My garden, the best analogy to my life at the moment

Ok, it's been about two months since my last post. Life has been all sorts of crazy for me (which from some points of view is my normal speed). Mid-August I started another semester of graduate school, this time taking two classes instead of one, and I also started to teach another class at my school. Unlike the curriculum for the freshman, this one I or seniors and is a bit underdeveloped. My job is definitely harder this year than last year. In addition, I started volunteering for a political campaign. Technically, I am supposed to be an intern; however, I'm more like a canvassing pro. And on top of all that, I was also training (or trying to train) for Ragnar DC. So if being a teacher and student at the same time was not hard enough, I am also a long distance runner and volunteer. With so much  going on, I am surprised sometimes at the fact I can get some (but nowhere near all) things done.

One thing that has fallen to the way side was my vegetable garden. And though it looked quite haggard, it was productive! My messy little garden was very productive. Especially those tomato plants.

I hope that I am at least as productive as my garden, but my productivity and my garden's productivity are not really all that comparable. All i know is I've been crazy busy with life. And my garden has been going crazy producing tomatoes (I'm thinking some time to make a marinara sauce is in order).

P.S. Since I just finished running Ragnar this past weekend, that is one thing off the list. (I will post more about my post-Ragnar running plans later this week)

Being "skinny-fat"

I’m sure that we have all heard the statistics that morethan a third of adults in the US are obese, and this has caused a rise in obesity related diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. In April, I weighed around 142 lbs. and had a BMI of 24.7, which classified me as “Normal Weight”. I knew that I wasn’t at an ideal weight for my height but I wasn’t overweight. However, a check of my blood cholesterol and sugar numbers had a different story. They revealed that I was “skinny-fat”. My numbers for cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar, and HbA1C (a protein that is associated with insulin production) were high enough to classify me as pre-diabetic. The scariest number was the HbA1C number, which was 6.4%. Another tenth of a percent and I would be classified as Type 2 diabetic. Oh the joys of being “skinny-fat”.

The first time I heard about “skinny-fat” was in a 2011article in Women’s Health. The medical expert interviewed for the article, Dr. Jimmy Bell, also called this condition TOFI – Thin Outside Fat Inside. People who are “skinny-fat” or TOFI are not overweight but still have Type 2 diabetes. I recently re-read the article and saw some warning signs that contributed to my “skinny-fat” condition.  

1.    Stress – This is a big one for me. Six plus years of graduate school where I spent 10+ hours/day doing experiments, working on grants/presentation/papers, and teaching kept me busy; but I also know that I was plenty stressed from it all.

2.    Not regularly exercising – during grad school and even for a few years after, this was one of my problems. When I did make it to the gym, I would be consistent for a couple of months and then not go for a couple of months. I’ve improved on that some. I just need to make sure that when school does start up again and I’m back at work that I keep it up.

3.    Genetic pre-disposition – I’m not 100% sure who in my family had Type 2 diabetes, but I do remember that a couple great aunties or great grandparents had it. Plus, it turns out that certain ethnicities are pre-disposed to diabetes – Asians being one of them.

One factor that I have avoided was yo-yo dieting. Getting to the low 140s in the past 10+ years since high school was a slow process up. I know that getting back down to a more manageable weight needs to be done in a way that would end up being sustainable.

…

While I can end on the note of the previous paragraph, I do have some positive up-dates. My most recent blood work did reveal some improvements. My aim at loosing weight has been not as big as I had hoped, about 4-5 lbs since April. However, I am working out more than before and have gone back on Weight Watchers. The numbers are getting better too! Previously, my blood sugar levels were at 123 mg/dL. If they were 2+ mg/dL higher, that would have been one indicator for diabetes. The most recent number is 100 mg/dL! Ideally, I would have it below 100 mg/dL. But, I’m making positive progress J. Also, my HbA1C value that was 6.4 before is now down to 5.8. Diet changes and medication have helped here. I gotta keep it up! I’m making great strides, but more can be done.

Success from the garden :-)

Tomato and Pepper Plants

Squash, beans, and corn plants

My first try at gardening has been going pretty well. The plants are full and lush and going pretty strong, in spite of the small battles with early blight, slugs, and other pests. I've been getting a decent little harvest - especially from my tomato plants.

Tomatoes, beens, and zucchini squash

Some of the tomatoes are half the size of my niece's head! And there's more to come.

