I Never Promised You an Organic Garden » Richmond http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog and other things you won't expect... Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:46:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 World Carfree Day http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/world-carfree-day/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/world-carfree-day/#comments Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:17:02 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=653 September 22 is World Carfree Day:

  • A day to celebrate the fact that we don’t all have to own cars to live a “normal” life.
  • A day to get out of your car and walk, take a bus, or ride your bike.
  • A day to experiment with alternative forms of transportation as a part of your everyday life.
  • A day to ask your local government to do more to make your city bike and pedestrian friendly.

World Carfee Day is sponsored by the World Carfree Network and is marked by celebrations and events around the world.  There aren’t any events going on locally, but I will be celebrating by riding my bike to work and encouraging others to do the same.

Richmond is a surprisingly bikeable city, and with the addition of some bike racks downtown it will be even more so.  There is definitely a lot of room to grow, but I am inspired by the small but growing bike community that is already a part of the city and the work that is being done to improve our local transportation plan to include bikes and pedestrians. We have a long way to go before we are a Portland, Or or Boulder, Co, but there is hope.

If you are local and would like to participate in making Richmond a more bike and pedestrian friendly community, attend the transportation meeting tonight at 7pm at the City Building.  The Planning department will be presenting the proposed long-term transportation plan to the Planning Commission.

What are ways you have found that your local community is friendly for getting around without a car?

What are ways you have found that your local community is NOT friendly for getting around without a car?

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/world-carfree-day/feed/ 0 New Commuting Routine http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/new-commuting-routine/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/new-commuting-routine/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:48:10 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=609 First bike ride of 2011 with my new super cute pannier!I have been trying some new things on my bike commute to work the past week, and it is working out pretty well so far.  I have started biking down US40, which is a four-lane main road, instead of taking Main Street.  While US40 has a lot more traffic, the hills are less steep, the extra lanes give cars space to safely pass me, and there aren’t parked cars lining the street blocking my view and boxing me in.  I have been afraid of riding on US40 in the past because of the heavier, faster moving traffic, but after riding it on the tandem a number of times, I realized its benefits outweigh the challenges.  It has gotten to the point where I dreaded my ride down Main Street knowing I would be climbing steep hills squeezed between a parked car and a car passing me with oncoming traffic.  I have also enjoyed the change of scenery.  The new route still has that spark of  novelty that makes it more interesting.

As a result of my route change, I have also had to change my morning routine a little.  I was able to get away with not wearing my helmet when I biked to work on Main Street everyday, but Matt was not comfortable with me on US40 with no helmet.  So, I have started wearing my helmet when I bike to work, which causes seriously unattractive helmet hair. To combat the helmet hair, I have taken to waiting until I get to work to style my hair.  This has worked out well so far and has actually made my getting ready to leave the house routine easier and quicker.  I haven’t had to deal with it on a morning when I have an early client meeting or on a trip to any other location, but so far so good.

Overall I am really pleased with the change and it seems be encouraging me to bike more.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/new-commuting-routine/feed/ 0 Loops of Love 2011 http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/loops-of-love-2011/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/loops-of-love-2011/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:05:51 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=464 2011 has been a great year for Loops of Love.  We recently did an inventory of all the items made in 2011, and it was quite an impressive number of items.  In case you aren’t aware, Loops of Love is a charitable knitting and crochetting group I started in cooperation with Richmond Church of the Brethren and Unwind Yarn Shop.  We meet the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month from 5 to 7pm at the yarn shop, and we donate handmade items to a number of local organization including: Birth-t0-Five, Salvation Army, YWCA, Genesis Women’s Shelter, Reid Babies, and Nobel Women’s Circle.

Photo Copyright Jim Hair

Photo Copyright Jim Hair

Our tally of donated goods for the first half of 2011 is:

Baby Hats: 33
Kids Hats: 23
Adult Hats: 15
Baby Blankets: 19
Chemo Caps: 7
Washcloths: 10
Mittens:3
Baby Sweater: 1
Scarfs: 9
Booties: 7
Slippers: 1
Shaw : 1

A big thank you is in order to all the people who show up every week to knit or crochet, all the people who don’t attend but donate completed items, all the people who donate yarn and needles, and especially Unwind Yarn Shop for hosting us each week.

I can’t wait to see how much stuff we create in the rest of 2011.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/loops-of-love-2011/feed/ 3 Richmond Fall Festival http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/richmond-fall-festival/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/richmond-fall-festival/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:45:11 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=132 If anyone in the Richmond, Indiana area is looking for something fun to do this weekend, the Richmond Fall Festival is the place to go.  The Festival combines several festivals into a single weekend of fun.  There will be a plethora of events going on throughout Richmond most of which are free and family friendly.

