I Never Promised You an Organic Garden http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog and other things you won't expect... Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:48:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Game On http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/game-on/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/game-on/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:48:23 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=312 Yet another fun video by the cast of the Guild:

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/game-on/feed/ 0 March of Dimes’ March for Babies http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/march-of-dimes-march-for-babies/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/march-of-dimes-march-for-babies/#comments Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:40:36 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=308 Thanks to my friend Emily, who took the time to organize a local team, I am participating in the March of Dimes’ March for Babies this year.  The event is a 6 mile walk on September 18th to raise money for babies.  Specifically, to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

Since my husband was a preemie, and I have a lot of friends who have had to deal with sick or early babies, this is something that I feel connected to and I am excited to raise money for. Soooo, I am aiming high and hoping to raise $1,000 by the time of the walk.

This is where I am hoping for your help.  Please make a donate to support baby health.  You can make a donation online at my personal site or by cash or check.  Every cent is a step in the right direction!

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/march-of-dimes-march-for-babies/feed/ 0 Hauling groceries on my new bike http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/hauling-groceries-on-my-new-bike/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/hauling-groceries-on-my-new-bike/#comments Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:38:56 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=304 2010-06-24 17.23.45With my new bike, I feel more capable of carrying things around town, and I decided to test it out last Thursday.  After work I brought home a box of cereal, Popsicles, a can of crushed tomatoes, and  a bag of frozen french fries, on top of my normal purse and lunch bag.  I don’t yet have panniers, so I had to stuff it all in my backpack.  Despite nearly not being able to zip my backpack closed, I didn’t have any trouble.

I didn’t even notice the added weight. This just would not have been possible with my purple bike. The basket upfront wouldn’t have had room for all those items, and if I had somehow fit it all in the added weight would have made steering difficult.  Just a another reason why, I LOVE MY NEW BIKE!

Now just to get some cute accessories!

I am putting this down as my “Carry a load on your bike — groceries, etc.” for Part II of the LGRAB Summer Games

I am also reading a fabulous book right now as part of “Read a book about cycling” for Part II of the LGRAB Summer Games.  I am reading “Along for the Ride” and I love it.  It is a great combination of a coming of age tale, romance, and bikes.  I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good readfor any reason and double recommend it  for anyone into biking.

Thanks for the recommendation Dottie

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/hauling-groceries-on-my-new-bike/feed/ 1 A Different Type of Garden Part 3: The finished product http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/a-different-type-of-garden-part-3-the-finished-product/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/a-different-type-of-garden-part-3-the-finished-product/#comments Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:11:20 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=296 We have finally finished our landscaping and herb garden in front of our house.  After two long months, 39 bags of rocks, two bags of mulch, 100s of squirmy worms, and way more plants than I thought I would need to fill the space, it is finished!

Finished

We are quite pleased with the outcome and have gotten lots of complements on the look.  We have even been able to eat the first herbs from the herb garden portion. Through the process we learned a lot, and I thought I would share a quick rundown of some of the things we learned in our first landscaping attempt:

  1. No matter how many bags of rocks you think you need… you really need at least twice as many. (We made 4 trips to Lowe’s to buy more and more rocks).
  2. Just because a plant says it is a perennial, doesn’t mean that it is a perennial in your growing zone.
  3. It takes the patience of a saint or my mother-in-law to correctly use landscaping paper.
  4. Hostas grow to twice the size they appear when first breaking the ground and should be spaced accordingly.
  5. It is very very important to wait until tulips are done blooming to try to transplant them.
  6. The cost of plants, rocks, and landscaping paper add up deceptively fast.

Now what I know you have all been waiting for: Here are photos of the landscaping in progress and completed. Enjoy!

Sand Cherry bushes and hostas

Tulips

almost there

spring blooms

Landscaping complete

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/a-different-type-of-garden-part-3-the-finished-product/feed/ 0 LGRAB Summer Games – Social Cycling http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/lgrab-summer-games-social-cycling/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/lgrab-summer-games-social-cycling/#comments Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:58:45 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=291 Matt and I both are participating in the Let’s Go Ride a Bike Summer Games and today we completed two of the items for the Social Cycling Category.

The options were:
* Go on a group ride
* Leave a nice note on a bike, or say hi to a cyclist at a red light
* Schedule a bike date with a friend or partner — dress up!
* Recruit a non-biking friend for a ride
* Ride with your family
We chose to do a Ride with your family and also ended up doing an impromptu group ride.

For the Ride with your family, Matt (my husband) and I biked to church. It is pretty common for us to do so, but it was the first time I got to bike to church on my new bike. I am still loving not having to try so hard to keep up with Matt.

Biking family!
Here we are in our church clothes after returning home.

Our Group Ride turned out to be impromptu.  We were heading to buy some gas cards for a friend moving out of state after church, and one of our other biking friends biked with his.  We were quite a bunch. I rode my recumbent, my husband rode his converted mountain bike/commuter bike, and our friend, Kurt, rode a home-built long-tail cargo bike.  It was a lot of fun and made biking up the hills seem less difficult.

Impromptu Group Bike Ride after church
Matt took pictures and video while biking behind us.

I am really enjoying participating and can’t wait to take on some of the items in the next category.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/lgrab-summer-games-social-cycling/feed/ 1 New Bike Photos http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/new-bike-photos/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/new-bike-photos/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 02:02:00 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=286 As promised, here are a couple of photos of my new bike from this morning before I left for work.

