2011 July » Life Lyn Style

Weekend Activity

Jul 102011

Yesterday, my exercise besides working around the house and the farm visits was a family bike ride. We were able to leave around 8 AM which made for little traffic on the roads. We needed to return some books at the library and buy a plunger. Between the book drop and Home Depot, we ended up riding 4 miles. I went up an extra street to make sure we did 4 miles. Pictured from left to right: Nick’s Weehoo I-Go trailer, my Trek hybrid, Sally’s Burley trailer, and Stephen’s Burley recumbent. I’m sure we are quite the sight riding down the street.

Today, I made it to the J for a workout. I did a solid 30 minutes on the elliptical and burned about 400 calories. After my cardio, I did some abdominal floor work. It felt good to sweat.

What did you do for activity this weekend?

Food Log for Sunday

Food Log No Responses »

Jul 102011

Breakfast

oats with peaches, milk, peanut butter, cinnamon

Lunch

zucchini fritters with honey mustard sauce

salad

Afternoon Snack

strawberry lemonade

Dinner

grilled chicken

green beans

baked onion rings

Late Snack

rest of the strawberry lemonade

rest of the cherry ice cream from the other night (less than 1/2 cup)

Geauga Family Farms–Farm Visits

Adventures with Nick and Sally, CSA No Responses »

Jul 092011

One Saturday a month during the growing season, several of the CSA farmers open up their farms for an open house. We can go out and see the produce being grown, meat being raised and meet the farmers. Today, we had an opportunity to see 3 farms. We also stopped at Geauga Farms Country Meats.

We met Lester Miller first. They have a “hobby farm” and are raising 4 cattle.

Sally and Nick really liked the chicken coop.

The farm was so picturesque today. The weather was perfect for a visit. The porch swing in the shade was welcome after our time in the sun.

Next we headed to the farm of Tom Byler. One advantage of having my husband along is I end up with photos of me.

We took a look at the fields, saw a few animals, bought a loaf of bread ($3) and a plate of molasses cookies ($3), and enjoyed a cold drink. The bread was still warm when Mrs. Byler brought it out. It doesn’t get much fresher than that!

Next, we were off to see Jonas Byler. I got really lost trying to find this farm last year. I was happy to have better directions and the Welcome CSA member sign at the road was a nice addition for all of the visits this year. Jonas is mostly growing sweet corn and tomatoes. Since there isn’t much to look at with the corn, we enjoyed some time in the tomato house.

The tomato plants are huge. He offered a few for picking. Nick jumped at the opportunity. When we get cherry tomatoes in our pick up, they don’t even last a day at home.

Although it was a bit of a drive from the farms, we ended our day at Geauga Farms Country Meats. We purchased a $70 frozen box of meat. We have a roast, 2 rib eye steaks, 2 sirloin steaks and 11 pounds of ground beef. We had brought a cooler with ice packs to help keep it frozen on the drive home. We’re looking forward to trying it.

We saw a few others out at the farms, but none of them were busy while we were there. I hope others got to take advantage of the beautiful day and enjoy the scenery.

Food Log for Saturday

Food Log No Responses »

Jul 092011

Breakfast

oats with raisins, milk, cherries, peanut butter

Lunch

ground beef w/tomato, onion, collards, fajita seasoning

sprinkle of cheddar

corn chips

Afternoon Snack

2 zucchini muffins

Dinner

roast

bbq sauce

carrots

quinoa

salad w/olives, blue cheese, red peppers, cucumber, lettuce

Late Snack

strawberry lemonade (strawberries, fizzy water, lemon juice, honey, ice)

U-Pick Tour–Voytko Farms, Auburn Township

U-Pick 2 Responses »

Jul 082011

Today, we continued our U-Pick adventures at Voytko Farms. It took us about 40 minutes to get there from Mayfield Heights. This time of year, it’s all about blueberries. This farm also has currants and raspberries, but we didn’t even check out their current ripening status.

There is a huge sign as you approach the farm. It would be hard to pass them up! There’s a barn to check in and get information on picking and a board with prices and locations. Out back, there’s a bucket washing station and a port-a-jon.

It’s just a short walk to the blueberry bushes. Some of them are quite large.

Sally was fascinated with the buckets. It doesn’t take much to entertain her. Nick was enjoying a snack. I asked him if there were any in his bucket. He replied, “I’m eating them so my tummy can carry them.” It just doesn’t get better than the rationale of a 3 year old.

Even though Sally has been walking more, I still like to have the stroller in case she gets tired. Today, it was useful for carrying our berries, water and supplies. I use a bungee cord to attach the bucket to the stroller handle. It makes for great hands free picking. Luckily, the kids didn’t tip the stroller. We had a close call.

Our friends from the J joined us again today. We picked for a little over an hour The kids weren’t as into it today as some, but we still left with some berries. We made it home just in time to see the last shuttle take off. The radio was counting down from 2 minutes when we were a block away from home. Our timing was great!

