Life Lyn Style

Two Trainer Workouts

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Jun 072012

I’ve been busy the last few weeks, but I am still getting my workouts in (even if is squats while strawberry picking).

Last week, when we met with our trainer, I completed the following:

2 sets of the following:

Lateral Band Walk w/ Shoulder Press 5lb x length of gym x 2
Single Arm Rope Pulldown 20lb x 20ea
Single Arm Overhead Lunge 8lb x 20ea leg
Dumbbell Chest Press/Fly Combo on ball 10lb x 20
Step up + Lateral Lunge x 12ea leg
Punching Back Extension 5lb x 6punches x 15
Shoulder Alphabet 5lb
Shoulder Retraction 20lb x 20

1 set:

Single Leg V-Up x 15ea
Bar Fwd/Bkwd Row 6lb x :30ea

Today, my partner and crime worked out with our trainer. After a 5 minute warm up on the spin bike, I completed the following:

1 set of the following:

Single arm/leg V-ups x 20ea
Straight Arm Back Extension x 20

2 sets of the following:

Cable Single Arm Chest Press 30lb x 15ea
Shoulder Circuit 2.5lb x 8 reps x 6 exercises
Bus Drivers 45lb bar x 40total
Walking Band Figure-8s x length of gym

3 sets of the following:

Kneeling Bosu Lat Pulldown 50lb x 20
Overhead Lunge x 20ea
Cable Good Mornings 50lb x 30
Walking Lateral Lunges x length of gym

I suspect my arms and shoulders will be particularly sore tomorrow! Our summer schedules are quite hectic with lots of travel, so my trainer workouts will be more sporadic, but I plan on exercising on the road and in town as often as possible.

U-Pick Tour–Monroe’s Orchard & Farm Market, Hiram Ohio–Strawberries

Jun 062012

Yesterday, we drove out to Monroe’s Orchard to meet up with friends for strawberry picking. This was our first time visiting this farm. We were greeted by great signage. It was easy to know we had arrived.

After pulling in the driveway, we saw this sign and followed around to the market building.

We had the option of bringing our own containers and having them weighed before picking or buying containers. Small quart sized containers were 20 cents. Larger containers that held 8 quarts were $1.25. I didn’t bring picking containers for myself, but I did have buckets for the kids. So, I bought one of the large containers. Debbie was working in the market and she was extremely nice to us. This time of year, not much was going on in the market. I suspect it would be much busier during apple season.

Then, we drove behind the building to the grassy area to park and head to the field. Ella was there to greet us, demonstrate how to pick berries (for the kids) and assign us to a row. The picking was pretty good and the berries were plentiful. We didn’t think the berries were very sweet. The field we were picking in was the Jewel variety which are a tarter berry. Also, the weather this year has not been ideal for strawberries. Many farms are having small berries, limited picking, and delays with ripening due to the weather.

Nick had to use the port-a-potty not once, but twice during our hour of picking. Luckily, it was close to the picking field and very clean. I’ve been to plenty of public bathrooms that weren’t as nice as this port-a-potty. Two trips is better than accidents any day!

This is a typical shot of the kids. Sally is busy eating a strawberry and Nick basket is empty. He is always in search for the perfect berry and rarely finds them. Many times, he ends up looking at weeds and running around the nearby fields.

We ended up with just over 5 pounds of berries. They were $1.65 a pound + $1.25 for the container. We ended up paying $10.00 total.

These berries were washed, hulled and then frozen whole. They will be used in jam or smoothies. I made sure to clean them last night since we had more picking planned for today.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 1

CSA 2 Responses »

Jun 052012

Today was our first pickup for our Geauga Family Farms CSA for the summer 2012 season. We are getting the single share this year and our pick up is on Tuesday afternoon at the Whole Foods in Woodmere on Chagrin.

We arrived around 4PM and everything was very organized and well labeled. Nick checked in with April at the table. I really like the addition of the signage this year.

