#44 5K Once Again...

On May 19th I participated with a friend, Chris Biernbaum, in the Ferguson Twilight 5K/10K Run/Walk. We had awesome weather and our family came out to cheer us on!

This was my 3rd 5K and I must say this was my favorite. First of all the other two races were early in the morning. This race did not start until 6pm (Hence -- TWILIGHT). LOVED THAT!!! There was music and food and so many participants. I did enjoy the entertainment and the fun atmosphere. Here are some of the pictures:

Family came out to support me -- they were sitting enjoying the entertainment!


Chris and I getting ready, set...


Chris' son Craig ran in the 10K

GO!!!

Loved running along the streets of Ferguson!



Raced to the finish!

I made it!  Lots of fun!

Check out the medal!

What I loved most about this was the beautiful area of Ferguson.  The scenery was simply beautiful.  I live close to Ferguson but would have never known how spacious and lovely the area was.  I enjoyed smelling the roses along the way -- it was just a beautiful route.

By the way, Chris was the one who told me about this race.  I have her to thank for this experience.  It was not my intention to do another 5K.  I'm so glad I did.  This time I was prepared just to walk it and Chris had decided to do the same.  Well that soon changed after jogging down a hill for me.  It felt great to jog instead of walk.  So I kept going.  Who knew???!!!  So now I'm looking forward to getting into more 5K's.  This little boost was all I needed.  So hey -- 10K here I come -- one day!!!  I just enjoy the atmosphere and everyone out competing against each other or themselves.  I came in at walking/running this race in 43 minutes (3 miles).  Now I'm wondering what I would have come in at if I ran the entire thing (smile)! 

There will be more races for me before the next Ferguson race in 2014 -- but I will never forget this experience!  Loads of fun!  Thanks Chris!!! 

Until next time...

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#43 Vegetable Garden Complete



Can you tell I'm on a mission to keep squirrels out??

Finally the vegetable garden is complete. I'm very satisfied at the turnout. Today my boys planted in their own 4x4 square foot garden bed and they did a great job. We used the square foot gardening method by Mel Bartholomew. Check out Square Foot Gardening at this Youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Lu-7FIj_g or read about it at this link http://www.melbartholomew.com/category/beginners-guide/.

I started off by doing the most important thing. Adding Organic Compost and Peat Moss to my soil. For me, it's important that I add these things to my soil because I want to use organic methods in my planting. Since organic fruits and vegetables are so expensive, this is an economical way of doing it myself.





The right side is done and you can see the difference in the soil

I then began my process of using chicken wire to enclose the two raised beds. I purchased a large roll at Home Depot and I got the smaller one free from Freecycle. If you are not familiar with Freecycle -- check them out here http://www.freecycle.org/. I absolutely love Freecycle because it is a way to keep things from filling up in our landfills. It's a network of people giving and receiving things absolutely free.


I pounded four stakes into the holes on each side of the raised beds. I then attached the larger chicken wire and used my staple gun to attach the wire to the stakes. I then used fabric & garden staples to pin the wire into the dirt. All this to keep those pesky squirrels and rabbits out of my garden! No more stealing my investment!!!!!!!!

The top one I purchased and the bottom one I received free from Freecycle!

Purchased bags of staple clamps for the garden at the DollarTree

After that was done the boys filled in their square foot gardening planner. You can get your free planner here: http://www.5dollardinners.com/free-gardening-planners/ They added the vegetables and fruit they wanted to plant to their planner. This eliminated them having to put down name tags next to the plant. They only need to look over their planner to see what is growing. Here's a close up picture of one of the beds:

I heard it was a good thing to add Marigolds to keep out the bad insects.

The boys then began to plant. They followed their planner and added the seeds to each 12x12 square. They planted 3 types of spinach, 2 types of peppers, lettuce, watermelon, parsnips, onions, and other things in their beds. I added other containers for tomatoes.

You may ask, how do you get into these containers and the raised beds. Quite simply. For the raised beds, when I wrapped the chicken wire around it I only attached it to the sides and the back. I constructed the front part of the chicken wire to work like a door. It swings open to the left and I can then tie it up when we are finished. It tied to the top with yarn. It can be opened easily when we need to get in and weed or collect the harvest. Also with the containers, I can easily take the top (roof) off to get to the fruit. Also, when the tomatoes get bigger I can enlarge the wire and attach a stake. I love it!

