Gardening | Oops50

Posts Tagged ‘gardening’

Creative Retirement: Is There Such a Thing?

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Annice

If you’re thinking about a trip to the beautiful mountains of Asheville, NC, think about the week of September 20-26th. It’s Active Aging Week, and the theme is: Be Active Your Way. The Center for Creative Retirement at The University of North Carolina (www2.unca.edu/nccr/) will participate by hosting Active Aging Day, a free series of activities, lectures, and displays on Saturday, September 25^th, at The Reuter Center on the UNCA campus from 9 am until 4 pm. Mid-day keynote speaker will be James Laditka, MD from UNC Charlotte. Dr. Laditka will talk about The Brain Initiative. Activities will be held throughout the day and include things such as Zumba, Fun With Words & Games, Tai Chi, Line Dancing, Nia, and Laughter Yoga. Lectures will be held on topics such as “The Benefits of Exercise,” “Gardening for Your Health,” “Food for Your Brain,” and “Hiking the Blue Ridge.” Talk about aging gracefully!

Unfortunately, I can’t go because I’ll be visiting my sister in New Mexico, but if I was here, I’d sure be soaking in all the free activities – “Laughter Yoga” is my favorite pick.

If you go and want to write about your experience, send it to us, and we’ll post it.

Tags: active aging, aging gracefully, be active your way, center for creative retirement, food for the brain, food for your brain, gardening, hiking, James Laditka, laughter yoga, line dancing, nia, tai chi, The Brain Initiative, zumba
Posted in Annice'sAngle, Beautiful Women >50, Main, Money, Retirement | 3 Comments »

Gardening with Sadhvi: Cantaloupe!

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Sadhvi

Every year, I like to pick one plant to grow in my summer garden that is different, an ”exotic”, just so I can experience the taste of that particular fruit or vegetable right off the vine. So growing next to the usual tomatoes, swiss chard, lettuce, basil, carrots, beets, fennel and figs, this year’s “exotic” is a cantaloupe called Hearts of Gold. I love that name, and found the seeds in my local health food store from a local seed seller, called Sow True Seed. And yes, I do believe in buying local!

I plant everything based on the planting guide of Maria Thun’s BioDynamic calendar. I cannot imagine gardening without it. I even get my hair cut according to this calendar! If you don’t know about this, you really should try it because it really does make a difference.

So growing vertically along the fence that surrounds my raised beds was the cutest plant with yellow flowers that became little baby rounds that soon in this record-breaking summer heat became heavy and firm cantaloupes. I was thrilled to watch them grow, I was thrilled to bring it in when it fell from the vine into my hands, and I was thrilled to taste it…it was like eating warm sunbeams with a sweet taste and heavenly aroma. Ahh, summer!

Sadhvi's First Cantalope

Tags: Beautiful Women >50, buying local, gardening, hearts of gold cantaloupe, love of gardening, maria thun, maria thun biodynamic, oops50gardening, sow true, sow true seeds, summer gardening, women gardening over 50
Posted in Beautiful Women >50, Gardening, Living, Main, Recipes/Food, Sadhvi Sez | 4 Comments »

Sadhvi Loves Poppies!

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

Sadhvi

It’s the 4th of July tomorrow, so before the summer is over, I want to share some pictures of the poppies that came up this spring in my garden. I think I might have one or two that are blooming right now, but most are gone. I’ve seen a couple of birds eating the seeds out of the pods, which helps the seeds to spread. I always save some seeds to give to others…there is always more than enough poppy seeds to go around!

I picked my favorite pictures so I hope you enjoy them. For me, having some joy in my life is important. I don’t think I would be still around at 52 if I didn’t! So I have planted my garden only with the flowers that make me happy. It’s one of the main reasons that I love living in Western North Carolina. It has such a long growing season. Oh, one of the best sources of poppy seeds to plant is the online store onestoppoppyshoppe. Seriously, this is the place to go and get you some poppy seeds! They have an amazing selection…just looking through their online store is a simple delight!

