These are just a few ideas to get you and your pet to start being more active around your community. Our four legged friends mean a lot to us and it’s important to get them moving and active for their sake, and anytime with a beloved animal is time well spent.

Spring: Berry Festivals, Tulips, Daffodils, Foraging

In April, May, and early June, strawberry fields and early-blooming flowers like tulips and daffodils come to life! Small farms often hold festivals to kickoff the harvest or growing season, which can include fun extras like live music, food vendors, and beer gardens. Some farms even sell live plants, so you can take a piece of the farm home with you! Depending on your location, spring is the start of the foraging season as well. Get the whole family together for gorgeous photo ops in fields of flowers at locations like Holland Ridge Farms in Cream Ridge, NJ.

Have a look on Facebook and your community board to check out Morel-hunting events (Morels are an easily identifiable mushroom, a great way for beginners to get into identifying and harvesting wild mushrooms), as well as collecting Ramps (a delicious cousin of garlic) and fiddle-head ferns (these fronds are harvested just before they stretch out of their tight spiral, and taste like asparagus). Be sure to ask what supplies you should bring, such as your own shears to cut flowers, or your own containers for picked produce.

Summer: Berries, Veggies, Stone Fruit, and Dahlias

Early summer is when blueberry season kicks off in the mid-Atlantic, and events such as Hammonton, NJ’s Blueberry Festival are a great way to get up close and personal with the way the food we eat is produced. Take a tour of a blueberry farm, head into the fields to pick your own, or enjoy the festival and buy cheap berries by the crate or flat! Deeper into July and August, you’ll find farms offering pick-your-own zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other high-summer veggies. Stone fruit, such as peaches, apricots, and nectarines are also in season at this time. Small farms often offer heirloom varietals that are packed with flavor, but often don’t travel well and so are not found in chain groceries.

PYO flowers popular in August are dahlias, lilies, and in some locations early sunflowers. If you are lucky enough to know someone with a PawPaw tree, ask if you can indulge in this delicious, tropical-flavored fruit native to North America. This fruit doesn’t travel well, and is not sold in stores anywhere. It can be found in USDA plant zones 5 through 8.

Autumn: Apples, Pumpkins, Sunflowers

Apple picking is a classic, family-friendly Fall activity. Farms like Fishkill Farms in Fishkill, NY offer rare varietals of organic apples that you won’t find in any grocery store! Take a hayride to the pumpkin patch, and round off the afternoon with a flight of hard cider for the grownups and a half-dozen apple cider doughnuts fresh from the fryer.

Pick-Your-Own events and farm festivals are wonderful ways to spend time outdoors, teach kids about where their food comes from, and have some good, old-fashioned fun.

When we become mothers and fathers, the question of who Mother’s Day is for can be the cause of some serious tension. What happens when the kids are all grown up? Should adult children still prioritize their mothers and grandmothers? What happens when you have children of your own? Moms and their in-laws sometimes feel as if they are vying for recognition, which can result in unwanted family drama on a day that’s meant to be fun. What about your sister or cousin or dear friend who has recently become a new mom? Do you need to get flowers for EVERYONE?

The chore of gift-giving often falls on women in the typical nuclear family dynamic. It is part of what is considered “the mental load,” a term coined by French artist Emma. That’s the silent to-do list that is constantly running through moms’ minds. Timmy’s bake sale on Wednesday, Sophie’s ballet classes on Tuesday were canceled and so the babysitter needs to be notified that she needs to grab Sophie off the bus instead of at school, the toilet paper is running low, and the gas bill is due on the 2^nd…the list is constant, never-ending, and can drive moms to distraction.

Mother’s Day can turn into just another burden, requiring trips to the mall, budgeting for gifts, finding everyone’s addresses, and even hustling the kids together and out of the door to go to mother-in-law’s for brunch. That is not to say that any of those events is bad in and of themselves – but it is important for partners, adult children, and adult siblings to communicate with one another. Clarify your expectations of how the day will go. Ask your partner, mom, or other important mom in your life what they want out of the day. You might be surprised by the response. Some moms just want a break – a night in a hotel room alone, with room service and uninterrupted sleep. Some moms only want a little recognition – a sincerely written card. Some moms want to spend the day together with the extended family. Every mom is an individual, and every mom deserves to feel celebrated.