Oh I almost forgot another secret weapon that helped last year keeping those squirrels out of my containers was this:

My rubber snakes from the Dollar Tree -- they worked like a charm!!!

So I will be posting to the blog from time-to-time when we began to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Until next time...

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#42 My Vegetable Garden Part 1

As many of you know, eating a healthy diet is more important then all the exercise you could ever do. It's very important that your diet goes hand-in-hand with your exercise program. I have mentioned in a past post that I would love to purchase all organic fruits and vegetables but Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are not in the budget. Therefore, for me it's important that I do something about that. Hence -- the VEGETABLE GARDEN!!!

I have two boys who are boy scouts.

I decided to come on board with the boy scouts by becoming a merit badge counselor. So I am now a Gardening Merit Badge Counselor. So what that means is this -- whenever a scout wants to earn the garden merit badge -- the boys could come to me to obtain that badge by showing that they have followed all the requirements in the Garden Merit Badge Booklet. So my boys are working on the garden merit badge. What we have done so far is cleared out a small area in our backyard to prepare to grow fruit, vegetables and plants.

They need to grow things from seed and from seedling. It should be a lot of fun and I have found that my boys are more likely to eat the things that they have a hand at growing. Win-win!!!

We will be working on this throughout the growing season until harvest and I plan on posting our progress. So please come back to see what we have accomplished!

So if you are like me and organic fruits and vegetables are not in your families budget -- try your hand at growing your own organic vegetables right in the comfort of your backyard, patio or deck. Do it with your kids as well. Oh how sweet it is!

Until next time.
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#41 Farmers Markets Opening This Weekend!!!!

Gotta Love Farmer's Markets!!!

I don't know about you but I enjoy Farmer's Markets.  This weekend a lot of the markets will be opening up for the spring/summer season.  Ferguson Farmer's Market will be one of those kicking off it's 11th season on May 4th.  By the way, I will be participating in the 5/10K run, fun walk at the Ferguson Twilight Run. 



Can You Find Me???  LOL!!

If you are so inclined please come on by the Ferguson Farmer's Market and sign up for the run/walk from 8 till noon on Saturday the 4th.  For more information on the date and registration for the run/walk check out this website:  http://fergusontwilightrun.com/wp/

Go on out and check out these Farmer's Markets.  A great thing to do on a weekend morning:

MAY 4TH OPENING DAY SEASON ELEVEN

Every Saturday for 26 weeks , from 8am till 12 noon, you can connect with local farmers, and choose sustainably grown produce, and fruits all season long. We have all of your friendly farmers back, and have added some new ones , to keep our market “growing.” You’ll find many varieties of lettuces, as well as spinach, chard, radishes, Russian kale, green garlic, green onions, etc and fresh cut herbs, as well as herb, and veggie plants. Come hungry for “made to order” omelets, Bar – B – Q, Mexican, and Jamaican foods and lots of great baked goods. You can sign up for the Twilight 5/10K run, fun walk, 8 till noon, and you can take a spin on our new blender bike, 9am till 11am, and make a smoothie by pedal power! Live music by Rewind 9am till 11am . We hope you will make the market your farm fresh destination each Saturday , 8am till 12pm, May 4th – October 26th.

COME FOR THE FARMERS. STAY FOR THE FUN!

WHEN

Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
May 4th - November 2nd

The Clayton Farmers Market is a popular destination for St. Louis County residents. It has all kinds of organic and locally produced food including breads, cheeses, fruits, veggies and honey. You'll also find candles, ornaments, cookbooks and gourmet dog treats. The mission of the Clayton Market is to promote all things local, so you can be sure what you're buying was produced, grown or hand crafted in Missouri or Illinois. The Clayton Farmers Market is located at 8282 Forsyth Boulevard on the Straub's parking lot. It's open on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m

Kickoff Celebration this Saturday!

Join us in Tower Grove Park this Saturday from 8am - 2pm to kickoff our 8th season! Shop from over 90 vendors, meet our new farmers, welcome back the vendors you've come to love, do yoga on the lawn (9am), Qi Gong on the lawn (8am) and enjoy the sounds of three bands: The Lodge Brothers (9:45 a.m.), the Trio Project (11 a.m.) and Rough Shop Trio (12:15 p.m.)

We are eager to start our 8th season and we hope you will come out and celebrate with us! See you in the park.

See ya at the Farmer's Markets!!!!

Until next time...

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