2 Weeks of Bokashi

I thought I would pop in and update anyone who is interested about my bokashi adventures.

The bokashi bucket, all ready to go

We have had our bokashi bucket for about 2 weeks now and it's almost full and time to seal up!  Initially I was curious as to how it would all go, would we find it helpful or a hindrance?

 

B has mostly been away while we have had it, and we have basically already decided that this is my thing lol... trying to explain to him how it works, while simple, it's really not something that he wanted to worry about.

 

But, it really doesn't take up any time at all!  It's fantastic!  At the end of each day, I take our food scraps, and pop them into this bin, give it a few sprays of the bokashi EM spray and seal it all back up again!

 

I try to only do this once a day as it does work on an anaerobic (no oxygen) basis. I usually keep our scraps in a container or plate until night time.  I also go through the fridge and see what needs to be thrown away and add that in too.

 

Where the bucket is located in our little kitchen

What I love about the bucket is that anything we would usually eat can go in there!  In fact, when I went to take the bins out for collection on Sunday night, I put our one and only rubbish bag for the week in there... along with a full recycling bin!  How fantastic is that!!  For a family of 3, we only had one bag of rubbish as we had either recycled or composted the rest! There wasn't a single food scrap that went into the rubbish bin!

 

Our bin does have a lot of processed foods in it, as admittedly our life seems to be one of convenience atm, but even so, it still has a lot of fresh foods in there too.  A quick list of things that are in there atm are:

• pizza
• bread
• egg shells
• yoghurt
• shallots
• carrots
• capsicum
• chicken
• paper towels
• tomato
• avocado
• mandarins (peel and all)
• banana (peel and all)
• pasta
• fish
• chips
• coffee grounds

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but you can see that it has a bit of everything in it!

 

Just to give you a look inside...

The process is actually quite simple. Once you have the bin set up, you place your food scraps in (cut up smaller if possible, although I have been a little slack in doing this), push it down with the little tool they give you.  This helps to push the air out of it.  Then you give it a couple of sprays of the EM spray and seal the container back up, making sure that the seal is tight so that no air can get in.

 

There is also a fantastic liquid that comes out of it, that is excellent for the garden (it does need to be diluted), or you can pour it down the drain to clean them out!!  Now, I actually haven't had any liquid from mine in 2 weeks, but after a little research I have found out that you won't get much liquid if there are a lot of processed foods in there as the fresh foods will release more liquid (makes sense).  On further thought, I also think it could be because I lined the bottom of the bucket with pizza, which I think would probably soak it all up. 

 

See how full it is?

I am ok with this as there is no smell coming from the container... which is something that I was worried about... everyone says it shouldn't smell bad, but have a faint "pickling" smell... if it smells bad then something has gone wrong.  I am very happy to say that mine has that pickling smell and nothing is mouldy or gross in there!!

 

Speaking of mould, once the bucket is full, it needs to be sealed for at least 10 days, 2 weeks preferably.  During this time it will ferment and will grow white mould.  if it grows green mould then it has had too much air in the bucket. The white mould is good and it's the microbes at work.

 

Once it has fermented the food scraps can be placed into the composter or straight into the garden bed.  It is acidic at this point, but needs the soil to be able to decompose.  The food scraps also won't decompose in the bucket, so if you open it up and nothing is happening... this is a good thing!

 

Our Composter

As you can see from my last picture, the bucket is almost full (this picture was taken a few days ago, there have been more food scraps added since then).  I can't wait until it's time to seal it up... I am curious to see how it will go in the composter... I think I will put it in there first to see how it goes. I will need to buy a second bucket to use while this one is fermenting, that way I will be able to rotate them.

One of the main reasons why I decided to give this a go was actually that I had realised that my soil was really depleted of nutrients from when I was gardening.  The soil wasn't retaining any water and through research I found that it's because I wasn't putting any organic matter back into it. I was going to just get a composter (which I did, see pics), but while I was researching I realised that I could only put certain foods in there... whereas with the bokashi I could put any food scraps in there and then put it into the composter.  This way I can make sure I will have enough organic matter (bokashi, composter and worm farm) to be able to build up a great veggie patch and garden.