While I haven't seen too many ears of corn on my plants, there are a couple almost ready to pick. Also, I have a bunch of plum tomatoes and heirlooms that just need to ripen. I'm going to have to get a bit creative with tomatoes. I've already used a few in a grilled chicken bruschetta and will be using some in a tomato tart. A fresh tomato salsa might have to be on the list too. I'll try to have the camera out to snap a few photos of my tomato creations.

Plum tomato plants surrounded by wild flowers.

The experimental garden in front of my sidewalk, where the azaleas used to be, has been successful for the plum tomatoes. There are a few green bean plants that have produced a handful of green beans. However, the squash has not done very well. I think it's because they are shaded and squash plants are fiends for sunlight.  Oh well. 

With the success of the garden, I'm already thinking of what I can do for a fall garden. Looking around the web, I think I'll soon start some beds with more green beans, carrots, lettuce, and maybe some kale.

Green beans

The other day, Aaron commented on my garden and we both noticed that some of the green beans were ready to be picked. I got a nice harvest, a few ounces away from a pound! Now the question is what to do with them. I'm thinking of using some for an herbed goat cheese and beets salad that I saw on Food Network the other day. Should be yummy! I'm thinking of bringing it over to my friend Becca, who just had surgery on her foot. 

In other garden news, I figured out what was the cause of the zucchini fruit to go bad - blossom end rot. A few gardening websites suggest using a diluted Epsom salt solution. I hope it works. 

Also, the tomatoes are looking better after I sprayed them with a copper based fungicide. There isn't as much yellowing and they're looking green again. However, there seems to be something that is eating one of the plants and the not-yet-ripe fruits. Puck identified deer the other night, and I think they might be the culprit. I'm going to see if I can find an organic repellant spray to put on the tomatoes and the rest of the plants. It could also be slugs, and one of the better traps for those is a beer trap. I have to get some cheap beer to set out. Then it will be only a matter of time before the slugs go to the "free beer"

Progress and set backs

Tomatoes and peppers, early last week. 

 

Early last week, I was able to get out to the garden and take a couple photos on its progress. This was after I had realized that I had neglected my garden for a couple of weeks and had let weeds grow all over the walk ways and sides of the beds. I had also found a few slugs (possible suspects for the near death of one of my bean plants and numerous squash flowers) that were also removed from the garden. But after all the unwanted vegetation was removed I was able to see that there had been some progress in veggie production

Here are a few specimens from the garden.

Beans coming soon!

Romas - starting to come in. 

First successful bell pepper

First tomato!

Zucchini... no looking so good

But, not all has been a success. I've already had to prematurely remove two peppers and a couple of zucchinis because they were infected with something. There were soft spots on them and I removed them in hopes that the infection would not spread. 

Erly blight on tomato plant *sad face*

Tomatoes as of this morning

It has also been raining here plenty, which is both a blessing and a curse. I haven't had to spend time in the morning making sure that my plants have had a healthy dose of agua before the heat of the day; however, high humidity and heat make for ideal conditions for fungal growth. And lo and behold... the blight has already beseiged my indeterminate tomato plants! I've gone through and picked off infected leaves and sprayed with a copper based fungicide. Only time will tell if I get more than one tomato from all four plants. I've seen some signs of it on my Romas, but I'm hoping that early enough treatment will help stem the spread. Since this is my first time growing tomatoes, I'll admit that I had not thoroughly read into growing tomatoes beyond planing them pretty deep into the ground to provide a strong root system for the plants. Had I continued to do more reading on how to tend to them as they grew, I might have done a different staking system and monitored them more carefully. (This video has some great suggestions http://youtu.be/pZWRfLGqH1M, which I will try to implement next year). 

Squash, benas, and corn

Butternut squash!

In regards to the rest of the plants, they seem to be doing alright. But, I think I burned a few beans with too much fertilizer. I was using a fertilizer that was supposed to be added with water but ran out of that when got to the beans and used a different one. I don't think I applied it correctly because some of the leaves have yellowed. However, where the little white buds first appeared last week have small beans on them. I'm hoping that they'll be ready to pick in a few days. 

The male flowers on the corn are up, and earlier I saw set of female flowers on my corn. So, there will be at least one ear of corn (but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more) 

Also, I have noticed that I have winter squash already growing nicely! 

On another note, the hubs found a little snake in our yard. The little thing was about eight-inches in length and hiding in the mulch near the mail box. He moved it on to the side walk so I could get a better shot of it. We let it go afterwards because we didn't think it would be a threat to Puck. 

S-s-seee you later!!

