Jens Den Nature Retreat

21/08/2026

🌱 PROPAGATION DAY AT JEN’S DEN! 🌱
Before the rain!!

Today I’ve been getting my hands well and truly mucky and giving some of our succulents a little bit of love.

And THIS is one of my favourite things about succulents… they just keep on giving. 💚

One established plant can become two, three, four or sometimes a whole little family of new plants.

My mumsy Christine Pitts and I been carefully separating rooted babies, dividing established plants, taking stem cuttings and discovering tiny new rosettes growing from individual leaves. Some of them have already done half the work themselves, roots and all! 🌱

There’s something quite magical about seeing a tiny new plant growing from what looks like a single fallen leaf.

And for Jen’s Den, propagation makes so much sense.

Rather than continually buying new plants, I can nurture what we already have, grow our own little succulent nursery and eventually use those new plants in future workshops and sessions. 🪴

Less waste, more growing

More plants to share with our community.

And, quite frankly, any excuse for me to spend several hours surrounded by soil and plants is absolutely fine by me. 😂🌱

Nature really is very clever.

💚 Grow it. Propagate it. Share it. Repeat.
SuccuLincs ive finally gotten round to propagating your stash!!
😆

20/08/2026

Well thats round one complete.

Round 2 from 5 till 7.30PM

Met some lovely folks today.

Going home for a shower and a cheeky nap as talking non stop for 4 hours has beaten me!😆

20/08/2026

I made it!!

Currently trying to sell Jens Den at the East Marsh Community Roots Fund event.

My jaw is killing me.

The funding is decided on votes from the public!

There are some really good projects here.
Of you've got the time, come along!!

19/08/2026

East Marsh United is holding this fantastic event tomorrow.
Details below.

Please show your support if you can.

Its the first of a pilot scheme and im wishing them all the success.

Good luck to all of the stall holders and their potential projects.

Love
Jen🌿

East Marsh — we need YOU! 🗳️✨

Got 5 minutes on Thursday, 20th August? Come down to 84 Wellington Street for the Community Roots Market Place and help decide which local projects get funded!

Here’s what you need to know: ⏰ When: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM OR 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM 📍 Where: 84 Wellington Street, Grimsby, DN32 7DZ 🎟️ Entry: Free, drop-in (no registration needed!) 🗳️ Voting: Everyone aged 8+ gets 5 votes to support their favorite local ideas.

Enjoy a warm community atmosphere, grab some refreshments, and make your voice heard. Your votes decide the outcome!

18/08/2026

Well… our adult succulent session with East Marsh United was blooming lovely.

Nikki, Emma and Carolyn joined me at Jen’s Den and created three completely different little succulent worlds.

Just a table full of plants, soil, stones, pinecones, bits of bark, cups of something to drink and a good old natter.

And because we were a small group, we had a lovely natter

About belonging. About finding the people and places where you don't have to perform or fit yourself into a particular shaped box. About being able to turn up as yourself and feel that actually, you belong here.

And we all agreed that, for quite a few of us, that feeling has come much later in life than perhaps it should have.

Finding spaces, people and opportunities where you can just be yourself has been a big part of that.

And I feel incredibly privileged that Jen’s Den got to be one of those spaces today. 💚

There was also a small matter of a Mother of Thousands needing a new home. 😂🌱

She's been living at the Den waiting for her person, and today it was unanimously decided that a lovely lady called Sue was that person.

So we potted her up, gave her a little spruce and off she went as a surprise gift for Sue.

How marvellous!

Plants moving from person to person, little babies being propagated and shared, stories being swapped around a table.

That's community to me.

Thank you Nikki, Emma and Carolyn for such a blooming lovely morning.

And thank you East Marsh United for helping make these sessions possible.

We made succulent gardens today.

But we also connected to ourselves, eachother and to nature.

18/08/2026

ADULT TIME after the rain! 🌱

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of welcoming a lovely family into Jen’s Den as part of our work with East Marsh United

This week… the grown-ups are escaping. 😂

Nicky, Emma and Ken are heading into the Den this morning for a little succulent workshop,although, as always, calling it a workshop makes it sound far more sensible and organised than it probably will be.

There’ll be succulents.moss.
soil absolutely everywhere.
There’ll be random bits of woodland treasure, stones, pinecones and whatever else I've squirrelled away because “ooooh, that might come in handy.” 😂🌿

And there’ll be time.

Time to sit,to faff.
Time to make something without worrying whether you're doing it “right”.
Time to have a natter, or not have a natter.
And a couple of hours where nobody needs anything from you.

Because adults need playtime too.

