Thursday, December 28, 2017

Shampoo and Warm Welcomes

How do you feel about shampoo?

I know, I know…that’s a terrible way to say welcome back to the farm blog.

WELCOME BACK! We are busier than ever at Pumpkin Rose Farm! I have been knee deep in science classes (more like in-over-my-head deep), and the Queen Mother has begun her journey to becoming a health coach! I’m hoping she’ll make a foray into the blog world and take over my little corner of the blog universe.

But, seriously: shampoo.

I will take any opportunity to use Chemistry Cat in a conversation.

How does shampoo make you feel? I have short-lived relationships with types of shampoo. I use one kind for a while, and before the bottle is anywhere close to becoming empty, my hair starts looking unwashed after IT’S JUST. BEEN. WASHED. 

I can remedy this by using globs larger than the state of Arkansas to create a ridiculous lather, but somehow, I know this is not the answer. I can move on to another bottle of shampoo, but it really gets old having to switch shampoos before I’m done with a bottle. 




I love the idea of a winter blend shampoo because I love all things seasonal. Everything about me changes with the seasons, and now I can add shampoo to the rotation.

This shampoo has five types of minty goodness. I’ll admit that I was initially hesitant to smear 5x the mint on my head just to have 5x the mentholated agony of mint + wet hair + winter air. 
My fears dissipated quickly, for there was no mentholation to be had, even after letting the shampoo “osmose;” I love it even more because the bottle actually says to osmose. 
I don’t even mind letting it osmose on my head because of the ingredients it has—or doesn’t have. It even comes in a seasonal bottle. Did I mention how much I love seasonal things? For real, though. Tack a fall or winter picture on any ordinary product, and I'll most likely adore it.


Back to the shampoo. The best part is that my hair looks clean, and the amount of fly-aways has been reduced.

I can’t wait to try their other products. You can even try their products…FOR FREE! How? Just visit their site and fill out the form to request a free sample. It’s that easy!



Stay warm and healthy! Because this is a health-minded blog, I'll remind you to take vitamin C and zinc and elderberry and turmeric. Even better: eat them!




This post was made because of a collaboration with Maple Holistics, but all opinions are my own.


Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Blog Birthday

Hello, everyone!

This blog turned 3 years old on April 30! I don't know what gift you give to a blog...so happy birthday, little blog! Here's to a million more years!

It's honeysuckle season. That means mosquito bites and dirty fingernails. Who knew that pinching off honeysuckle could stain fingernails brown?!

This might look like a nice bowl of fragrant honeysuckle blossoms, but it ends up being a never-ending bowl of work.

Market is open again so come out and support your local farmers!

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Post Workout Protein Snacks

Spring is here and the Pumpkin Rose Farm crew is once again transitioning from indoor farmers to outdoor farmers, which means the farmer's market will be open again soon!


Although planting season just began, there is no one set season for working out. Every month of the year falls during "workout season." Personally, I have a hard time working out when I'm cold (which has been almost all of the time), but if I can get myself through the first few minutes, then I warm up and am just fine. I guess that's why they call it a warm up!


Something that has been on my mind a lot lately is post-workout nutrition. Proper nutrition is a very important thing to me and it should not be thrown by the wayside after working out. So, what should we be eating after physical activity?


There is no "one size fits all" approach (with anything, really).

Training hard requires eating right for recovery. If you are a serious athlete, you probably already know what to eat.


If you're one of the rest of the workouters, you may not need to eat after a workout. The necessity of eating after exercise depends on the intensity and frequency of the activity.
Less often or less intense =  eating after not necessary


However, after activity, some of us turn into voracious creatures who are only concerned with EATING ALL THE THINGS. I once polished off a Quarter Pounder meal after a swim lesson and I was only 9 or 10 years old.
If you do need to eat after working out, my advice is to wait a little while. Stress turns off the digestion process and physical activity is a form of stress, so you'll want to give your body some time to realize that it can start digesting food again.