Here’s what we were treated with this week:

Green onions, broccoli

Beets, curly kale

Lettuce, strawberries

We’ll use some onions in our quiche muffins this week. The rest I will chop and freeze for later. Most of the time we use onions in cooking, so having them in the freezer works great for us. The broccoli will make a quick side dish one evening this week. Lately, the kids have been fighting over broccoli. Unless we decide to grill, I’ll probably make Harvard beets with the beets. The greens are also edible, so I’ll be sautéing them with some garlic scapes. The kale will either be made into kale chips (haven’t mastered them yet) or used in our quiche filling. The lettuce will go into salads. We actually didn’t open the strawberries on the way home. Since we still have some, we’re going to make strawberry lemonade spritzers with them. I picked up sparkling water.

It looks like we are off to a great start for the season!

Highland Heights Community Garden

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Jun 042012

It’s June and we have just decided to plant a garden. Last week, I was reading the Mayfield-Hillcrest Patch, and I read about a community garden in Highland Heights. We had been looking for a community garden to try out. Our yard doesn’t have enough sun and our growing has been complicated by the deer population as well.

Saturday, we went up to the garden area to check it out. There are 36 8’x8’ plots, including 2 that are handicap accessible (the higher boxes on the right in the photo). Plots are $18.

The kids immediately fell in love with the idea of planting a garden. They had a great time checking out the boxes.

Yesterday, I met up with a representative from the garden club to sign up and get an information packet. While I waited, I took a few photos of the gazebo and the flowers.

It’s the first year for the garden and there is lots to figure out, but we’re going to give it a try. We are following the square foot gardening method, figured out a plan and went shopping for plants and seeds.

After dinner last night, we rode our bikes up to the garden and showed Nick and Sally our plots. It was a nice ride. It’s just under 5 miles round trip and for the most part, we can avoid busy roads.

The garden officially opens for planting on Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll have dirt and fencing at the site by then.

Baltimore Hoop Love

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Jun 032012

One of our favorite stops at the Baltimore Farmers’ Market last weekend was Baltimore Hoop Love.

We really enjoyed watching the pros.

It was also fun to try out the hoops.

My sister takes the best photos – Always!

We actually stopped back after our shopping. My niece picked out a hoop and picked the colors so it could be wrapped to her liking.

The hoops are made from PVC irrigation tubing.

They are hoping to help promote local farming and farm openings with their circus type act. They are passionate about local food and the market is such a good fit for them.

Before long, we were on our way back to my sister’s house. My niece has been enjoying her hoop. I was happy to discover that this company also does birthday parties with hoops, juggling, stilts, etc. They were a ton of fun.

Shaker Square Farmers’ Market

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Jun 022012

Today, the kids and I had plans to meet up with a friend at the Shaker Farmers’ Market. During the summer months, the market is 8AM – 12PM every Saturday.

I like to park on the north side of the square behind the CVS. Then, you just follow the sign to the square. Since we usually go to the market early, parking is not a problem.

Here’s a view from the entrance of the north side of the market.

Strawberries are in full swing. There was lots of red, especially at the Woolf Farms stand. The “mushroom” guy was busy as usual. He always has a line of people.

I tried something new with Nick today. I gave him $3 to spend on whatever he wanted. He bought 2 pickling cucumbers and a few tomatoes. Then, he talked me into sugar snap peas and I gave him money so he could practice paying for things.

We had a short list of things we wanted to get at the market today. Since both of our CSAs start next week, I wanted to buy things that we would use between today and Tuesday.

We ended up with 2 kinds of lettuce ($2.50 each), a bunch of beets with nice greens ($3.00), tomatoes ($2.50), pickling cucumbers ($1.00), garlic scapes (.50), and sugar snap peas ($3.00).

Although there are only a few peas pictured, we started with a baggie full. You can kind of see the amounts in the photo of Nick buying them. Stephen and Nick shared a tomato at dinner. I prepped the greens and plan on salad tomorrow that includes the rest of the peas and some of the cucumbers. I’ll probably cook the beets and greens too. I don’t have immediate plans for the garlic scapes, but we always like having them around this time of year. I might make a frittata with them and use some of our chipotle cheese in the dish.

We were happy to find everything we wanted to buy (and more) at the market today. Our only mistake was not walking through the south side of the market. I totally didn’t think about the other half of the market that is on the south side of the tracks until we were driving around the square to head home. I suspect we missed a few good stands, but it probably saved us a few dollars.