Read on to learn more about two compelling nonprofit organizations and their extraordinary missions to help individuals in need.

Fayetteville Urban Ministry 

 Fayetteville Urban Ministry has been a staple in the Fayetteville community since 1974. Throughout the years, they have continued to modernize and add more programs. The organization operates with four major programs that have grown throughout the community. The programs are: 

1. The Nehemiah Project: The project entails home repairs for low-income homeowners who live within the Fayetteville city limits. The City of Fayetteville has partnered with Fayetteville Urban Ministry and has given grant funding to hire contractors to execute home repairs in order to bring these homes up to living conditions. Some examples include HVAC replacements, wheelchair ramps, roofs, floors, plumbing, and more.
2. The Adult Literacy and Education Center: This program does everything imaginable to improve the literacy skills of the homeowner or anyone in the home. It helps with GED preparation,

ESL classes, career readiness, job resume building, budgeting, and building an individual’s overall literacy skills.  The program also matches people with tutors. 

3. The Emergency Assistance Program: During the pandemic, this program grew even larger because so many individuals were let go from their jobs. It includes a huge food pantry, a clothing closet, and provides financial support by helping individuals pay their rent, utilities, or mortgage.  
4. The Find-A-Friend Program: This program serves at-risk kids through interpersonal skills, life skills workshops, mentoring, and tutoring. A brand-new facility has been built for this program because it has grown so much. The goal is to match each child with an adult mentor.   Background training is conducted, and the mentor is required to spend eight hours a month with the child.

“Between both facilities and the four programs, we easily serve over 10,000 people at this time,” said Johnny Wilson, executive director of Fayetteville Urban Ministry.  “Due to the pandemic, in the last couple of years we have doubled to serving 20,000 people and we serve all of them free of cost.”

For every dollar that is donated to the organization, 93 cents of it goes back into the community.

For more information visit www.fayurbmin.org or call (910) 483-5944.

H.A.I.R. (Having Aunties in Reach)  

In 2019, Tameka Shipman, founder of H.A.I.R., was thinking about the start of the school year and wondered how she could give back to the students. She knew that everyone usually donated book bags, but she wanted to do something different. Shipman reminisced about being raised by her grandparents, and her grandma did not know how to do her hair, so she decided it would be a great idea to braid female students’ hair free of charge for back-to-school.

“I wanted to do a back-to-school braid drive being that I am a natural hair care specialist,” said Shipman. “We braided 40 female students’ hair for free two days before school started and the organization has been running with it ever since.” 

Shipman has been doing hair since the tender age of 12 and she wanted the organization’s name to have the acronym H.A.I.R. She had to strategically think about what words could stand for in H.A.I.R. The words “Having Aunties In Reach” literally rolled off of her tongue immediately and she stuck with it.

The nonprofit currently serves Wake County and Columbus County. They are looking to expand to other counties. Shipman’s ultimate goal is to have a chapter in every state so they can be a blessing to more kids.

H.A.I.R. caters to children 5 – 12 years old. They plan monthly activities for kids for 2-3 hours each month. Some of the activities or skills include self-esteem, early entrepreneurial skills, hair braiding tutorials, juice & paint, personal hygiene care, how to take care of your body, and more.

This past April, a 12-year-old entrepreneur came to teach the students how to bake and the pre-teen shared how she established her own cupcake business. In June, they will offer a look and learn for 15 kids. “I will teach them how to braid, do basic cornrows, or fix basic single plaits,” said Shipman.

“We have aunties, uncles, grandparents, and older cousins raising children so we can take them off of their hands for a few hours each month,” said Shipman. “We do this so the adults can have some free time to work on their mental health, go grocery shopping, or get the supplies that the kids need.”

Sponsors and donations are welcome. For more information call (919) 895-2642 or email havingauntiesinreach@gmail.com.