We ended up with 3.25 pounds of blueberries for $4.88. They were $1.50 a pound. I also picked up another quart of maple syrup. It was $17.00. I’ve seen it in the $15-$18 range and I like the support the local farms that have U-Pick whenever I can.

The blueberries went straight into the freezer. Hopefully, we’ll be able to pick quite a few more before this season ends. I’d love to have 3 gallons frozen before we move to the next crop.

Voytko Farms is located at 11391 Franks Road, Auburn Township, OH 44023.

Food Log for Friday

Food Log No Responses »

Jul 082011

Breakfast

overnight oats w/peanut butter, cherries, cinnamon, milk

Lunch

pasta w/ laughing cow cheese

cole slaw

Dinner

pork roast w/ bbq sauce and onions

quinoa

roasted veggies (kolhrabi, beets, carrots, radishes)

Late Snack

now the ice cream (didn't happen yesterday)

homemade cherry ice cream - yummy

Fresh Fork CSA–week 6

CSA No Responses »

Jul 072011

Today was the 6th pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA. We were expecting the following items. Trevor is good at sending us a detailed list. We usually get it on Tuesday for our Thursday pick up. It works out well because Tuesday is when I pick up my Geauga Family Farms CSA and then I can plan dishes and meals for the next few days. This week, I was particularly glad to see the pasta on the list, since it makes a tasty quick dinner on days when we are running late.

Small CSA:

1 bulb onion, candy variety
1 head German white porcelain garlic
1 lb green beans or sugar snap peas
1 bunch cilantro
2 ct zucchini
2 ct squash
Approx 2 lbs sweet cherries
1 pint black raspberries
Approx 1.5 lbs slicing tomatoes
1 lb garlic chive linguini
1 cucumber

Here is what we received:

We were able to request beans instead of peas. That worked out well for us since we got peas on Tueday. We didn’t receive cilantro or zucchini, but we have an extra cucumber. I don’t usually know if these are packing errors or if the order was shorted. So, I’ll email to ask about it. I am surprised that we didn’t get lettuce this week, but it’s also starting to get hot, so we can expect a few weeks without it at some point until the weather cools off again. We’ll see what next week brings. We still have lettuce from our other CSA this week and plenty of other veggies to eat.

In addition to the above, we bought another bag of corn chips ($3) to have with our taco dinner this weekend.

Menu Planning for upcoming meals:

taco filling with local ground beef, onions, tomatoes, garlic, carrots
roast from earlier week (freezer) with roasted carrots, beets, onion, kohlrabi
zucchini and yellow squash fritters or baked fries
more coleslaw
chicken with green beans
quiche with collards or maybe a sauté of collards
salad with cucumbers, radishes
tofu marinated stir fry with peas, cabbage, onions

Except for milk and bananas, we haven’t needed anything at the grocery store lately. We love our fresh produce.

Adventures with Friends at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »

Jul 072011

Today was fun! We had friends in town from Minnesota and we met up with them at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. It was the first time that Ging met my daughter and I hadn’t seen her or her kids in a couple of years. She’s one of my 3 decade friends. I’ve been blessed by having great long time friends in my life. We can just pick up where we left off and always have a great time. We enjoyed the museum and then had a picnic near the dinosaur. The weather was great and so was the company.

Food Log for Thursday

Food Log No Responses »

Jul 072011

Breakfast

oats, apple, milk, cinnamon, raisins, peanut butter

Lunch

cole slaw

grilled cheese on honey whole wheat

Afternoon Snack

zuchhini muffin

Dinner

chive garlic Ohio City pasta w/garlic herb Laughing Cow wedge

couple of cherries

Late Snack

home made ice cream - didn't happen until Friday :-)

Trainer Workout with new Abdominal Exercises

Exercise No Responses »

Jul 062011

Chelsea is on a “new exercise” kick with me. We have been doing lots of ab and core exercises for the past couple of weeks. Today was no exception. I warmed up on the ESpinner for 37 minutes before my training session.

The session included:

Incline Bench: abs/squeeze ball, curl and extend – I ended up doing 3 sets of 4 and one set of 5. This were extremely difficult. I’m definitely going to be practicing these.
Bicep Bar Curl: 40 lbs – 2 sets of 15
Tricep Rope single: 30 lbs – 2 sets of 15
Push Ups on Bench – 2 sets of 12
Shoulder Press & Sit: 8 lbs single arm – 1 minute each arm
Chest Press: 15 lbs – 3 sets of 15 (on bench)
Pec Fly: 10 lbs – 3 sets of 15 (on bench)
Stability Ball Hamstring Curl – just a few. I have a hard time keeping my rear off of the mat while I am moving the ball toward my upper body. This will need some work as well.
Cable Row and Squat: 70 lbs – 2 sets of 15 (machine in trainer area)
Floor Crunches – 30 or so
Alternating knee/crunch with medicine ball – 20

My abs are already sore and it was a GREAT workout!

Next up: playing a cardio workout after naps tomorrow.

Older Entries Newer Entries

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Jun				Aug »
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31