The first scraps added to the composter

 

I thought I would also post up a couple of videos by the CompostJunkie that I came across as I really like his videos the most from when I was researching (and he's not bad looking either! haha!)
 

 

I also came across another great site called Greening of Gavin - he is an Aussie who after watching An Inconvenient Truth (btw - love this movie) set about changing is and his family's lifestyle to be able to improve their carbon footprint!  Amazing!!! I first read about it in the "Your Veggie Patch" magazine.

 

Anyway... this post turned into a bit more of a novel than I was expecting... but can I just say that I love my bokashi bucket!



Feeling Skinny

About time for an update... don't you think?

 

Once again the thought of posting has been on my mind for the last few days... but that might be because I have an assignment due on Friday... and I am sick of looking at it!!

 

My life is one big chaotic ball at the moment, and the honest truth of it all is that I am not sure if I am coping.  With 2 jobs (yep - 2 now!), uni and a family it's really hard, but right now I am dealing (or not really dealing (or not at all)) with the fact that my Nana has been diagnosed not only with dementia, but also with terminal cancer. I have recently come back from a week in New Zealand to spend some time with her as it is unlikely that she will be with us for much longer, in fact I doubt if she will be here in 3 months time. My Nana is my world, she is the woman who has encouraged me my entire life, who has been always there for me when I have felt so incredibly alone and who has shaped me into the woman I am today. She is the type of woman I strive to be; independent, strong and happy to be who she is. She belongs to no man, lives her life the way she has always wanted and has always helped and supported where she could. I cannot imagine a world without her and our last cuddle together has to be one of the hardest things I have had to face in recent years.

 

However, one positive side to it all was that while I was over there, I didn't put on much weight (1kg) and I have since lost that and more over the last week.  I am currently 300g off my first mini goal of 5kg, I am really looking forward to reaching that as I feel as though it will cement it in my brain that I can lose this weight again. I have also been looking at myself in the mirror over the last few days and thinking to my self that I feel skinnier!  Maybe I am just not as bloated or something, but hopefully it is something clicking in my brain and it is catching up with the weight I have lost.

 

The slow and steady mentality has kicked in again, and for me this is how I lose weight... this is what works for me.  No pressure, just life and trying to get the right balance. Always aiming for a 500g loss works for me, and trying to keep my food as healthy and nutritious as possible seems to be the key.

 

For example, today for lunch I had Curried Pumpkin Soup (Weight Watchers Recipe) and grain toast. So delicious!  It was a favourite of mine when I first did WW over 2 years ago now, and I still love it.  Now that the weather seems to be turning colder, I need to find some more delicious soup recipes, so if anyone has any that they would like to share, please do!

 

While I didn't take an official start photo, I am thinking of taking some for each 5kg I lose, so hopefully next week I can put up a progress pic.

 

Also, a little update on the garden front, I have potatoes in at the moment and I also bought a mandarin tree! I am a total newbie to fruit trees, so if anyone has any tips, please share those too!  I have ordered the compost bins I spoke about in my last post and I am just waiting for them to be delivered! Hope it's soon! I can't wait!!

 

I think that is all for me for now, hope everyone is going well, catch you next time!

Sustainability - I love it!

My poor garden has been neglected for probably about 6 months... since the last time I planted really... and today I finally pulled all of the dead/overgrown bits out of it as well as trimmed down the rose bush and the lavender. This left me with a lot green waste that I can't really put into the worm farm... mostly because they are struggling to keep up with what is in there at the moment.

 

After a year of having the worm farm, the bottom tray is finally full of worm castings... I honestly didn't think that it would take that long.  While we still add bits and pieces to it (at one point I even added extra worms to help them get through everything...) we are still throwing out a bit of waste simply because the worms cant process it all... and in all honesty, we don't really produce that much green waste!

 

About a month ago I actually entered a FB competition through Tumbleweed to win a composter, a tumbler one in fact.  I didn't win.  But since then it has been on my mind about how much we could add to it...