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Every day of our lives we have thoughts of planning for the future, for our families, savings, 401K, and life insurance. That way we can retire and live the remainder of our time comfortably with money, to do things with family and maybe travel. But do we really consider how we want those things to happen? Make sure to keep in mind of health and wellness, mental, and physical, and sexual health. What does quality of life mean to you? Is it the hope of good genes and things we don’t have control over? We all want to have control over our lives, body, and environment for as long as possible. The fact that the thought of having to give up anything in life because you cannot do it any longer is not even in your vocabulary.

I decided to ask a few of my clients and patients, what quality of life as they were aging meant? The answers were not shocking at all. As a matter of fact, the answers should be something that people of any age would find important to incorporate into their life. In no particular order, they mentioned overall health and wellness, sleep, having hobbies, visiting with family and friends, exercising that includes physical and mental, laughter and having fun, and last but not least, having a good intimate sex life. All of these had equal weight, except the family and friends component. That was the most important thing that was noted.

Overall health and wellness to them meant that they were eating nutritious foods, having doctor’s appointments, and taking medicines correctly. Getting good sleep was important to them for recovery from the day and to help mentally. Hobbies helped to continue to do things that they were passionate about, which they felt contributed to keeping them mentally sharp. Visiting with family and friends kept bonds and connections to loved ones to provide a support system, and discourage loneliness and depression. Exercises like walking, golf, yoga, dancing, and hiking were key, but water exercises seemed to be popular for less stress on the joints. Laughing and fun relieves stress and who doesn’t like to laugh! Having someone they could talk to about things in common and with a positive intimate sex life was just as important to them for quality of life and they felt that all the things listed above helped to enhance that part of their life.

This is the 3^rd of 4 articles in researching the stereotypes of aging and I have found that the things we want as we age are no different than younger years, except we definitely know what we want and we want to live just as determined, as we did earlier in our life. In the last installment, I will share my own keys for quality of life. Visit me on FB @wholebodyfitnessandwellness

Summer is always a time for parks, more social meets, children enjoying outdoors, and more picnics and barbecues. The days are longer, and we tend to spend more time outdoors trying to soak more sun and savor more of the summer days.

Let’s keep a few tips in mind while we enjoy the summer.

1. Exercise

We love sunny days and it’s the perfect time to run outdoors. Put on your running shoes and hit the outdoors. You can run, go for a brisk walk, jog, or walk with your pet. People enjoy doing yoga or meditation outdoors too. Summers don’t stay all year round, so make the most of it.

2. Play

When it comes to playing, choose anything that has been your favorite over the years, or you wished to play during the winter months. If you have never played anything, summer is the best time to try a new sport or hone your existing skills. Football, soccer, and tennis; basically, everything can be played under the sun. So just get inspired and head outside!

3. Hydration

Summer means sweat and feeling fatigued. Make sure you are always hydrated, especially with water. We all love those coladas, cold coffees, iced teas and not to forget the ice creams and sodas, but water works best for our bodies.

4. Sunscreen

We all love to be out in the sun, but we need to protect our skin from the rays as well. Make sure to use a good quality sunscreen to protect yourself from the harmful rays that cause damage to skin. Don’t forget to add sunglasses, hats, or umbrellas too.

5. Eating

Summer season brings lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. The markets are filled with ripe peaches, cherries, mangoes, and other varieties. Make sure to eat seasonal. Eating seasonal food not only tastes awesome but also adds a lot of benefits to our bodies.

6. Hair

During summer months we tend to sweat, which makes our hair look greasy. Make sure to wash your hair followed by a good quality leave-in conditioner. The conditioner will leave the hair soft and moisturized.

7. Pets

Never leave your pets in the car for a quick run to the grocery stores. The sun and the heat make it uncomfortable for the pets to sit inside the cars. Take them along and they will surely thank you.

Enjoy each day of the summer season. The days are longer, so make sure you cherish every

moment of the season and make memories. We hope you find our tips useful.