The events begin Friday afternoon and run through Sunday, and free parking will be provided downtown and at Earlham College with shuttle service.  Activities include but are not limited to:

  • Karaoke
  • Free showing of Gene Autry’s film “South of the Border”
  • Free pony rides
  • Art & Music Festival downtown, including book sellers row, great food, arts & crafts, and booths from local artisans including Unwind Yarn Shop
  • Free Rock concert downtown featuring Soul Marrow Transplant
  • Heritage festival at the Wayne County Historical Museum
  • Tours of the Gennett Mansion
  • Walk of Fame induction ceremony
  • Community Orchestra concert
  • Cope Environmental Center Fall Gala
  • and much much more.

For a full schedule of events visit the Waynet website or download the pdf from Richmond Fall Festival.com

It promises to be a great weekend and Matt and I will definitely attend.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/richmond-fall-festival/feed/ 0 Community Supported Dinner http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/community-supported-dinner/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/community-supported-dinner/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:36:36 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=123 As you will recall from previous posts,  Matt and I enjoy gardening.  The past two summers we have had amazingly successful gardens that have produced far more food than we could possibly eat ourselves.  However, this summer, with the purchase of a new house, we no longer have a suitable gardening spot.  Our backyard is simply too shady to allow for anything to grow.

So, we were faced with the challenge of finding a way to get fresh vegetables without growing them in our own backyard.  The only two options that seemed worth considering were growing vegetables ourselves in a community garden space or joining a CSA (community supported agriculture) program.

We had already tried the community garden space here last summer to augment our backyard garden, and lets just say we were less than impressed.  Most everything we grew was devoured by local wildlife, and what didn’t get eaten was choked out by weeds that were impossible to keep up with.  Not to mention the hassle of remembering to drive across town to water things.  Apparently plants need to be watered.

Therefore, we decided to go with the CSA.  Kent and Dori Baxter run Abundant Acres Farm just outside of Richmond city limits, and they offer a CSA program. A CSA or Community Supported Agriculture is a program where at the beginning of the growing season people buy shares of the farms crops and livestock and then receive them throughout the season as they are ready.  The upside to this is you are able to get fresh, usually chemical-free vegetables without the time or space required to grow them yourself.  The downside is you have little control over what vegetables you get, if the farm has a bumper crop of red beets, you too have a bumper crop of red beets.

Matt and I paid $633 up front, and we have received various vegetables, 1 whole chicken, and a dozen eggs each week.  We will also receive a turkey at Thanksgiving.  So far we have gotten a wide variety of vegetables, including but not limited to yellow squash, zucchini, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, beets, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, strawberries, snow peas, and salad greens.  All of them have been great and it has really pushed us to try new recipes.

It has been doubly convenient for us because the food has been dropped off at my office every Thursday , so I don’t have to worry about picking it up anywhere. While I still miss doing my own gardening, we will definitely continue to participate in the CSA program as long as we live in our current house.  It is really a great alternative to grocery stores or growing your own.

If you want more information about CSA programs in your area, check out Local Harvest.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/community-supported-dinner/feed/ 1 Loops of Love http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/loops-of-love/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/loops-of-love/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:48:22 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=121 As I have mentioned in past blog posts, I have recently become obsessed with knitting.  I am currently working on no less than 6 projects simultaneously and have a growing stash of knitting needles and yarn.  I knit while watching tv, in church, at meetings, hanging out with friends, in the car, and on planes.  I knit gifts, household items, clothing, etc.

So it seemed only natural for me to start a knitting group at Richmond Church of the Brethren.  With the help of local yarn shop owner, Vicki Hair, I started Loops of Love this past April.  It is a group of people that get together on the first and third Tuesday of every month at Unwind Yarn Shop to knit and crochet for local charitable organizations.  We use donated yarn and work on a variety of knitting and crocheting projects. The members vary widely in age and profession and even include a few men from time to time.  We have members from Richmond Church of the Brethren, West Richmond Friends Church, First Friends Church, and the Richmond knitting community at large.

While there are a couple similar groups that meet in town, ours is the only group that meets in the evenings.  This allows working folk like myself to participate without having to sacrifice time off work. I think it is also what allows us to have such a variety of people participating.

So far the group has been going strong and turning out what I think is quite a large number of completed projects for the four short months we have been working. We have completed 41 baby hats for Reid Hospital, 7 baby blankets for the YWCA Adolescent Parent Support program, 1 blanket for the YWCA Genisis program, 20 wash cloths for Birth-to-Five, and 12 wash cloths for the YWCA Genisis program.

I am very excited about the group’s current momentum and hope it continues!  It has really been wonderful to spend time with other knitters and crocheters here in town and know that in the end all our hard work and beautiful projects are going to a good cause.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/loops-of-love/feed/ 2 … And We’re Back http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/and-were-back/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/and-were-back/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:48:54 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=117 Recently some new people have stumbled across my poor neglected blog and commented that they enjoyed reading it, which has given me the urge to write again.  In the past, I blogged about my life, my work, family, technology, and posted humorous videos among other things.  However, I am not sure what form my writings will take this time around.