Babies and children everywhere, but I still don't want one (yet)

No lie, it's hard not to think of babies in my family right now. My sister just had her first little nugget a couple of weeks ago and my sister-in-law had her second little nugget two weeks prior. In the past month, two good friends announced they're pregnant. Also, given that the hubs and I spent time with family this weekend to welcome my nephew, the questions related to when I'm going to have my own little ones have come up. These also prompt me to remember past comments like "you would want to have kids soon, while you will have energy to enjoy them" and "you know, you said that about a year after you were married you would start trying to agave kids." This latter comment, I don't remember saying. 

Some times the "pressure" to start trying to have children gets annoying. I realize my parents and in-laws really want to have little grand babies around that they could spoil (since a grand puppy doesn't seem to fit the bill). My mom used to remind me that by the time she was my age she already had my siblings and me. Sometimes the "pressure" is internal; I am in my early 30's, and I don't want to be too old when I have my own. However, I am still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I'm still in flux. Between the current job and trying to prepare myself for a career transition, I doubt trying to bring a child into the craziness that is my life now would be a wise choice. But there have been plenty of people who have also been apted to remind me that as you get older it would harder to have the children. 

With all of this in mind, I could not have been any happier to have just finished Jean Twenge's article "How long can you wait to have a baby." (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/07/how-long-can-you-wait-to-have-a-baby/309374/?single_page=true) The things I got out of her article were 1) the information behind the "it gets harder to have a baby as you get older" is based on pre-20th century data and while it is true, it's not as severe as society would have you believe, and 2) when it comes to actually trying to conceive, the traditional family planning method will be the way to go since statistically there is no difference between women in their 20's and women in their 30's. Her biggest piece of advice is to "plan to have your last child by the time you turn 40". That is advice I would have no trouble listening to. 

There is no doubt that I want children, probably 2-3, but I know I'm not ready for them. I may be in my (early) 30's, but I'm still selfish. Perhaps I'll be ready in a couple of years, when my life is not in as much flux as it is now. Until then, my furry baby is all the child I need. 

     Puck, my furry baby, patiently waiting for a ball

Macro view of the garden

Tomato flower

Late in 2012, Aaron wanted to up-grade our camera equipment to the fancier  professional versions of the entry level DSLRs that we had. With the camera change, a change in the lenses also was in order. One lens that I have been eying for a while was a macro lens - which if you are a Nikon shooter, it's brand of macro lenes are labelled "micro." My wonderful husband spoiled me with getting one of these lenes. However, due to teaching, taking graduate school-level classes, races, and gardening, I haven't really had a chance to play with the new toy camera, much less with the fun our new lenses. That is until last night. With no grading or any other pressing paper work hanging over my head, I thought it was just as good as any to take a few shots. Since I've been blogging about the garden, I figured the plants would be the perfect test subjects. 

Young tomato

The tomato plants were among the first subjects. Not only did I get some shots of the flowers, it allowed me to be able to carefully inspect the plants for signs of fruits. The past few days weeks had me annoyed with the lack of tomato fruits. There had been plenty of flowers but not fruits. I thought that there could be a lack of pollinators, though I'm not outside very much to verify. I thought this was equally annoying since I had assumed that tomatoes were not picky when it comes to fruiting (I think I need to do more research about this). While shooting a flower on one of my store bought plants, I noticed a tiny little fruit!! I'm hoping that there will be a few more fruits that will begin to show up, and that I do not have to "replace" the pollinators in my yard.

Zucchini bud

This past weekend, I saw bright yellow flowers from my squash plants. I hope that I'll see it a bit more opened up to take some cool shots of it as well.

The corn, which were started from seed, have been growing nicely. One fun thing about the corn plants is the swirl pattern in the middle of their stocks where the new corn growth emerges. It looks like a green vortex.

Looking into the corn stalk

The couple of pictures below are from one of the hostas across the drive way from the vegetable garden. I thought it would be fun to play with Lightroom and see what effects I can apply to the photo, although I had not installed the program on to my computer until last night. Quick note, most of the pictures in this post were cropped and had the exposure adjusted on them to make sure they were not too dark. After playing with the tone, saturation, and vibrance of the photo (and cropping too) the shot on the right is what came out. Not too shabby (imho).

With school out and my main objectives being working on the garden, finishing my course work towards my teaching license, and working out a lot, I'm hoping that I'll have more time to pay around with the camera.  