Protein after exercise is a good idea because protein is made of amino acids amino acids will aid in muscle repair. You can find the 9 "essential amino acids"--i.e., amino acids that our bodies don't produce--in complete proteins, which are mostly proteins from animal sources. Plant proteins are mostly considered to be incomplete proteins, which proteins require pairing with complementary proteins so that all essential amino acids are present.


Carbohydrates are also a good thing to add to any post-workout snack or meal. Carbs cab replenish muscular glycogen stores that might have gotten used up during exercise. Not all exercise taps into glycogen stores--you're more likely to see glycogen depletion with high intensity interval training (HIIT) or endurance activities, or even some serious farm work. Been there, done that. 
If you have used up glycogen, a good carb choice would be a starchy fruit/vegetable (sweet potato, white potato, plantain) or possibly oatmeal.

Sometimes, it isn't possible to eat a snack made up of meat and vegetables. That's when we look to more convenient options, like protein shakes, protein bars, etc.





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Nuts.com has some great pages about healthy snacks and high protein snacks. They have great info and some delicious-looking recipes, in addition to being a source from which to buy nuts and similar items. Check it out!


Happy snacking! Do you have any post-workout snack tips or recipes? I'd love to hear them!

Friday, February 19, 2016

2016 Whole30 Week Four and Review







Day Twenty-Two-
Breakfast- Ham egg cups
Lunch- Vegetable beef soup

Dinner- Meatballs, fries



Day Twenty-Three-
Breakfast- Breakfast casserole
Lunch- Leftover chicken meatball kale soup

Dinner- Pork over sweet potato with homemade BBQ sauce, smash potatoes, homemade coleslaw with an Asian twist



Day Twenty-Four-
Breakfast- Casserole
Lunch- Taco salad with avocado lime dressing

Dinner- Dinner was skipped because we were out taking care of farmer's market business, but we each had a Larabar later on

2016 Whole30 Week Three







Day Fifteen-
Breakfast- Fried eggs, Aidell's sausage, "fried potatoes"
Lunch- Egg salad, cucumber, avocado oil chips, banana

Dinner- Hamburger, sweet and white potato fries, avocado
Snacks- Apple with almond butter


Day Sixteen-
Breakfast- Egg cups
Lunch- Potato soup (a healthified version of a family recipe), salad with grilled chicken

Dinner- Chocolate chili over sweet potato
Snacks- Apple with almond butter

2016 Whole30 Week Two







Day Eight-
Breakfast- Sweet potato hash, fried eggs, sausage
Lunch- Ham on lettuce, hardboiled egg, pickle, apple, coconut oil chips

Dinner- Spaghetti sauce over spaghetti squash, salad, fried plantain
Drinks- Sparkling water


Day Nine-
Breakfast- Scrambled eggs with hash, monkey fruit salad
Lunch- Leftover lettuce wraps with avocado and olives

Snack- Smoothie with frozen strawberries, frozen banana, kale, spinach, coconut milk, almond butter, ice, water
Dinner- Spaghetti sauce over sweet potato, steamed broccoli, sauteed onion and zucchini
Drinks- Sparkling water

2016 Whole30 Week One





Day One-
Breakfast- Scrambled eggs with sausage

Lunch- Chicken broccoli casserole, monkey salad with cinnamon, olives


Dinner- Grilled pork chops, roasted brussel sprouts, carrots, and sweet potatoes

Snacks- Clementine

Drinks- hot water with lemon upon waking (me)




Day Two-
Breakfast- scrambled eggs with olives (me), scrambled eggs with ham, peppers, olives, avocado (mom)



Lunch- Chicken salad with homemade mayo, fresh dill and thyme, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, apple, pecan, olives, on a bed of lettuce with avocado, sliced Seckel pear


Dinner- Chocolate chili over sweet potato

Snacks- Banana, clementine, pear, sunflower seeds

Drinks- Iced Citrus Tazo tea