Good Morning, Team!
Welcome to Spring! The change of seasons yesterday was marked with tremendous weather to be outside and active. I had the opportunity to volunteer and run at a 15K trail running event around Blue Marsh Lake in Reading – and I couldn’t have had a bigger smile the entire time! Mother Nature, however, did get the last laugh as she reminded me this morning that it is spring and her job is to provide energy (sun) and hydration (rain) alike – which ended up soaking my Jeep to the core after I negated to put the top back on last night. Knowing how stress can wreck havoc on my health and nutrition (and there was nothing really I can do about it anyway) – I just turned up my head, laughed, grabbed a few towels and headed to work. Later this week we’ll have a post on stress so look for it!
This week is very special as we begin a couple new series to share with you. So a few of our normal sections will not be included due to length, but they will be back! Today we have the first of a series of guest posts by Bonnie – one of our members and blog author of The Naked Kitchen. With the advent of Spring, now is the perfect time to start your gardens and harvest the goodness of Nature’s bounty for the whole of the season! Follow along, below, with Bonnie as she presents to you a series of posts about Gardening.
Workout of the Day:
· Warm-up – 2 rounds of 15 reps – Jumping Jacks, Shoulder Mobility, Push-ups, Walking Lunge, Samson Stretch, Squat
· Work-out – 10 rounds for time of 20 Double Under’s, 50 ft Bear Crawl
§ Do 80 singles if you don’t have doubles or 50 jumping jacks if you don’t have a rope
Reminder – there is a meeting tomorrow! We will be doing some learning of active recovery techniques so wear comfortable clothing!
For those of you who have asked – Jeremiah (member here and owner of CrossFit Collective) has provided me with a 3-day punch card for every member of our group to come in and get a kick-start on your fitness. The class times are listed on the website and with 5 highly qualified trainers there is the ability to come in as a small group at other times (for example – I usually can be there at 5:30 on M, T, and Th). There is an introductory course that is the first step for those of you who want a bit more. All of the information is available on the website. Get in touch with me by email or phone and I will get you your punch card and any information about the classes you need.
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” Jane Howard.
To Spring!
Mike.
Greetings Fellow Followers O-The-Great-CNH-Nutrition-Group!
Bonnie here, a name you may recognize from previous e-mails from Mike (my dear big brother), who is so generous as to feature my website, www.thenakedkitchen.net, several times. He has asked me to prepare a "guest post" about one of my other favorite past time (outside of cooking!): Gardening!
Learned mostly from my mother, gardening is simply a fun, fantastic, rewarding way to spend some time in the great outdoors with great potential paybacks. Flower gardens, vegetable gardens, rock gardens, water gardens... you name it, there is a way to integrate it into gardening! Heck, you can even bring it indoors with houseplants and herb growing kits.
If you are one of those people who always back away from gardening using the excuse "I have more of a black thumb than a green one", I want you to shed all those misconceptions that gardening is only for the pros! Everyone has got to start somewhere, and luckily mother nature has given us an array of choices from super simple to complex configurations.
Let’s start small. Today's post will be all about container gardening. This is a fun, cost effective, and space effective way to get the taste of gardening.
Follow these easy steps based on this Better Homes & Gardens guide to get started:
- Decide what kind of varieties you'd like to grow.
- Pick a container; most vegetables are find in containers about 10" wide and 12" deep, although bigger is usually better! Especially for plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.
- Make sure there is adequate drainage- 1/4" holes on the bottom and/or sides near the bottom. At least three for a 10"x12" container.
- Fill the pot! First put down a screen or cloth to cover holes. Then fill with a premium potting mixture about 1-2" below rim. For really really big pots put a layer or so of pebbles/stones on the bottom so you don't have to use quite as muck potting soil. Wet the mix down really good and then let drain before moving onto next step.
- Plant! Follow the seed packet directions for planting as if you were planting a garden. Or use transplants! Water (gently!!) immediately.
- If you vegetables grows on vines make certain to include a support (such as a wire cage or trellis) at planting time so the plants can climb as they grow.
- Mulch the soil to help prevent drying out. Use straw, wood/pine mulch, peat moss, or pebbles.
- You're done! Put the pot in a sunny spot (6-8 hours of direct sun a day for most varieties) and watch them grow!!
- Well, almost done! Planting in containers requires attention to watering. When soil is dry down about 1", soak the pot down until the water reaches the rim. Let it stand about 10 minutes and soak again.
- Feed your vegetables! Use a liquid fertilizer about once a month starting one month after plants have established. Or use fertilizer stakes found at your local garden center.
- Monitor your plants for pests and disease. If one pot is infected move it far away from the others.
- Before you know it, you'll be harvesting fresh vegetables from your own patio, driveway, backyard, front steps... where ever your container garden resides!
Basically, just have fun. Experience is the best learning tool in gardening, so take everything in stride. Don't be afraid to go to your garden center and ask questions; trust me, they love to answer them! As do I should you ever have any!
To Good Food,
Bonnie.
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