I’m still hoping to visit 8 different markets this year. This was number 4. It gets harder when the CSA season starts, because we don’t need to buy more at the markets. I still think they are tons of fun and good for the kids.

Baltimore Farmers’ Market and Bazaar

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Jun 012012

While I was in Baltimore last weekend, I really wanted to go to the Farmers’ Market. It’s open April – October on Sunday mornings from 7AM until noonish. It’s located downtown and is known as the largest producer’s market in Maryland.

It’s actually a Bazaar and market. The way we entered the market, we past stand of baskets, clothes, jewelry and more. My niece was very interested in the jewelry, but I wanted to check out the produce. After a few minutes, we made our way to the market. The market is located under a couple of bridges. So, there’s a good deal of shade built in. That made for a nice walk through. It was already hot and we were there just after 7AM.

My sister and niece bought some spicy jerky for my brother in law. The went back and bought some sweet to enjoy as well. I’ve never seen duck eggs at a market. I didn’t need any eggs, but I may try them next time.

This booth reminded me of Humble Pie Baking Company here in the Cleveland area. He had lots of savory and sweet individual pies and a few traditional sized as well. We purchased a few savory ones to have for lunch. There was a seafood stand that consistently had customers. They also had live crabs that my niece liked checking out.

It was easy to tell that the prime in season crops are strawberries and asparagus. The were everywhere.

My friend Erin (also known as the bride the day before) let us know that there were good breakfast choices at the market. You can get omelets, donuts, pastries, coffee and crepes. I opted for a crepe. It was fun to watch the crew. There were 2 guys that prepped the ingredients and 2 guys cooking them. A fifth person took the orders and kept everything moving along. I love good efficient processes and loved this stop. My sister bought some pickles at the In A Pickle stand. We were surprised at the line for them. They were tasty, but my sister likes my pickles better. If pickling cucumbers are ready when we go to Baltimore in July, I’m going to leave a few jars of refrigerator pickles for her.

One of my favorite stands was the mushroom stand. They all looked so delicious.

I settled on “The Deluxe Mix”. We ended up cooking them with burgers on Memorial Day. They were really good. Locally, I don’t get many opportunities for such a variety in fresh mushrooms.

Between my sister, niece and I, we ended up buying savory pies, mushrooms, asparagus, lettuce mix, dill, jerky, pickles, crepes, and a hula hoop (but that’s a story for a future post).

As we left the market, this guy was playing a saxophone made out of PVC pipe. He actually could play a tune. We also passed the free parking that we had been told about. We actually parked a couple of blocks away in the street and our locale turned out fine. When I’m in Baltimore on a Sunday morning, I will definitely check out this market again.

Trainer workout before my Baltimore trip

Exercise No Responses »

May 312012

Last Thursday, I made sure to get in my strength training workout with Jen and my partner in crime before I headed to Baltimore on Friday. It turned out great since I did mostly walking as activity while I was gone.

I warmed up on a bike for just a few minutes before the workout.

2 sets of the following:

Band Lateral Walk + Squat 10lb x length of gym
Slider Lateral Lunges x 20ea leg
Slider Hamstring Curls (attempt)/bridge hold

I really need to work on my hamstrings. They were sore for days after only “attempting” this exercise. Both of my legs cramped up just trying it. Yikes.

Kettlebell Swing + Lateral Walk 20lb x 20
Scull Crushers + Chest Press 15lb x 20ea
Lat. Pulldown 70lb x 20

I upped the weight from 50 to 70 on the first set. I regretted it for a few days. I only did 50 or 60 on the second set. The actual lat. pull down wasn’t bad, but when you start combining other arm exercises, it really ups the intensity.

Lying Cable Chest Press on ball 20lb x 15ea
Ball Push Crunch 2x5lb x 20
Bench Plank :30 x 3
Wall Ball Squat w/ Press 8lb x 20
Birddog on ball x 30ea side

I’m still really enjoying these workouts. Jen always amazes me with the new things we try each week. No two workouts are ever the same.

