Sharing the Love of Lottie

For me Lottie is a place to unwind nurture plants and lose my myself in nature. It wasn't always like that; Lottie was so unloved and a neglected mess that to begin with it was just hard work.

But now it's still hard work but in a different way. Because I plod around flitting from this to that with no sense of urgency. I arrive each day and wander around seeing what has grown and sometimes what the pigeons have devoured!

Each day I'm learning what works and what doesn't. It's a beautiful environment and one of my greatest joys is Alyssa is falling in love with Lottie too.

She adores watering and is constantly asking what things are. Today she watered the mint. She said, "Grandma what is this?" I said mint, squeeze the leave tight then smell your hand. She was blown way by the smell! She watered some flowers repeating their name after me ... love in the mist....love in the mist.

Watching Alyssa learn and really begin to enjoy the allotment is great. Because when it was just waste land she didn't like being there. Now she waters and nurtures and twirls around the allotment chatting to the allotment neighbour's and just loves being there.

Alyssa is fascinated by the nature pond and the activity already beginning to happen there. I can't wait until we begin to pick and harvest our crops because I just know Alyssa is going to really enjoy this even more.

She has already offered her services as chief strawberry taster and announced that the first strawberry was in fact delicious!

It's so lovely that at almost 5 she is learning about planting caring and growing. She can identify several plants already.

Soon it will come time to harvest and cook. And I feel sure Alyssa will become even more confident in the coming months about trying new foods because she has helped to grow them. Do you grow plants with your little ones?