 

Fast forward to today, and I have all of this green waste and a garden that is struggling to soak in water (hydrophobic soil would you believe! haha) and as a novice gardener, I took to FB to ask my lovely friends what could be done, and most of the responses was to add more organic matter. Now I currently have some from the worm farm, but once that is used I will have to wait another year...

 

So I have spent all afternoon doing research on composting, how it works, best bins/set up and how it can best be used for our household.

 

We don't live in a big place.  We don't have a lot of scraps, particularly fruit and veggies (I am trying to work on this though lol) which is what composting uses (it is a little more complicated than that with green and brown wastes), but we do have a few weeds and the garden has green waste, so we don't need a particularly large compost bin.

 

Now you can pick up a bin a Bunnings for only $30... the thing with this is that while it is cheap... it doesn't suit how B an I are because we simply don't have time (or the inclination) to aerate it manually... which is why I think that a tumbler would be the best option for us. The bin that I have found is the Maze Roto Twin Composter I think suits us, as it's compact and wont take up much space in the back yard, it looks stable, it has 2 compartments (a big selling point for me!) so I can have one "curing" and another that I am adding to. I also really like that it's easy to spin (looks easier than the long tumblers) and it would be fun to get Miss 4 to help me too.

 

One other thing that I have been thinking a lot about lately was purchasing a little bin for our sink, so that I could put scraps into it straight away, but what has held me off was the smell... how gross would it be...

 

However during my research I found out that there are actually bins designed for fruit and veggie scraps, including this one at Composting Home, basically it can use a liner that is also biodegradable.  What appealed to me on this one was that it was lined... it wouldn't be as messy AND it would be easier to take out to the composter.

 

However, while I was on their site, I came across this Bokashi composter, something that I had heard of years and years ago, but never really looked into... but O.M.G!!!  This thing is amazing!!! You can add practically ANY food scraps to it! In this one you can add cooked meat, dairy, and even processed foods like pizza and pasta!! Imagine the small amount of garbage you would have by using this!!  The foods ferment in the container, helped by the microbes/spray which also reduces odor.  This can then be added to your garden (not my style) or added to your compost (my style!) where it can then further breakdown and then be added to your garden. I love that practically anything can be added to this, this is definitely my style!!

 

I have never had a compost heap, but I have always wanted one, even from when I was little :) I think that teaching Miss 4 about sustainable living also helps to promote how to help our planet for future generations.  We already have separate bins for recycling, grow some of our own food (when I don't neglect the garden lol), and she helps to feed and "bath" (aka add water) the worms.

 

The other thing is that if on the off chance we actually produce more organic matter than we need, it's definitely something easy to get rid of... both my sister and aunt are avid gardeners!

 

Now... to see if B likes this idea too... haha!!  Hopefully this is something I can implement... I have to admit I am actually more than a little excited! :D

EDITED: On a side note, as I was having issues with my plants getting enough water, a friend showed me this site where you can use empty plastic bottles to help keep your plants well watered!  Something else I am going to do!!

 

Winter Garden

Miss 3 and I spent yesterday afternoon gardening, getting our winter veggie patch ready.  Now, I have to admit, there aren't many veggies that I eat whichwill grow during winter, so our garden will be relatively small.

Yesterday in Canberra was a very cold day... and made me a little more than grateful that this seasons gardening will hopefully be very low maintenance as I really don't want to be out there in the cold with wet hands from tolling through the soil.

Miss 3 holding the worms in our garden

About a week ago, Miss 3 and I ripped out the old (and original!) raised garden bed to get it ready for planting.  After ripping out the veggies, we mixed the remaining mulch through the soil (it's sugar cane mulch and I have since learned that it doesn't decompose that quickly - which is what I was told at the garden shop lol).  Then we placed a layer of worm castings from our worm farm over the top - worms included!!  Hopefully these helpful buggers will help our vege garden and reproduce to make more. Finally we placed another layer of soil over the top. We left this for a few days to let it all sit and settle.