Actually, I think we need more of it.

Everything is ready and waiting. The table is looking blooming lovely, the succulents have been gathered, and I may have got slightly carried away with my little nature bits and bobs.

See you shortly Nicky, Emma and Ken, oh and not forgetting lovely Carolyn.

Adult time incoming! 🌱🪴

A huge thank you to East Marsh United for making these community sessions possible. 💚

17/08/2026

🌿 I NEED A LITTLE FAVOUR! 🌿

If you’ve been to Jen’s Den, could you help me with something for Thursday? 💚

I’m putting together a scrapbook for the East Marsh United Community roots fund event, filled with photos and your actual handwritten words.

📝 All I need you to do is:
Write a short message on a piece of paper about your time at Jen’s Den.
It can literally be a couple of sentences: How did you feel? What did you enjoy? What did you get from coming?

Please HANDWRITE it rather than messaging it to me.

You don’t need to send me a photograph,I already have the photos! 📸

I want to stick your actual handwritten note beside your photograph in the scrapbook. 🥹🌿
⏰ I need them by Wednesday at the absolute latest!

If getting it to me is tricky, message me and we’ll figure it out.
Come on, Jen’s Den folks… help me fill this blooming scrapbook! 😂💚🌱

16/08/2026

I NEED A LITTLE HELP FROM MY JEN'S DEN FOLKS! 🌱📖💚

This week I'm getting everything ready for Thursday's East Marsh United Community Roots Fund event, and I'm putting together memories of our time together so far.

A Jen's Den scrapbook

A proper scrapbook filled with photographs which i will print of the people who've actually been through the gate, alongside your own handwritten words about your time here.

🖊So, if you've been to Jen's Den, I'd LOVE you to write me a little message on a piece of paper that I can stick straight into the scrapbook next to your photographs.🖊

It doesn't need to be beautifully written. IAnd please don't worry about handwriting or spelling, I actually WANT everyone's pieces to look different because that's what will make it special.

You could tell me:

🌱 Which workshop you came to
terrarium, succulent bowl, terracotta ecosystem, pot painting etc.

🌱 Whether you came by yourself, with a friend or as a family.

🌱 How you felt before you arrived.

🌱 How you felt when you left.

🌱 What you enjoyed or got from your time here.

🌱 Anything you noticed or realised about yourself.

Or simply write whatever Jen's Den meant to you.

So on Thursday, when im talking about what Jen's Den is and what I hope it can continue to become, I'd much rather people hear from the people who've actually experienced it than just hear everything from me.

And I need them quite quickly! 😂

If you can get yours to me as soon as possible, you can drop it at the Treehouse Café in Weelsby Woods, pop it in an envelope and leave it safely at my back gate, post it to me, or message me and I'll see if I can arrange to collect it.

Then I'll be spending this week with my glue stick out, getting everybody's photographs and words into the scrapbook ready for Thursday. 😂📖🌱

If you've been to Jen's Den...

I'd really, really love a little piece of you in the book.

Thank you 💚

Jen.x

14/08/2026

What a lovely piece of feedback!!

East Marsh United round 2 on Thursday!

13/08/2026

East Marsh community, do you fancy popping over to see me
OnThursday, 20th August, I'll be at
East Marsh United as a stallholder for the East Marsh Community Roots Fund.

I've applied for funding that would enable me to offer more free nature-based sessions at Jen's Den Nature Retreat for people and families living on the East Marsh.

And now comes the slightly nerve-wracking bit...

East Marsh residents get to vote

I'll have a stall showing some of the work that's already happening at Jen's Den, what we've been creating, and what I would love to be able to offer more of with the support of the Community Roots Fund.

Today I welcomed a lovely family from the East Marsh into Jen's Den for a succulent workshop, and it was just blooming lovely. 🪴

This is exactly what I want to build on.

More opportunities to get hands in the soil.
More planting,creating.
More nature.
More opportunities for people to simply come and spend some time in a lovely space.

And importantly, without cost being the thing that stops somebody from coming.

So, if you live on the East Marsh, particularly if you've already visited Jen's Den, attended one of my workshops, followed the work I'm doing, or simply believe this would be something lovely to have available to your community. I'd absolutely love you to pop along and support me.

🌿Thursday 20th August
🌿10am–2pm and 5pm–7.30pm
🌿East Marsh United, 84 Wellington Street, Grimsby, DN32 7DZ

I'll be there with my little piece of Jen's Den, showing people what we're doing and hopefully planting the seeds for lots more of it. 🌱

Id appreciate a share so im not stood alone behind my stall😆