Saturday, March 28, 2009

I'm thinking compost

Okay, this is the summer, I hope to work seriously towards getting back in shape. Just don't tell Ken because he will nag me about it which does nothing but make me quit.

Anyway, I don't plan to join a gym. Too expensive and very time consuming and it requires the purchase of clothing I don't want to spend money on.

So, I'm thinking that my gardens have been in disarray for a very long time (ever since I hurt my knee). If I come home in the evenings and head outdoors and avoid the kitchen, then I will eat less. Nothing wrong with a salad or sandwich for dinner instead of a full meal, right?

I have been saving up coffee grounds all winter with the intention of installing worms in a vermiculture kind of thing (it's actually an old styrofoam cooler now filled with coffee grounds and egg shells. I will layer some vegetable kitchen waste on top and buy a container of worms this weekend. If it works, the little wiggly guys will be very happy and can start eating on the veggies.

The other thing I am going to do is make some compost piles. I found this website for compost which shows the proper ratio for layers depending upon what you have around.

We shred an amazing amount of paper where I work. Right now it goes into the dumpster and I've always felt a little bad about that. So starting Monday, I'm going to commander a bag or two and bring it home.

According to the compost caculator I can make a proper compost pile with the following:

1 unit of coffee grounds
1 unit of chicken poo
5 units of straw
13 units of shredded office paper

The idea is to layer it, turn it every 2 to 5 days, and keep it moist. In three weeks, it is supposed to be useable compost for the garden.

I'm thinking that if I do the building and turning, I will burn a lot of calories and maybe build some muscle in the meantime.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Newest Family Member

I have so many things going on!

On Saturday afternoon my eldest son, Wes and his new bride, Lindsey, came down for a visit with their little dog, Wicket.

My entire family, save my sister, Karen who is stuck in Colorado, came to dinner Saturday evening. But I'm a smart woman and made special reservations at the Tavern Restaurant in Heathsville, Virginia.

It was a great visit with everyone and I'm delighted that everyone got to meet Lindsey who is a perfect addition to our family. We welcome her with love and open arms and hope very much that we did not frighten her too much.

I will post pictures of the event soon when I can get a picture with Lindsey in it! I took lots of pictures but every single one of her looked like this.

My timing just sucks.

There are other photos that other family members took that will do a better job of presenting the bride and groom and I hope to have those pictures soon.

I must mention what an outstanding job the Tavern did handling my crew. There were 19 of us and of course the head count kept going up all week.... but they were delightful and gracious and (with previous agreements) presented the family with a specially printed menu with three wonderful entres, a huge wine menu and any appetizers and desserts we wanted.

All the plates were presented in an attractive way. The waitress was terrific and we were noisy and loud but because we were on the other side in the lounge area, I don't think we disturbed the other patrons over much.

And while I won't reveal the bill, my husband, my mom and I all thought it was very, very reasonable for the quality of both food and service.

Bravo! to the Tavern Restaurant!