The freshly planted winter veggie garden

Then, yesterday we went to the local Bunnings and bought a few different veggies that we will hopefully use in our winter cooking.  We have just planted:

• snow peas
• lettuce
• leeks
• onion
• shallots
• garlic

Miss 3 feeling proud of our efforts

In the other garden bed we still have lettuce, carrots and a couple of broccoli plants (which haven't done much).  I am leaving this garden in place for a few more weeks, and then I will replant it to look like the one above.  This way we will have a bit of a rotation system going, and onions and garlic will last for quite a while and we use a lot of them, so that will be great.

In my garden, in total I have the following planted:

• thyme, basil and organo
• capsicum (which won't last much longer in the frosts, so I will probably replant the lavendar in this pot)
• snow peas
lettuce
leeks
onion
shallots
garlic
carrots
broccoli
strawberries
potatoes
chives and parsely

I think the next step will be mulching the top of the freshly planted garden bed.  I am still learning about this, but I believe it helps the plants in the frosts.

And for a bit of variety - some flowers!

 

Cracked it... and now it's really time to take action...

By cracked it, I don't mean that I have gone bonkers... I am actually refering to the fact that I now weigh over 100kg... yup... I weighed in yesterday at 100.5kg...

I have come to the realisation that Easter and I do not mix well together... especially in a (now) 3 person household where one is a chocoholic (that would be ME!), one non-chocoholic (B) and one who would be a chocoholic if we let her (Miss 3).  Basically, we got 3 peoples worth of chocolate and pretty much only me eating it... which is really not a good option...

So, last night I had a really good talk to myself (hmmm.... am I bonkers?!) and I have come to realise that I am honestly feeling more at peace with getting back onto the wagon and getting it going again.  I have also decided to come up with a list of healthy snacks (my downfall) and I will be continuing to use the Menu Planner app on my iPad as it has honestly made life easier for us.

This morning I measured myself for the first time in months, and I have to admit, I was more than a little astounded by the numbers that came up!

Week 1
Wednesday 18 April 2012

		Change	Total Loss
Weight:	100.5kg	n/a	n/a
Arm:	30.5cm	n/a	n/a
Bust:	116cm	n/a	n/a
Waist:	125cm	n/a	n/a
Hips:	126cm	n/a	n/a
Thigh:	73cm	n/a	n/a

I have come to the decision that it is time that I start putting myself out there 100%. Owning up to my stuff ups and celebrating the wins.  I am only human afterall!

So, I am very much a goal oriented person, and as B and I have been thinking about taking a holiday (like a cruise) for a while now (I mentioned it a few posts ago that it may be a bit of a reward) I have decided to aim towards that.  I have also come up with a few other goals/rewards to help me along.  Now, I have put away all of the remaining easter eggs, although I do know where they are, I am hoping to use them as more of a reward.  Now, I know that you shouldn't reward yourself with food, but I am hoping that having them there will help to teach me a bit of self control.

I have put together the following list of goals.  I have pinched this idea and format from Mandy over at Fearless, Fabulous, Female... and Forty!! (hope that's ok Mandy!) I may add to this list, as I go along, but at this stage, this is it:

	Heaviest Ever	100.5kg
	Goal Weight	74kg
WEIGHT	MINI GOAL DETAILS	STATUS
99.9	Back to the 90's
95.5	5kg and 5% lost
	Fit into my 'fat' pants comfortably
90.5	10kg and 10% lost
89.9	in the 80's
	Complete the C25K
89.6	Get to Overweight BMI of 29.9
	Size 14 clothes
85.5	15kg lost
	Run a 5km Fun Run
80.5	20 kg lost
79.9	Livin' in the 70's
	Size 12 clothes
75.5	25kg lost
74.6	Get to Healthy BMI of 24.9
** 74 **	GOAL
70.5	30kg lost
69.9	in the 60's

 

 

See - gym bag is packed and is in the car!

