Category Archives: Nature

Monday Mash – Wellness Links – May 21

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imagesCAK8L2FRTips on fighting boredom
Have you ever been bored? I have been on occasion. But I think I might be a lucky person because I don’t feel bored very often. Unfocused – yes, absent from my brain – far too often for comfort, bored – not so much. There are some good tips available for dealing with boredom when it sneaks into your mind. I’m amazed at how often I end up stuck somewhere without my usual ways of keeping my mind happy – favourite diversions include books, people watching, and humming (but only that only works if I’m alone.) Next time I might try one of the tips, like seeing things from a different perspective.

Gangster Gardening
If you are at all interested in gardening or greening up your community, watch the TED talk by Ron Finley. I’ve certainly been looking at my parking space and boulevard with different eyes ever since I watched it.

Shared Words, Shared Worlds
When I read a story-poem about kindness and new friendships formed during an airport delay, I realized I should have taken my nose out of my e-reader the last time I was in an airport. I smiled at lots of people and some of them smiled back. I had a few conversations with a couple of people but they were what I call waiting-for-the-bus conversations (brief, partial conversations while everyone involved is hoping the bus is coming soon.) The story in the poem was such a lovely example of people coming together in a trying situation. Kindness, caring and sharing can work wonders.

Global Oneness Project
At first what caught my breath about the Global Oneness Project were the photos but this website has articles, photo essays, interviews, short films and study guides. Maybe it will inspire and inform you and make you want to explore further as much as it did for me.

Geocaching at Oak Hammock Marsh

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When the weekend is upon you, do you get cold sweats thinking about finding something to do to keep the kids active and engaged? Have you exhausted your activity selection in the city limits and need to find some fresh new ideas to keep your family entertained?

Oak Hammock Marsh has many family related wellness activities that are open to the public, and only 20 minutes north of Winnipeg. Check out the events page on their website to see all they have to offer. Continue reading →

Monday Mash – Wellness Links – April 29th

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LadySlipper

Wow, the snow has finally melted (mostly) and it actually feels like spring.  Nice. Here’s this weeks collection of wellness links courtesy of the Monday Mash.

  • Jazz Winnipeg has put out its lineup for the Winnipeg Jazz Festival that runs June 13th to the 23rd.  Despite the name, the Jazz Festival features an eclectic mix of artists covering a wide variety of jazz styles, with some soul, blues, indie rock, and hip hop thrown in for good measure. Many of the performances take place in the Jazz District in Old Market Square, just a stone’s throw from our Exchange District campuses.  You can find the full list of performers here.
  • One of the best things about spring is the return of so many birds who are coming back to their summer home or migrating through on their way further north.  To familiarize yourself with bird songs, there’s some great resource books out there that have pictures accompanied with audio – such as the Backyard Birdsong Guide produced by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I also came across a cool sounding app called iBird – which I haven’t used but might just pick up.
  • If you dread this time of year, when there is non-stop hockey and basketball playoff action and the television is going non-stop, Psychology Today has some advice for you – with five tips for living with an avid sports fan.
  • Ashley has passed along this piece about the relationship between chronic diseases and sitting too long. Makes you want to get up and walk a bit.

If you have a link or a photo that you’d like to share send an email to mkrywy@rrc.ca and we’ll include it in a future “Mash” edition.

Simply Gardening – Got Milk?

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Sprouted Seeds

After 6 days of germination, the tomato seeds sprouted 2 “ and are now ready for a new home.  To create this home, look to your own home for creative inspiration & materials.  I learned long ago  that January is a great month to begin saving 2L milk cartons.  These cartons are great for seedlings & props to reusing items. I’m not sure what my dad used when our milk came in powdered form from Canada Post in brown paper bags.

DaynaMilk2Simple Materials:

The “Enough”

2 L milk cartons, Regular potting soil (lighter weight), Water, Sharpie

The “Lux”

Root Stimulator, Grow Lights

 

 

Seek the Light  & Rest at Night

Tomato seedlings thrive with light and darkness.  To create this environment:

  • Put them in a sunny window, or
  • Place an artificial light (fluorescent lights) 4-6 inches above the seedlings to encourage strong stems
  • 12-16 hours of light a day is ideal.  Don’t forget the darkness component.  Use timers to regulate

 Gardener’s Tip

Construct a hanging light system on chains where you can raise the lights as the plants grow so you retain the 4-6 inch space between plant and light source.

DaynaMilk4Other Uses

In anticipation of Earth Day, think of a third way to re-reuse your milk carton – like this DIY bird feeder that I found on “Inhabitots”.