So, on with the show…it really was a spectacular season of poppies!

Pink Poppy

Purple Poppy

: Watermelon Poppy

White Mauve Poppy

Red Orange Oriental Poppy

Double Red Poppies

Poppy close up

: Oriental Poppies Group Shot

Poppy and Calendula

Tags: Beautiful Women >50, gardening, poppies, Sadhvi Sez, sadhvisez
Posted in Beautiful Women >50, Gardening, Health, Hobbies, Living, Love, Main, Menopause, Relationships, Sadhvi Sez | 9 Comments »

Gardening: A love affair is about the begin…

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Sadhvi

Where I live in Western North Carolina, this past winter has been unbearable in that there has not been a lot of sun, something I really need. Some might say that the snow has been too much, but I happen to like snow. There is a certain stillness and quiet that comes with snow that I find calming and nurturing. I don’t really mind the cold either, because as a gardener, I know that it’s good for a lot of things, like killing off bad bugs and poison ivy. And besides, the old farmers that I sometimes run into driving their tractors with their well-worn overalls on say so!

I also like being in a place that has winter because I can rest from the garden fever that I get during the growing season. Every year, without fail, I have to fight the urge to start growing everything right about now. Magically, just a few days ago, I woke up to birds singing and I knew that the green has been awakened from its winter sleep. Everything feels different now. I always act calm and disinterested when the seed catalogs start coming, which this year was not too hard because they started coming around Christmas! But just a few sunny days with temperatures in the 50’s like it’s been, and I find myself drawing on a piece of scrap paper what I imagine the garden to be this year.

Tags: asheville gardener, gardening, gardening fever, love of gardening, sadhvisez, spring fever
Posted in Beautiful Women >50, Gardening, Hobbies, Living, Main, Products, Recipes/Food, Sadhvi Sez | 6 Comments »

SadhviSez “It’s “Blog Action Day” October 15th 2009!

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Sadhvi

Today is the annual Blog Action Day www.blogactionday.org held every October 15th uniting the world’s bloggers and their posts on the same issue, the same day, with the aim of sparking discussion of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be one of the largest-ever social change events on the web. This year, it’s all about Climate Change. And this is what I have to say about it:

Yes the climate is changing. But really, so is everyone and everything including me. Every second really. I think the climate was always changing…and the whole planet, since the beginning of time, for that matter. But these days there seems to be not only a question, but a movement regarding how to stop it. The changes happening are pretty apparent to me, and I do believe that by 2012 things will be even more so. There are lots of opinions and of course very strong feelings on both sides. I have family members who don’t think there is any climate change happening. I have other friends who are stock piling again (remember Y2K?) so that when the end comes, they will have food. I don’t want to get into who is right and who is not, because there is no right or wrong. You have some things that, if easy, might be something that you want to have some fun with. After all, life is for learning and as a human being who has a certain awareness level that is more than a slug, these 3 things might be something to try, and will actually help to emit less carbon omissions in the process!

1. GROW SOME OF YOUR OWN FOOD!!! If you have some dirt, or some space for pots on your balcony, you should try gardening. It’s actually more addicting and satisfying than FaceBook.

2. EAT 3 MEALS AND DO NOT EAT AT ANY FAST FOOD PLACES!!! Ok, you have to work 2 jobs, you’re having a hard time making ends meet, and you think you have to eat fast food because you have no time to cook. Wrong! Fast Food is not good food for your body, it is expensive, and it will not be satisfying. So eat a breakfast, pack a lunch, and sit down and eat some dinner, hopefully cooked by someone who loves you.

3.) And the last is easy, if you are lucky enough to be in a town that has access to local organic farms and food like I do: BUY LOCAL and become a LOCOVORE!!!

Tags: blogactionday, blogactionday2009, buy local, climate change, gardening, oops50blogactionday, sadhvisez
Posted in Beautiful Women >50, Sadhvi Sez, The Environment, World | 1 Comment »