I am really missing exercising too... and I am so afraid of injuring my knee further, I have been avoiding it.  My physio has given me a few exercises to do (which I really should do! lol) and overally is really happy with my progress.  I think I find it a bit hard to go to the gym and sit on the bike or the cross trainer for only about 10 mins (as much as I can take at the moment.) - mostly I think it's frustrating, but I need to start somewhere I know. In fact, today I felt so motivated that I actually packed my gym bag and put it in the car!!  Now I just need to get my sorry arse to the gym! I have been meaning to pack it and have it ready in the car... have to admit I am a little proud I did it... baby steps!

You might remember a while ago I set myself the goal of running in 3 fun runs.  Well, 2 of them have gone, but the Mother's Day Classic is coming up and I have recieved my tag and number, and I really think that it will be a good thing to do.  Now, with my knee and my fitness levels at the moment, I won't be running, but I do want to do it - even though it will be the weekend before my exams start.

I am also wanting to get the winter veggie garden up and running, so over the next week I am planning on getting the patch ready and planted. Speaking of the garden, I cooked up some of the most delicious tomato relish the other day using this recipe and tomatoes from our garden.  We have started using a lot more of the veggies we have grown and it's so wonderful to know that we are eating fresh and that we have grown it ourselves!

One Little Red Capsicum

I have written a few posts on my garden - something I started when I started the 12WBT last year for Round 3.

I am surprised by how much I love gardening!  I love watching it all grow, and I feel sad when it doesn't... I am always looking for ways to improve the garden and learn more about how to keep my plants thriving.

 

The other night, we made tacos, and we used tomato, spring onions and lettuce that Miss 3 and I went out and harvested.  So yummy!! I don't usually like tomato, but it was really nice and 'meaty'.  The lettuce is sweet and I love spring onions in cooking! I am loving cooking using veggies I have grown! I am surprised by how different it all tastes!

Because we are in a colder climate of Australia, I am currently looking into ripping out our current garden and replanting with winter crops.  I love the idea of doing this, but I am a little sad to see the plants I have grown go.  I am thinking of making a tomato relish with our left over green tomatos (apparently it can be done) and I want to give my sister one of the leeks I have left (they didn't grow as much as what I thought they did!)

This weekend, being Easter, we have friends coming up from Bendigo.  I think we might do the tacos again, but this time we might also add in some carrots (as I think they are ready to come out) and there is also my one little red capsicum which I am oh so proud of!!  There are also green ones on the plant which we can pick, but I am just so excited that I have managed to grow the capsicum (they were struggling for a while) but that it survived and it's turning red!

Checking In

Hi All

I am just checking in with my weekly weigh in.  Now, I actually did weigh myself yesterday morning, and I have to say, that I really didn't want to come in here and tell you that I did put on weight.

The truth is though, I am mostly ok with the fact that I put on weight.  We were in Melbourne on the weekend, and I haven't been moving that much because of my knee - plus I know that my eating has been all out of whack. Stress and eating don't go well together for me... I have had an exam and a report due (and done) and another exam on Monday for chemistry which I really don't feel prepared for and I am quicte panicky about it actually...

So, I am owning that, plus I am also trying to accept that this is life, and this time my weightloss isn't all or nothing.  Bumps happen and I am ok with that... mostly! haha!!  I think the hardest part is the little voice in my head telling me what I can't do and that I have failed...

So here is to ignoring the voices in my head! haha!

Anyway, so I only put on a kilo, so that's not too bad.  I think the worst thing is that I have been on my own so often lately, that I have kinda given up on cooking... not good! I am still struggling with breakfast... I think I am going to have to try and find something I am looking forward to eating... I have always loved honey weats... maybe I should give them a go lol My breakfast schedule has gone out the window since I have quit working full time lol

In saying that though, last night I actually made an effort and I made san choy bow... mostly cos I had the stuff sitting there and B doesn't like it lol... perfect reason to make it... all for me!!!  I even used lettuce from my garden! I have to say, you haven't had lettuce until you have grown it yourself!!  I am not a salad fan, but this is tops!

So, at the moment with uni has been crazy... as I mentioned before I have already had an exam and a report due - which are now done and dusted, but I am really struggling to get through Chemistry right now... in fact I have to admit that I am procrastinating about studying because I just feel so overwhelmed - how ridiculous is that?!  I know I just need to get in and get it done, but everytime I try I start freaking out...