Embrace Your Pioneer – Raising Veggies from Seeds

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This year’s seeding began on April 5th, 2013.   The lessons began in the 1940s in Lowe Farm, MB.  My Dad, Jack, learned the simple gardening lifestyle from his mom.  Jack carried this lifestyle to The Pas, where gardening was a part of our family’s spring to fall ritual.

Gather at this blog to get a glimpse into simply gardening.  The methods, tools, practices and tips are humble and very unpretentious and sometimes just plain amusing.  You’ll never look at a milk carton the same way again or throw out a pair of worn or torn panty-hose.

I’d love to hear your stories for simply gardening.  A wish would be to provide each other with things such as:  simple practice tips, a take-away (or rather give-away), a vegetarian recipe and a fun enhancement:  photo, song, ‘how to,’ upscaling or recycling tip or Wpg gardening connection.

Today’s Learning Moment on Starting Tomato Seeds

Continue reading →

Monday Mash – Wellness Links – April 8

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DSCF6464We’ve added a touch of green to this edition of the Monday Mash. Here are another set of fantastic Wellness-related links to help inspire you this week.

  • Have you ever wondered how a movement gets started, like Find The Cure, Earth Hour, Free The Children or others? I have always found it interesting how “a seed” - one person’s actions – can create a movement and ultimately change how we do things. Enjoy “Lessons from Dancing Guy” – a short but telling video about leadership and how one person’s courage can spark a movement.
  • Tired of all those negative news-stories? If you’re like me, I am looking for positive, heart-warming stories… something to help inspire and start my day with a smile:). Check out Happy News a site dedicated to only happy news stories from around the globe.
  • Earth Day is April 22. A great way to practice wellness is to spend a day outside; take a hike, listen to the geese trumpeting over-head, or watch for signs of spring. Check out Fort Whyte Centre’s Earth Day celebration on Sunday April 21 and spend some time in the great outdoors.
  • Have you heard of Fresh Option Organics? They are an organic grocery delivery service right here in Winnipeg. You can get fresh, local, and organic wholesome foods delivered right to your door.

If you have a link or a photo that you’d like to share send an email to mkrywy@rrc.ca and we’ll include it in a future “Mash” edition.

Monday Mash – Wellness Links – March 25

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This week marks the debut of the Monday Mash – a weekly list of Wellness-related links that caught our eye.

If you have a link or a photo that you’d like to share send an email to mkrywy@rrc.ca and we’ll include it in a future “Mash” edition.

Top 5 things to love about Winter Bonfires

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FireMarshmallows

Winter is almost…probably…possibly… over. Retrospectively, one of the things that kept me going through the many months of winter has been my love of sitting around a winter bonfire.  So here is my ode to the fantastic combination of fire and ice, forever entwined in my list of the top five things to love about winter bonfires.

5. Outdoor Cuisine – Coming in at number five is the culinary delight of cooking on an outdoor fire. I know for many people, this would be much higher on the list. In fact, it probably merits a post of its own – best bonfire recipes ever!!!  However, I’m usually a bit lame when it comes to outdoor cooking, opting for unwellness foods like hotdogs and marshmallows (alas, I’m not perfect).  As an aside, I actually think that the way someone cooks marshmallows says a lot about their personality.  I am a slow roasting, brown around the outside, non-charcoal kind of person.  I believe this reflects a certain meticulous maturity when it comes to cooking this gourmet desert. However, when I was younger, I was a lot more like my son is now – a “stick it in the flame and watch it burn like a torch” kind of person.

4. Functionality – Fire can have many uses, first on the list being heat and light.  Let’s face it, winter is cold.  Sometimes very very very cold. Standing around a fire with some sort of windbreak can make even the most frigid nights quite warm.

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Summer Ghosts

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Seven years ago I moved out to an acreage that has it’s own mini-forest on it.  Since moving there, I’ve spent many hours wandering through the woods, trying to understand the land and the things that live there. When I first began wandering, there were very few trails to be found, and I’d often follow deer tracks or crash blindly through the brush in my boots or snow shoes.

One year I decided to mark the oak trees in order to get my bearings.  I then used these oaks to plan my resting spots and devised a trail system around them. The Bur Oak is a grand tree - able to survive drought and fire, resilent to disease and insects, and a vital food source for  bear, deer, and many other birds and animals.

Continue reading →

Flower – by Andrew Zuckerman

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Check out this fantastic little video on the flower by Andrew Zuckerman.  A mesmerizing piece of musical art.

Here’s a little snippet from his bio on the Vimeo site:

Noted filmmaker and photographer, Andrew Zuckerman, utilizes a multitude of platforms to produce work that is systematically executed, conceptually based, and democratically presented. Minimalist in nature, Zuckerman aims to create atmospheres of clarity and neutrality to facilitate the viewer’s access to the material. His commitment to diversifying the points of entry into his work has garnered a global audience.