Recumbent 1

Recumbent

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/new-bike-photos/feed/ 1 Let’s Go Ride a Bike http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/lets-go-ride-a-bike/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/lets-go-ride-a-bike/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 01:43:44 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=282 Along with my new bike, I have also found a new biking blog to read: Let’s Go Ride a Bike.  It is written by two women, Trish and Dottie, who bike commute in their respective cities, Nashville and Chicago.  It is quite interesting, and I find it very inspiring.  Both women bike commute in stylish, non-spandex clothing and have cute bike accessories and bags, which is the type of bike commuting I am interested in.

They are also hosting summer games for bikers, and I think both Matt and I are going to participate.  There are three categories of bike related activities and participants will complete two items from each category in a three week period.  Some of the activies are go on a group ride, ride with your family, read a biking related book, perform maintenance on your bike, haul groceries on your bike, and ride on a greenway.  A lot of these things are things Matt and I do on a regular basis, but it will be fun to join in with everyone else.  Not to mention the fabulous prizes they are giving away!  Check it out!

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/lets-go-ride-a-bike/feed/ 0 New Bike! http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/new-bike/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/new-bike/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 17:41:51 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=278 I recently got a new bicycle, and I am very excited about it.  It is a Sun EZ Sport recumbent that I purchased from a friend.  I borrowed the bike a few summers back, while she was pregnant and not riding much, and fell in love with it, but alas I had to return the bike to its rightful owner at the end of the summer.

So when the opportunity to purchase the bike for an amazing price came up, I jumped at the chance.  I have had the bike for 7 days and for 6 of those days I have biked to my office and back (5.8 miles round trip).  This is a huge improvement over the number of times I road my fun purple bike to work. I am sure some of the increase can be chalked up to the newness of the bike, but it is really much easier to ride.  Because my old bike only had 3 gears, I was often either having to pedal too hard to get up a hill or not able to increase my speed while going down hill.  My new recumbent has 21 gears and give me more flexibility.  I can easily keep up with Matt, who bike commutes nearly everyday, whereas on my old bike he was constantly out running me.

The other added bonus of this new bike and my increased desire to ride is being able to get in exercise everyday without having to carve out time for the gym.  When I am commuting to and from work, I am getting a workout in time that would otherwise just be spent riding in the car.  It works great for me because I tend to have a crazy schedule.  I do usually make it to the gym once or twice a week to play racquetball, but that wasn’t enough to keep up with my sweet tooth.

So far I have though of a few reasons that riding the recumbent won’t always be ideal so I will keep my purple bike for riding when the recumbent isn’t the best choice. First is the seating position. Because on a recumbent you are seated lower to the ground with your feet out in front of you, biking in a skirt can be tricky.  Not only is there the chance of flashing oncoming traffic, there is also the fear of catching my skirt in the exposed chain.  Second is my LOVE of my basket on my purple bike.  Because of the angle of the recumbent’s handle bars, my super-cute woven basket will not transfer to my new bike.

None of these things have kept me from riding it so far though.  I am even planing to bike home from work carrying my CSA, something I would have never tried on my purple bike.  I don’t yet have any photos of the new bike, but I will share them as soon as I have them.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/new-bike/feed/ 3 Yet another iPad parody http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/yet-another-ipad-parody/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/yet-another-ipad-parody/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 02:33:55 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=276 Here is yet another iPad parody.  This time in the form of a song.  It is a little long but a must view… especially for all you Michael Jackson fans out there.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/yet-another-ipad-parody/feed/ 0 A Different Type of Garden Part 2: The Plan http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/a-different-type-of-garden-part-2-the-plan/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/a-different-type-of-garden-part-2-the-plan/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 02:09:38 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=264 As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Matt and I have decided to take on redoing the landscaping in front of our house. We are creating a space for both a flower garden and an herb garden and are taking on the flower garden first.  In order to ensure we made the best use of space and selected the correct types of plants we have done a lot of research online.  Through our research we learned that the “best” way to ensure you have a flower garden you are happy with is to draw out the design.  So we did just that.  Because I am hopeless when it comes to drawing, Matt sketched out the basic shape of our space, and I filled in blobs that were in the approximate shape of plants we want.  You can see our sketch below.

Flower Garden Plan

As part of the design process we also selected a handful of perennials we thought would fill the space well.  Our hope was to use some existing hostas from our yard, a hand full of hostas from a friend’s house, and a number of other plants that won’t need replanting next year:

List of plants selected:

  1. Hosta
  2. Cherry Bush
  3. Phlox
  4. Ornamental Grass
  5. Hyacinth
  6. Tulip
  7. Primroses
  8. Lilies

Unfortunately, a lot of the plants we researched online and thought would work well were not actually available at our local garden centers, so we had to improvise.

List of actual plants purchases:

  1. Purpleleaf Sand Cherry Bush
  2. Winky Double Dark Blue & White Columbine
  3. Winky Mix Columbine
  4. Neon Star Dianthus
  5. Purple Picotee Dianthus
  6. Cranberry Ice Dianthus
  7. Red Wing Creeping Phlox
  8. McDaniels Cushion Creeping Phlox
  9. Hyacinth
  10. Tulips
  11. Hostas

We also decided to use lava rocks in place of mulch to keep from having to replace the mulch every year.  The previous owners of our house used mulch for all their landscaping, and by the end of the summer last year, most of the munch had been washed away.  We are hoping that rocks will be much more permanent.  I also like the look of the red lava rocks more than the mulch.

The last part of our plan was to put down gardening paper to keep out weeds.  For us this is a no-brainer, as neither of us have time to spend weeding our flowers.  We don’t have any previous experience with putting down this type of paper, but hopefully it will come with directions.

Stay tuned to see how it actually turned out.

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