On the upside, I have been itching to do some exercise lately - I think that it's mostly because I can't due to my knee.  However, my knee is feeling really great today and I am due at the physio in 15 minutes, so I had better get going!!

Anyway, that's my update!

Facing Fears and Busting Excuses

It's been a couple of days since I blogged, but you will be happy to know that it's because I have been busy exercising, planning and facing fears.

As you are aware, I have decided that I want to start exercising in the mornings... Well, yesterday morning I woke up and had the usual "get ******! I'm going back to sleep!" thoughts but then I started thinking "if you don't start now, when will you?" and "just do it!".... but I have to say that the one that got to me the most was telling a friend of mine whom I have made a commitment to that "I couldn't be bothered!"  The idea of doing that got me out of bed quick smart!

To be fair, I really wasn't in the mood for the gym, but here is brainwave #1 - I didn't have to go to the gym... I could workout at home... I certainly have enough here!  There is the treadmill, the exercise DVD's, the exercise games on the Xbox (or the Wii), there are boxing pads and mitts and even a skipping rope!  And even if all that fails, I can go outside for a walk! So, that's what I did!  I got up, made a coffee and got ready... then I put on Mish's Cardio Shredder DVD.  I only did about 15 minutes before I got a little bored, but I hadn't done enough, so I switched over to the Xbox... where I did skipping, punching, running and tai chi! We had an early appointment which I had forgotten about at the start of my workout (good thing I didn't go to the gym!), so when I stopped, I had burned 412 calories. Not bad for someone who "couldn't be bothered"!



Not the best pic, but you get the idea...



Today was action packed!  It's my day off and I spent most of it on the go! Once again I woke up not wanting to go to the gym and I was so exhausted from the lsat 3 days worth of exercise and movement, so I told myself that I would go swimming instead... and you know what?! I did!! As you may have read previously, I have a fear of swimming, or more importantly, of putting my head under the water.  However, I have decided that this year I will face my fears! I also had an ulterior motive - I wanted to test out my HRM in the water... sadly the HRM wouldn't work... so I have no idea how many calories I burned, but I can tell you now, I worked my arse off!! (According to Mish I burned 180 calories - cos I was only swimming for about 15 minutes) I went to the larger outdoor pool, and I managed 3 laps! (Thats 150m people!!)  It doesn't sound like much, but it is 2 more laps than I thought I would be able to do.  I was hoping that I would be able to do some swimming lessons, but the local pool is booked out and I have been struggling to find alternate places (btw - is it so hard to return a phone call (or 4!) Tuggeranong Pool?!), so I have decided to give it a go on my own for now. (For the record, I also went to the dentist today - that's another fear!)

To help me get prepared, I have started cooking up some meals to freeze so that I can have them waiting for me in the freezer for those days (and nights!) that I can't be bothered cooking because it's too late, or that I am so hungry I would eat anything!  I made up some Basil & Mushroom Risotto and some Lentil Bolognese with Spagetti.  Tomorrow I will be cooking some more, but it won't be one of Mish's meals, it will be from Symply Too Good To Be True.

So, I think that is about all for me for now... I will be posting up some goals for my Pre Season Task 3 as soon as I do them!

The Unintentional Side Effect of the 12WBT

You know, when you think of the 12WBT, most people think of the weightloss, the food, the exercise and the complete overhaul of your life.  However, there is one thing that has really stuck with me since I did Round 3, 2011, and that is gardening. 

It isn't something that I ever thought that I would find a passion for, but here I am, after yet another trip to the garden store.  I have always liked the idea of being able to grow things (with my aunt and sister always gardening when I was younger) and I love the idea of being able to eat food that I have grown myself.

When I first started my garden, I made a couple of posts here and here, and I kept meaning to come in here and update with photos, however there was always something I wanted to add, so I put it off until I could post up the pics.  Now however, I am going to post up a whole bunch of pictures, as I have quite a few I want to share, plus, my garden has grown (and it will grow even more soon - I'm talking size, not plants, although hopefully they will grow too lol)

I have been able to harvest snow peas, beans, spring onions, tomatos, basil, oregano, thyme, coriander (although this plant is now dead! lol), carrots and lettuce.  You can see some of these below (check out my crazy warped carrots!)