As before, I am sure some of it will be an outlet for my strong opinions on life in general, but I would also like to think I will blog about things that people find useful or at the very least entertaining.  Otherwise, why would any one ready in the first place.

I would also like to write some about some of my new interstes including knitting, which Ijust can’t get enough of, and biking.  I am currently embroiled in multiple knitting projects, including but not limited to a sweater for myself, a baby sweater for friends in VA, a herring bone scarf for Matthew, a set of wash clothes for my mother in law, and a baby blanket for Loops of Love.  Needless to say it takes up a lot of my free  and not so free time.

I have also started biking more regularly thanks to a wonderful purple bike Matt found at a yardsale.  My current goal is to ride to work at least once a week.  It has been quite fun and a great way to squeeze in some excercise in my already full schedule.

So, if there is still someone out there paying attention to my, as of late neglected blog, I am back.  i will continue to blog about my life as a geek, knitting enthusiest, part-time bike commuter, extrovert, wife (pastor’s wife, if you must), friend, first time home owner, lover of stupid internet videos, and complexly unique individual.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/and-were-back/feed/ 1 I am back! http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/i-am-back/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/i-am-back/#comments Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:59:08 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=110 Well, after a month-long self imposed hiatus, I am back to blogging. Life has been very crazy the past month and something had to give. Unfortunately it turned out to be my blog. If anyone is still paying attention, thanks for your patience.

So what has been going on all this time, you ask? Matt and I have been, and still are, buying a house. Yes that’s right, buying a house. Now I know we said we were going to do the responsible thing and wait a year so we could save up a substantial down payment and then buy a house, but the more we thought about it the more now felt like the right time. It is truly a buyers market, interest rates are they lowest they have been in years and are only going to go up, and we are tired of throwing our money away paying rent.

After looking at what felt like every house in Richmond, we chose a wonderful house in a neighborhood called Hidden Valley. It is a gorgeous area. Very peaceful and private but still with great proximity to work, friends, and everything else life entails.

It has been a learning process to say the least, and we definitely couldn’t have made it this far without help from our very knowledgeable and supportive friends and a good realtor.

Now what you have been waiting for: Photos of the House

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/i-am-back/feed/ 1 100 mile radius potluck http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/100-mile-radius-potluck/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/100-mile-radius-potluck/#comments Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:14:26 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=108 Matt and I attend a 100 Mile Radius Potluck last night.  The premise is that everyone at the potluck brings a dish that is made from ingredients produced, grown, etc. within a 100 mile radius of the selected location.  It is quite a challenge and a lot of fun.  The potluck was sponsored by Progressive Wayne County.org, and the idea behind it was to get people thinking about where their food comes from and how Richmond can be more self sufficient.

To my surprise, there was actually a great variety of food. Everything from the obligatory salad and berries to roasted pork and corn muffins.  It was all very tasty and reasonably easy to find if you know where to look.  Because Richmond is home to numerous farmers markets, the Clear Creek Food Co-Op, an Amish store, a community farm, and multiple orchards, there were lots of options for people looking for local food within a reasonable driving distance.

There are similar potlucks planned for the near future, and I would definitely like to attend again. Matt and I made squash & zucchini patties with squash & zucchini we bought at the local farmers market, but it would be fun to bring something we grew ourselves once our garden starts producing.

Chris Hardie created a video of the event.  Check it out and look for my cameo :)

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/100-mile-radius-potluck/feed/ 1 Cell phone number change? — Tell me what you think http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/cell-phone-number-change-tell-me-what-you-think/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/cell-phone-number-change-tell-me-what-you-think/#comments Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:11:39 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=100 Tomorrow Matt and I will be renewing our cell phone plan with Verizon and getting new phones. With this comes the option to finally get local cell phone numbers, which has not been a possibility in the past. Matt and I have had Virginia cell phone numbers the whole time we have lived in Indiana because we share a cell phone plan with his parents. However, Verizon has now changed their policy, and you can have phone numbers from different states on the same phone plan. This has caused quite a dilemma for me.

I am not sure I want to go through the hassle of changing my current cell phone number and making sure every has the new number. Also, I speak regularly with people who live in Virginia, and it is nice that they do not have to call long distance to talk with me. On the other hand, Matt and I are planning on getting rid of our home phone, and it seems that it might be important to have a local number. I do have the option to use a call forwarding service, such as Grand Central, which will give me a local number I can give to people in Richmond, and the calls will be forwarded to my cell phone.

I am currently leaning towards keeping my current Virginia cell phone number, but I am quite torn. This is where you as valued readers come in. Do you think I should keep my current cell phone number and use a call forwarding service, such as Grand Central, or should I get rid of my current cell phone number and simply get a local phone number? I have created a poll so you can vote.

Let me know what you think!!!

n
When I get my new cell phone should I...
View Results

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