U-Pick Tour–Walnut Drive Gardens, Mogadore Ohio–Strawberries

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May 302012

Today, the kids and I set out to pick our first Ohio strawberries of the season. We picked up my mom and headed to Walnut Drive Gardens. They are located in Mogadore. Since my mom lives in Akron, this was a good choice for us. The picking fields are at a different location this year. For those of you who picked peppers in the past, most of the picking will be at that location this year. The address for strawberry picking is 2129 Randolph Road. Randolph Road goes off to the left near route 43. We actually missed that and kept going straight. We ended up on Trares Road. As long as you visualize the directions as you near 43, you’ll be fine. This sign was near the road where Randolph turns near 43. There was also a big Strawberries sign with an arrow that we past when we got on the wrong street. I think Walnut Drive Gardens should think about putting on on Randolph near where it veers left. It’s much safe to take the diagonal there too. But, we found it and that’s all that really matters!

These signs were at the road. You can’t miss it if you are on the correct street. I will add if you miss where Randolph turns, you’ll come up to Congress Lake Road and it goes all the way through to Randolph. It comes out near Paradise Lake Golf Course.

We stopped at the new red building and picked up baskets for picking. The attendant gave us directions to go over the hill and park in the grass. We were able to pick anywhere and the farther back from parking, the better picking should be.

The kids were excited to have grandma along.

The picking was great. There were tons of ready to eat berries.

My mom posed with the kids by the field before we left.

Picking was $13.50 for an eight quart basket. It was an extra $1 for the basket. We didn’t have to get the berries out of the car to pay. Instead of weighing them, it’s a flat charge for the full basket. I’ve read that a quart averages 1.5 pounds. I had 11 pounds in my basket. I probably could have fit a few extra berries to make it closer to 12 pounds.

Mom picked a basket as well. So, we ended up with over 20 pounds of berries during our outing. The kids had fun and enjoyed a few berries as well. I was also glad to see a port-a-potty near the picking field. I didn’t ask if they had bathrooms in the new building, but I will try to find out.

We have several other farms to try out for strawberries this year, but I think Walnut Drive Gardens is probably going to be the most reasonably priced. Hopefully, we’ll have time to return.

Most of these berries will be eaten in the next couple of days. The rest will get frozen for smoothies. I want to make jam again this year, but that’s not in the schedule this week.

U-Pick Tour–Larriland Farm, Woodbine Maryland–Strawberries and Spinach

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May 292012

It’s finally strawberry picking time! It’s actually 2-3 weeks early for most farms, but with all of the hot weather, it seems like we’ve been waiting on them. I was in Maryland over the weekend. None of the Ohio farms were open for picking when I left (most are open now), but in Maryland picking was already going on for the last week or two. I researched U-pick farms near Elkridge, where I was staying. There were really only 2 places. One was an hour away and Larriland Farm was 30 minutes away. So, my niece, nephew and I headed to Larriland on Saturday morning. Picking opened at 9AM, which I thought was a bit late, especially given the expected heat. We arrived about 5 after nine and there were already lots of cars parked near the fields.

We picked up boxes and checked out the pricing. The price seemed reasonable to me. Later in the weekend, I found $2.99 a pound for CA strawberries on sale in the local grocery store. To the right is the view of the field as we approached. The farm was well organized and staffed.

It was L and L’s first time picking. My niece was really into it. Both kids did just fine.

I was surprised to end up with almost 12 pounds of berries. It was very hot and sunny and that made for some tough picking. We learned on our way out that they were about to turn on the sprinklers. At $2.59 a pound, we spent $28 on berries. They have been delicious. We ate quite a few at my sister’s house this weekend. We also made strawberry lemonade spritzers to drink. In addition, I froze a gallon or so. On our way out, I wanted to check out the U-Pick Swiss chard and spinach. I had never picked either one. I knew that I could just eat some spinach for lunch, so we spent a few minutes in the field.

We ended up picking 72 cents worth of spinach. It was really an afterthought!

Larriland had a nice barn market near the entrance to the fields. They sell cheese, produce and other items. I bought some Italian Colby Cheese that was really good. Near the barn, there were port-a-potties set up with running water sinks. There weren’t restrooms in the fields as far as we could tell.

Unfortunately, there was an accident near the entrance during our stay. It looked like everyone was ok, but 2 cars were towed.

We had a good time and we’d visit the farm again. This farm offers U-Pick in many different items. I could see me taking the kids there again in June and July when I am in town. I’m hoping for blueberries next!

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