and the garden starts...

I grew up in small town Maine, not tiny town Maine, but small town (maybe 5000 or so) and like many people in the town we had a small garden. One of my father's favorite things was working in the garden, I remember it would start off a big dirt patch and as the season went along, so did the veggies. We almost always had fresh veggies during the middle and end of the summer right into the fall. I remember it being time to til the soil and we would get the old roto-tiller out and when I was old enough I would get to start it up and till away the soil, every year I think we would add a little bit of space onto the garden.

I remember quite well all the different types of veggies we would grow, tomatoes in tires, beets, corn, peas, beans, radishes, broccoli, squash, zucchini, spinach, lettuce, carrots and I think that was all. Of course at the end of the garden we had raspberry bushes and some strawberries, but those weren't as important as the veggies.

So this year with the purchase of my house I am growing veggies, I am starting a small garden, but it will grow my veggies and I am hoping it will grow well. What I am looking forward to is channeling my father and hoping the green thumb has been passed to me. When I was able to have a little patch for myself I got to pick what I wanted to grow, and I picked watermelon (yah in Maine I know.) Little did I know that watermelon really didn't grow that well in Maine, but it grew. I got maybe two melons the between softballs and basketballs, not huge, and really not that edible. I learned a lesson, so now I am hoping that lesson stuck. SO I will continue to blog about the progress of my garden and as my blog has taken different turns, this is most likely how it will be for the next few months...garden talk.

Step 1: Raised beds
I installed a 4ftx4ft raised bed on my lawn, it's really not that big, but I am hoping it will do the trick for now. If I need another one, I can get another one, but for now, that's what I got. With help from Bob and Donna I put some weed stop black garden "paper" down and put the bed on top of it. We then filled it with a combination of Scotts Organic Soil for veggies and some dirt/leafs that the city decided not to pick up, but Donna informed me that it was some good dirt, so I used it.

I also bought some seedlings, and some seeds. The undertaking of this garden is small, but I am hoping that the damn little squirrels don't eat my plants (Goal #1) and then of course I want the plants to grow! SO these are the plants I am growing in my little space. If need be I will get more, but in reading articles I can grow intensely in a small space.
Big Boy Heirloon Tomatoes
Yellow Sweet Cherry Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Sweet Red Peppers
Brussel Sprouts
Sweet Corn
Multicolored Carrots
Beets
Sugar snap Peas
Green Peas
String Beans
Cucumbers

So we shall see what pops up and what goes horrible, and lessons will be learned and what not, let's see how easy it is Barbara Kingsolver, let's see if it is as easy as you say it is. Until next time...

I may be a champion but I am NO athlete.

So I was thinking about this for the last few days as I have been beginning to run again. I am all signed up for the NYC Marathon and I am running and I am realizing I am no athlete (as bad grammar as that is, and this is). Anyway I was thinking about this and I have never been an athlete. I ran around as a kid, I played tag, hide and seek, attempted cross country, soccer, and skiing in middle school, but to no avail, I was horrible. In cross country I was pretty much the slowest, in soccer, I never actually made the team...so I was the manager, but I attempted to work out with the team, but again it was only middle school, nothing big. I attempted skiing, this was okay, I did both downhill and cross country, but I think a part of me was scared of the speed at which you go down the hill, so I was slow, in Cross Country skiing...I didn't come in last and I loved it when people cheered me on, maybe because they had to, but maybe because I was part of the team, I still felt disconnected. When I was going into high school I went to the guy who was suppose to provide the equipment for fall training. When I went to get the dry land training skis he told me basically I couldn't be on the team because I hadn't been training all summer, now really how was I to know this??? I honestly think he didn't give a damn about me and I wasn't that great in middle school so why should I bother him with needed to try to be better, no I shouldn't. It really got to me and kind of made me give up on sports. You know when a person who has children your age tells you you aren't good enough for something and at the age of 14 it hits you, and stays with you. I have had those feelings other points of my life and I have been working on this for the last 16+ years, I have a) been struggling with the feelings of being told I can't do something and I just accept it, b) easily getting frustrated when the results I want don't happen, c)just giving up because I am happy with myself.
Some of these things I guess could be fine but you know what it isn't. I need to do more push more and be more. It took me a long time to realize who I was and what I was good at and what I wanted to be, well maybe I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up but that's for another post. Anyway I realized I will never be an athlete. I may be a champion but an athlete I am not. Again I may not win races persay, but I win in my own mind, when I beat a record that I have set for myself, I am a champion. Even if I didn't beat my times in my half marathons I finished them. I am a big guy, and as long as I keep running and keep up with the healthy eating (working on that one) I will stay at a weight that is good for me and if I loose weight that is a great side effect. At this point in my life I am not looking to break records, loose 60 pounds, or do anything incredible like slay a dragon. I want to live my life and go on with my life as normal as possible. I want to run a marathon, do my job and maybe just maybe run a half marathon in each state.
I guess I am just doing what I think is right, what I was taught was right and what I think is the best for me (a little selfish I know but still, you gotta be sometimes.)