If you come on a forum of gardeners you have to expect that we're all of the mucky persuasion - we get our hands and clothes dirty in real soil with real plants, we get scratched, bashed, bitten and stung by assorted plants, tools and creatures. We're still here.
I can quite see that you wouldn't want to risk harm to your little ones but the UK is not a dangerous place - altho your kids are more likely to suffer asthma and allergies if you don't let them get dirty and build their immune systems. They may also grow up fearful. I'd also be wary of all that exposure to chemicals coming off the plastic grass and plastic pool and plastic toys.
Teach them to look before they leap, watch out for traffic, not to eat berries without asking mum and dad first but do let them discover and explore and enjoy life and life forms in all their mystery and wonder.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Nick Baker has written a really good book called 'rewild'. It's all about getting people back in touch with nature, personal rewilding rather than repairing the landscape. Compulsary reading for the nature sceptics out there. It will enrich your life even if it's only in very small ways.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Now I'm disappointed. I thought the BUG was artificial to go with the grass. Perhaps there are some retired beetle drive beetles that could do the job.
@Dovefromabove. You are not alone! I remember Beetle drives - in fact I got a set of beetles complete with stick-in legs, from Santa one year. You could also play the game and just draw the beetles and its legs on paper - that was what the church folk did. And I can vaguely remember playing it with potatoes as the beetle body and sticks as the legs (or maybe I just imagined that one!).
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
Posts
In the sticks near Peterborough
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I can quite see that you wouldn't want to risk harm to your little ones but the UK is not a dangerous place - altho your kids are more likely to suffer asthma and allergies if you don't let them get dirty and build their immune systems. They may also grow up fearful. I'd also be wary of all that exposure to chemicals coming off the plastic grass and plastic pool and plastic toys.
Teach them to look before they leap, watch out for traffic, not to eat berries without asking mum and dad first but do let them discover and explore and enjoy life and life forms in all their mystery and wonder.
Fans of Nick Baker here
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.