Vegan Knitting...and then some

Hello exercise!

Those who know me well will be shocked to hear that I've started jogging.  Moving to Portland has resulted in a different amount of exercise and food, and my waistline has increased while my stamina has decreased.  Yoga is great but I felt I needed to start doing some aerobic exercise to help with the waistline and stamina issues.

So last week I started the Couch to 5K program, which takes you from being a non-runner to a 5K runner in about 9 weeks.  As an asthmatic, this slow increase is really good to build up my body's response to exercise, and I will probably increase the program length to about 12-15 weeks so that I can adjust to the longer runs a little more slowly than in the plan.  For example, Week 5 has you going from 5 minutes of running with walking breaks on day 1, to 20 minutes of running with no breaks on day 3.  That's not going to happen.  But if I take 3 weeks to do week 5, then I can break up the increases a bit more.

This morning I did day 1 of Week 2, and while I am jogging pretty slowly for now, I really love it! I don't see myself joining any marathons any time soon, but I like the feeling of moving, and of seeing how much longer I'm able to go in the same time this week compared to last week.  I like how about halfway through, I start to feel like I can't do any more, and then once I push past that for another minute or two, I feel like I can keep going even once the program is done.

I'm using a weekly Podcast called PodRunner, which breaks up the sections of the run by music with different BPMs and gives a tone when it's time to switch between jogging and walking.  The music isn't my favorite but it is way easier than having to look at a watch every 90 seconds.

I am trying to do my runs in the morning before 11, when the temperature starts to rise.  I eat a light breakfast (toast with almond butter and jam), bring a big bottle of water, and then have a smoothie when I get back to fill up and cool down.

Today's smoothie looks awful but was really tasty.

• frozen blueberries and strawberries (picked with my friend Kim)
• Soy yogurt
• almond milk
• kale from my garden
• hemp powder for some extra protein

With the berries, you don't taste the kale at all, and with such tender leaves fresh picked, there's no texture issue either.  The hemp powder is a little bit gritty but I like the omega fatty acids in it, and there's already enough soy in the smoothie from the yogurt.

From the garden: pasta with kale

This evening I picked a huge bunch of kale.  It's very tender and sweet, and there wasn't a single bug on it!

I sauteed 2 sliced leeks in olive oil until semi-soft, then added the chopped kale.  I seasoned with some veggie boullion, red chili flakes, chopped garlic, and black pepper.  While it was cooking, I boiled some pasta.  Here it is served with some chickpeas.  It turned out perfectly!

Inspiring Summer: veggie gardens

The most important thing I did this summer outside the house was to create vegetable gardens.  I made two beds in the backyard and one in the side yard.  The fact that this area used to be riverbeds makes prepping very difficult.  There were many many stones to remove, and the earth is mostly sand, requiring a lot of compost.  Also, these weeds in the "before" photo had bulb-based roots, and I had to sift through the topsoil to remove all of them as they had dried by the time I removed the plants.

Our plan is to add raised beds with cedar boxes in the back and also along another part of the side yard that gets a lot of morning sun.  It's too late for this year but we'll have them in place by next year to start planting in March or April, rather than July!

Here is the garden area before before: grass, weeds, and lillies.

And here it is now: heirloom tomatoes, red peppers, kale, lemon cucumber, and chard, with lettuce, collards, and marigolds just coming up.

This is a small area next to a large oak tree in our side yard, that had been populated by weeds and bluebells.

Here it has been transformed into the second bed: a variety of herbs surrounded by Red Romaine lettuce and Shiraz Beets.  These were initially planted in the back yard but were doing very poorly.  They are much happier in the sun here, with lots of compost and worm castings.

Inspiring Summer: in the kitchen

This summer, my husband and I have had several sets of house guests.  This has been great for us because each time we have visitors, we "finish" the house a little more, get another piece of furniture that we need, work on the garden, and generally make our home that much homier.

The next few posts will feature projects that we have worked on this summer.

Boring old Mr. Empty ironing board cupboard turns into

Mr. Dream spice cabinet!

Editing to add:  This cabinet was accomplished with the use of maybe $10 of materials - 3" cedar board, pine 1/4 round, our neighbor's punch nail gun, and some Miller paint.  We could have done it right after moving in here.  Don't procrastinate on these sorts of things! They make life so much easier and really spiff up the kitchen.