Mission Creep... Garden Style

Garden at the beginning of May

Garden with all three beds as of last week

My goal for 2013 was to have a few garden beds in the part my yard between the driveway and my neighbor's property. The plan for the garden this year was to have three beds with corn, green beans, squash, and herbs. By the beginning of May, I had one bed with a handful of plants - mostly tomatos and pepper plants. I thought I was making good progress, but  another two weeks passed by before I was able to complete the latter two beds. Unlike the first bed that contains store bought plants, the second and third beds contain plants that were started from seed. The second bed contains squash plants that were started a few weeks earlier and some green beans from seed. The third bed contains corn and green beans. My parents have already threatened to steal corn and green beans from my garden. (Grrr...) In the first bed, I added some more tomato plants and a couple of basil plants. So the initial garden plan has been completed and I just have to tend the garden as the plants grow.

Starting seeds, part 2

I will not lie that the size of my garden has expanded beyond my initial plan. Part of this was due to the sad fact that the first set of seeds I started in late March/early April were no good to plant out because they had received too much light. The epicotyls of each of the seedlings were much too long and did not look healthy. This is part of the reason why I had bought plants for the first bed. That and I was impatient in having a fuller plant in the garden/  A few weeks before building the two latter beds, I had started some plants to plant in those beds. The result of the second try were a good number of seedlings; more seedlings that I had space to plant out, which left me with the problem of what to do with the extra seedlings.


The other reason why my garden plan expanded was the unplanned removal of the azalea bushes (wall) in front of our house. When we moved into the house I thought that they looked pretty, but after the blooms finished I didn't really like the way they looked. Also, the bushes were overgrown and I didn't want to work that much on them to trim them back and train them. So after talking with a coworker who offered to take them off my hands, the azaleas were gone. That left all of the bare spots in our yard to figure out what we were going to do.

Front walk way before and after

Beets, radishes, lettuce, and herb

Since I had extra seedlings, I figured, why not plant them in the front of the house. As Aaron would remind me, this decision was a classic case of mission creep. And the mission creep did not end there as I had also started a bunch of container gardens full of veggies and herbs too.

I'm really hoping to get some tasty produce out of my suburban experiment.

My thoughts on Cooked

Pollan giving a TedTalk (From Wikipedia)

One of my "intellectual idols" would have to be Michael Pollan. I've been interested in his work after watching Botany of Desire, Food, Inc., and the Ted Talk he gave from the plants' perspective. I agree with many of his ideas on food and enjoy hearing him speak on them. I admire the work he has done to provide some clarity of what is going on with the modern day food system.

Cooked is Pollan's latest book that takes a look at the history of four cooking methods, barbecue, braise, bake, and ferment. The narrative is Pollan's journey to learn about these methods from masters of each of these crafts that tangentially bounces to the historic, psychological, and scientific stories related to each technique*. I am completely envious of this experience because it involves two things that love to do, cook and learn; to have been able to take the time to learn from masters of these cooking techniques is just awesome and something that hardly anyone could afford to do. However, his writing gives the impression that learning each techniques is within reach and cooking school is not a must.  For each method, I kept thinking to myself, "I could do that." While currently do not have lots of time to try each of these cooking methods at the moment (kind of hard at the moment being a student and a new teacher), I definitely want to try each technique. Oh, and I want to make the note that I do cook at home right now, but not with the type of cooking styles Pollan uses. I'll admit that I'm hoping this summer could be a time that I can try my hand at making a loaf of bread, braise a nice cut of meat, or even try my hand at barbecue this summer. I greatly recommend this book who enjoys good food and wants to be voyeuristic about learning how to cook.

*I wanted to also note that I read this as an audiobook, which helped out a lot. In the past, I tried to read In Defense of Food and Omnivore's Dilema, but I had gotten so caught up in the tangental narratives that I would ge frustrated and not finished. This time, it went so much smoother and I really enjoyed the fact that Pollan reads the book himself. It helps provide clarity to the narrative. I would definitely recommend this book as an audio book, and now plan on using this format to complete the other Pollan books on my shelf.

