday afternoon, gloomy weather was a good time to plant our strawberry plants in the giant terra cotta planter we had laying around.  Of course, Little Miss HAD to help her Daddy.

Aw, precious!  And Mummy only was twitching a little bit.  But do you know what came next?  Well, hubby put the sprinkler in the garden after Little Miss had helped him spread compost all over the grass.  Little Miss took one look at that spray and headed straight for it!  Despite the air and water temperatures, she was in it!  Running through it, jumping over it, having her breath taken away by it.  She was soaked AGAIN!  However, I was prepared.  I had run a warm, bubbly bath and as soon as the novelty of the sprinkler wore off and the shivering settled in, hubby helped me to scoop her up and deposit her in the bath.  Done!  Dirt gone, order restored.  One very happy girl and one very happy mummy.  Dirt is not a bad thing after all.  It’s my new mantra.

Learner Gardener

Posted by cafebebemama on Mar 26, 2010 in Little Miss Adventures | 5 comments

Little Miss Gardener

Last Spring and Summer, one of Little Miss’ favourite activities in the garden was “digga digga digga”.  This year I’m going to strap on my Learner Gardener plates and try my hand at gardening with Little Miss so she knows where her food comes from!  I’ve NEVER, in my life WANTED to garden anything.  I am usually the Grim Reaper when it comes to plants and flowers.  Give me a potted plant of any kind and I’m sure to kill it within a short period of time.

But for some bizarre reason, I feel compelled to grow some things with Little Miss this year.  I want to see her fascination as the plants grow and help her to eat the fruits of our labour.  Our garden is not ideal but Nanny & Grandad’s garden is PERFECT and it comes with a greenhouse as well.  I’m considering challenging Grandad to a Tomato Growing Contest.  Mummy & Little Miss’ tomatoes on one site and Nanny & Grandad’s on the other.  Here are the things I would like to TRY to grow this summer:

• Tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Potatoes
• Sweet Corn
• Pumpkins
• Carrots
• Sunflowers

When I was a little miss myself, my Grandparents had gardens at their farm.  My Grandma grew the flowers and my Grandpa grew the plants/food.  I was of an age where gardening was “booorrrring” and I hated being asked to pick strawberries…it was too uncomfortable and crouchy!  I think it was then that I acquired the title “Princess”…hmmm.  Well, fast forward 20-odd years and I actually WANT to garden.  What has brought me to this stage in my life??  Ack!  I can guarantee that I will not be like Barbara in “The Good Life” but I do want to do this for my daughter.

George and Flora's Secret Garden

In my contemplation about gardening and how to go about it, a book arrived yesterday for our perusal.  It’s called “George and Flora’s Secret Garden” and actually is a delightful book with glorious illustrations by Ley Honor Roberts.  “George and Flora’s Secret Garden is written by Jo Elworthy who also happens to be in charge of education at the Eden Project in Cornwall.  I’ve always wanted to go to the Eden Project!  Now that I know of the woman in charge of Education there, it’ll be even better!  What I love about this book is that as George and Flora work with their Grandpa to make a “secret garden” in anticipation of the new baby soon to arrive in their house, there is Me-Style education about what to plant and when.  The right margin of each set of pages tells you what you should be planting that month and how you should be preparing your garden.  There is also information about the baby growing in the Mummy’s tummy as well…not as brilliant I have to say but I was too busy looking at the gardening schedule to be too bothered.  At the end of the book there are pictures of all sorts of veg and when to sow and plant them and when you can expect to harvest them.  Brilliant!  Who needs Alan Titchmarsh?  I’ve got George and Flora.  There might be a trip to the garden centre now this weekend…according to George and Flora, I’ve got some catching up to do as it’s nearly April!

Do you garden with your child?  If so, what do you grow?  What’s worked and what hasn’t?  Any tips are more than welcome!  Remember, I am just a learner gardener after all!

Go Green Baby

Posted by cafebebemama on Sep 25, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

In these stressful credit crunch times, going green might be the last thing that people are thinking about.  I know I need to do better with this as it can pay dividends.  I’ve been approached by Tesco’s Greener Living website to view their site, play a “trolley dash” game and give my opinion so that’s what I’ll do for you!  The site is quite good, really.  With lots of tips and information on how to Go Greener, Save Money and Eat Greener, the Greener Living site is well worth a look.  I particularly like the information for Kids (and ultimately parents) as it encourages recycling and gardening and teaches about food provenance which is so important as too many children don’t know where potatoes come from!  Little Miss loves to “digga digga digga” and it’s something that she and her Daddy do a lot in the garden.  I can guarantee that there will be Little Miss plantings as soon as she learns not to “digga digga digga” everything.  I don’t want my daughter to think that her food comes from the supermarket or to never see a tomato plant grow before her eyes.  So, for a bit of inspiration and information, check out the Tesco Greener Living site.  The “trolley dash” game on their site completely flumoxed me as I am just not a “gamer” but it might work for you!  After I was “killed” for the third time in less than 30 seconds, I decided that it wasn’t for me but you have a go!  My eye-hand coordination just isn’t what it used to be.  And just to leave you with a lovely, lasting image about going green, here’s my Little Miss practicing her “digga digga digga” with her Daddy.

Digga Digga Digga