The plants grew so well in the big pots, I actually went out an bought a raised garden bed and replanted a lot of the plants in the smaller pots that weren't doing so well... and ta-da! I had a real garden!!  I had done a bit of research using my The Little Vegie Patch Co book, and I read up about having a 'no dig (lazy) garden' where you layer organic material that as it decomposes, gives nutrients to your plants.  I placed all of this into a raised garden bed that I bought at Home Hardware (which B constructed for me).

In fact, I loved the outcome so much - I bought another one!!  I am yet to construct the second garden bed, but it's there, waiting.

My garden has done really well. and I am proud to say that I haven't killed anything - other than some snow pea plants that didn't like to be moved - lesson learned!! lol

I have gotten into gardening so much, that for Christmas I asked my family for a worm farm... that's right... a worm farm!!  People are a little surprised by what I wanted (the other present I asked for was a new Polar HRM lol), but I have to say, I am so excited!!  I love that we can use our food scraps in the farm and reduce our carbon footprint that way, as well as getting some fertiliser for the garden at the same time.  I was only able to set the farm up yesterday, so I got the gardening bug yet again.... hence the trip to Bunnings lol!

I could go to town in Bunnings, there is always something there that I could find a use for...  Yesterday, I bought some more plants (parsely, chives and lavendar), and I also bought some seeds (carrot and lettuce), a couple of pots (for the lavendar and for the strawberries I bought previously) and a little seed tray/greenhouse for growing the seeds.  I didn't realise it at the time, but the lettuce seeds I bought are actually in a tape, so that you can plant them in a straight row... how awesome is that!!  Makes me want to build the second garden bed so that I can test it out!

Anyway, I have posted some pictures previously of what the garden looked like initially, so I thought I would post up a couple of photos that I took yesterday, including of the new plants.

For any newbies out there, growing your own food will be touched on during the pre-season tasks.  Mish I think mostly talks about herbs... I just took it a step (or five!) further.

This is really something that I never thought that I would find an interest in... I mean, before I started I didn't even know what "gone to seed" meant, and I knew nothing about companion planting (interesting stuff really!), now, I still know next to nothing, but I am loving learning about it.   It also plays in well with my planning side, as I get to plan ahead for what I want to grow next, and I also found an app for the ipad (and other devices) called Gardenate, which helps you plan your garden and tells you when to harvest.  You can find their website here.

Week 3

I can't believe it is already the start of week 3 today!!  Wow it has really flown by!!

Last week as you are aware I got stuck back into the exercise portion of the program.  I think that doing Mish's cardio program is probably the best way to go for me - as I really struggled on Friday with it!!!

I thought I would give the week 2 program a go, but quickly learned that I couldn't even do the first week's one properly!!  I only made it to 3 mins on the cross trainer, and couldn't really do the bike on a random program, although I still did 10 mins (and really struggled!!)  I did however do the rowing warm up and I did 15 mins of the learn to run program, so that's good! Overall, I burned 652 calories!!!  If my muscles weren't so sore and tight from Thursday's pump class, I probably could have done more, but I was groaning into the cross trainer and bike, so I know that I did all that I could!

On Saturday morning I was so exhausted!!  I laid in bed trying to come up with some good reason's to just keep sleeping, but in the end, I just got up, got dressed and went to the gym for the centergy class where I realised that over the last year or so I had lost a lot of flexibility and balance.  However, I still managed to burn 423 calories, so I think next time I will go for a walk or something on the treadmill first.  Although, it has just occured to me to maybe do another cardio workout and then the centergy class as my SSS.  It didn't really occur to me to just get up an extra half our earlier and just knock it out of the way... wow!! brainwave!!!! If I did that, I know I would well and truly burn over 1000 calories!! Will have to make sure B pokes me until I get up lol!