Rocketman tri

While the majority of America spent Cinco de Mayo with tacos, tequila, and margaritas, I spent part of it doing a triathlon with the hubs and some new friends. The Kennedy Space Center Rocketman Triathlon was my fourth mini adventure with the swim, bike, run sport. The options for racing included a Classic+, International+, and a half Ironman. I went with the Classic+, composed of a 0.26 mi swim, 34-36ish mi bike ride and a 3.1 mi run. (The official bike route was advertised for 34 mi, but there were plenty of people who had their GPS systems tracking the ride and said that they rode 36 mi)
The swim was off a pier near a Titusville park. There were a few dolphins and manatees spotted, but I didn't see them. :-( I did enjoy the fact the turn buoys were shaped as rockets.
The bike portions lead the racers into the NASA launch grounds. I didn't have a GoPro, so I don't have video if the bike course. There were plenty of athletes who did have cameras, so I'm sure there will be a video of the bike course soon. There was an interesting dichotomy of industrial built up space support equipment and the wild life preserve around it. It was very pretty; I saw all sorts of lush greenery some different birds. I almost ran over a baby snake - almost being the operative word. But alas, I saw no gators; supposedly, they were hanging out on the half-iron part of the course. Not being a space geek, I thought it was pretty cool to be that close to the launch sites. Definitely, it was an opportunity that I'm not sure I'll ever have again.
The run was a straight out and back in a neighborhood that finished at a park honoring the astronauts. The people who lived there were awesome about cheering us on. The preschoolers who cheered us on were really cute and there was a pit bull that had a pink tutu on. I know I remember some random stuff, but those little distractions help make the race fun.
The best part was our support crew!! Becca, Lauren, and Flux!!! They are awesome!! After the handful of races I've done, I cannot underscore the awesomeness that a support crew can do for your morale during a race. My goal will try to support them when they do any races in the future.

Progress on the garden...

Below are pictures showing the progress I've made on the garden.

With help from my dad, we were able to pull out most of the over grown burning bush and azaleas from the side yard next to the drive way. (Hubs was able to dig out the roots that didn't want to come out)

This year, I'm going to set up a few vegetable garden beds. I have one set up right now. It has tomato plants from the local garden center. I realize I initially said that I was going to go from seed, but 1) my plants got too much light and looked sickly and 2) I had feelings of garden inadequacy with my less than stellar seedlings.

So, I restarted seeds (tomatoes, herbs, squash) last week and will keep my fingers crossed that the seeds will take.

Oh the great experiment that is gardening.

Pulling out all of the over grown stuff

My blank slate!!

Veggie patch #1... More to come

I'm so ready for spring to get here.

On Monday morning, I (along with many others in the DC area) woke up to find snow on the ground. My first thoughts were "Really!?!?! Isn't it supposed to be spring! I am on spring break for Pete's sake!" Now, I know there have been plenty of people who have accused a certain poor groundhog of lying and deceiving the entire US.  But let's recognize that  weathermen and politicians have probably done worst than Phil in terms errant predictions.

The side yard where my vegetable garden will be.

While I was not able to do much towards planting or working on my vegetable garden on Monday, I luckily had worked on it over the weekend.

Before anything can be planted into the ground, I have to clear out stuff that is already there. Lucky for me, my dad has offered to help me up root these bushes once I've trimmed them down to a manageable size.

So... STEP 1: Clear out side yard: In progress.

Another thing that I needed to do is start some seeds so that after the last frost comes through, I'll be able plant out some seedlings and get a head start on growing plants.

Grow light set up

Lettuce seedlings!

The plants that are on my indoor starting list include lettuce, tomatoes, pepers, basil, and marigolds. I started some of those seeds this past weekend as well. While I was not expecting any seedlings until this Friday (after about 7 days), I had a happy surprise from my lettuce pot.

So, gardening goal is under way! More updates to come :-)

Ready to garden?

I'm armed with seeds, seed starting mix, starting pots, grow lights, and a couple "how to garden" books. The last frost is supposedly going to end in about a month, so this is the perfect time start some seeds indoors.

The outside still needs work, I have to clear a few bushes and prep the area where I will put the raised beds. I'll start that this weekend. :-)

If you want to know what I have to grow, I've got seeds for corn, tomatoes (two varieties), green beans, acorn squash, butternut squash, basil, and zucchini. I'll start the tomatoes, zucchini, and basil indoors. The winter squashes will start closer to when the beds will be ready, and I'll sow the beans and corn directly.

Hooray for getting closer to starting another goal for 2013!!

Goal: Complete Princess Half completed... but hurting

Pre-race photo (probably around 4am) Leah, Michelle, me, & Becca 

When you are going to run a long race, you're supposed to train and bulding your endurance to complete the race. However, if you're a busy person like me, you forget to train and don't want to waste the cash spent on the bib, hotel, and flight. So, you go anyway, change your goal of getting a PR, and have fun with your friends who are also in attendance. :-)

My goal was to finish and run as much of the race as possible. I would say that I ran over half (closer to eight miles total, walking about five miles). I was able to do this in just under three hours.

Unfortunately, my legs hurt for a couple of days after the race. At least I was able to walk up and down stairs without pain three days after the race. I probably will do a light workout tonight.

Lessons learned:
- If you're going to do a race ... train!
- It's not really a race to set a PR
- Hot and humid = drink lots and don't forget nutrition.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend

:-)