I have to admit that my eating hasn't been all that great.  I haven't really counted calories over the last few days, but have been doing a rough estimate in my head.  I also know that I did go slightly over on Saturday night, and probably a little over again last night at a family dinner.  I didn't eat a large portion I don't think, but I did have a couple of pieces of garlic bread which prob pushed me over.  Also, as I mentioned in my last post, the fridge died, so we are trying to get everything sorted for that food wise, which is actually kinda hard.  We haven't bought this weeks food, I haven't even planned this weeks meals, so will have to make sure I do that tonight and work out a way to make sure that we can make it work.  I didn't even bring my lunch today, so I think I might pop down to Subway to pick up something healthy.  I'm also thinking that I might cook something extra up tonight and bring it all to work tomorrow to stick in our freezer here so that I have something here all the time...

On a rather exciting note, our garden is flourishing!!  I can't believe we haven't killed it yet (and by we, I mean me lol) I can't wait to start harvesting stuff, although I need to figure out when that is! lol!!  Might have to pull out that trusty book (The Little Vegie Patch Co Book) and see how I am supposed to know when things are good to go.  

A lot of sites say xx-xx weeks, but I'm assuming that is from planting seeds, where as we have planted ours from seedlings.  Although our basil and chilli which we planted from seeds have started sprouting!! YAY!!  Our carrots are just so green. I'm glad I listened to the book and planted them with spring onions and leeks, as you 

can see from the first pic, they are doing pretty well (the little dots of green are some of the basil seeds sprouting.  The second pic shows the capsicum (doing really well!!!) and the beans.  I was getting a little worried about them, but they are starting to come good now.  The third pic you can see the spinach is looking nice and green, 

and so is Nessa's pink plant (although it looks like we will need to replant it lol, it's doing a little too well!! lol) and in the back there are some  snow peas.  You can't see them very well, but they are doing so well!! I actually need to get some kind of pole for them to climb! In the fourth pic is our oregano, thyme, coriander and then the 

tomatoes.  The fifth pic shows the herbs and the tomatoes as well as the garlic and coriander in the herb pot as well as the corriander.  Then there is the lettuce and lastly the broccholetti.  You can just see the little yellow flowers on the brocholetti!  I really thought these would be a goner due to being replanted and having a little ant-rid in the soil.  I have to say I am really happy about having these in our garden and I even picked some coriander for my dinner the other night!!  Admittedly, I couldn't really taste it that much, but it was nice to know that we grew one of the ingredients!

This coming weekend I have my first (unplanned) red-flag.  We are heading down the coast for a couple of days with B's parents.  I have no idea what to do!  I might try to burn a few extra calories during the week, but other than that, I am unsure what  to do.  Maybe go for a few walks or something?? No idea... any tips would be most welcome!!!

Another cardio session tonight!  Hopefully I can last longer on the cross trainer!! hahaha!!

Growing Our Own Food

Yesterday and today my partner and I have been buying up a storm to be able to grow our own herbs and veges. We have both always wanted a herb garden, and I have always loved the idea of being able to grow my own food (even if I am still learning to love veges lol)

Anyway, so we have grown foods that that either we both enjoy or that one of us enjoys (eg he loves tomatos and i cant stand them, and I love beans and he hates them lol)

So, as we are renting a town house at the moment, I have done a bit of research based off what I have read here on the forums (there has beent he most amazing advice for growing stuff on here!) and I also found The Little Vegie Patch Co Book at Big W the other night and I have found it GREAT to learn what I need to be doing - and it's Australian so it's all about gardening here!

So, we go the 3 year old out helping us (we also got her some pink flowers which are 'hers') and we have explained that we are going to water the plants to feed them and when they are big we can plant them and put them in our dinner. She was so excited!!

So, we have planted

• snow peas
• oregano
• spring onions
• leek
• tomato
• beans
• capsicum
• carrot
• broccolini
• spinach
• lettuce
• coriander
• basil
• thyme
• garlic

I also had the share the pics below of Miss 3 - the first is her helping us. The second is of her sulking after we told her off for "unplanting" the broccolini with the spade lol