How to Keep a Journal Consistently

Keeping a journal consistently helps with both health and stress. To see these benefits, it’s important to write often. Here are some tips to start writing consistently:

1. Keep a reminder on your phone.

It’s easy to forget when trying to integrate a new habit into your lifestyle. If you forget to even start, it is harder to create a habit. Adding a reminder on your phone to write in your journal allows it to become easier to not only remember to journal, but also to journal more consistently. It becomes further easier to remember once the habit begins to stick. 

2. Don’t pressure yourself to write a specific amount.

Putting pressure on yourself only makes it more difficult for the habit to stick. Journaling shouldn’t cause you more stress, as the habit is to help reduce it. Don’t put pressure on yourself to reach a certain word count goal! Whether it be a few words or several pages, the most important part of journaling is writing. 

3. Don’t pressure yourself to write every single day. 

Life gets busy, which makes it more difficult to stick to daily habits. Sometimes you might not have time to actually sit down and write about your emotions and frustrations. Again, journaling is supposed to help reduce stress. Forcing yourself to do it will only add stress. Instead, journaling should be something you look forward to doing, to unwind after a stressful day. It should never become a habit to dread. 

The Benefits of Journaling

Keeping a journal has several benefits. Not only do you get to have a detailed record of your life, but journaling also offers many health benefits – both physical and mental. The most obvious benefit is the improvement of mental health. According to the University of Rochester, journaling helps with managing anxiety and coping with depression. It also helps with problem solving and learning how to voice concerns and fears, which again helps people who struggle with anxiety and depression. Journaling also helps you to identify negative thoughts and behaviors, which in turn allows you to better cope with them. 

The mental health benefits of journaling lead to improved physical health once the habit becomes more consistent. According to a study by the University of Cambridge, journaling as a long term habit leads to improvements in physical health long-term. This includes improved lung and liver function, as well as an improved immune system. This is because those who journal report less overall stress. 

Journaling is an important habit to help improve physical and mental health and reduce stress. Once you begin to write in a journal consistently, you’ll see these benefits in your own life. 

It may surprise you, however, to know that Jackson has not been a speed skater all her life. Only four months after stepping out onto the ice for the first time in 2018, she became the first black woman to qualify for Team U.S.A. Although the new terrain was unfamiliar, Jackson gave herself every opportunity to get out onto the ice. By going back to the rink day every day to get used to her new environment, she was setting herself up for historic success.

By choosing something she enjoyed, and staying committed to her process, she was putting herself in a position where she would have opportunities to prosper. Although the journey may not have always been comfortable, her trust, and patience with the process, ultimately paid off. 

This story is a good one to keep in mind when taking on your next venture. Do you want to try something new? Become a better cook? Learn a new instrument? Even pick up speed skating? Whatever your new hobby may be, let’s talk about part of the Olympic recipe for success. Trust and patience are important parts of the overall process that will lift you to success. 

Trust the process! You may have heard the common phrase “practice makes perfect,” but I challenge you to tell yourself this instead: “practice makes improvement.” Erin Jackson’s historic gold medal can make it hard to remember that it took her four years to get to that point. Take the pressure off of yourself to be perfect with your new hobby and simply focus on improvement and enjoyment. Without the confinements of unattainable expectations, you may find more success. 

Be patient with yourself! Setting expectations too high or putting too much pressure on the situation can stifle your enthusiasm. Without that enthusiastic spark that got you going in the first place, it’s probable your new undertaking won’t last much longer. It’s unlikely that your new meal, first song, or race are going to be perfect. Understanding that the ultimate goal is to enjoy yourself and improve with each session, you will alleviate the pressure of getting it right the first time. Mistakes are human, and part of what makes the end result more satisfying. It’s always a joy to cheer on Team U.S.A. at the Olympic games, but Jackson’s story of her first time lacing up the skates is what makes her victory so much sweeter. It reminds us that everyone starts somewhere, even Olympic champions. 

By Reilly Miller

Photo source for title and within article: 

Azzi, Alex. “Erin Jackson Makes Olympic History with Speed Skating Gold.” On Her Turf, 14 Feb. 2022 https://onherturf.nbcsports.com/2022/02/13/erin-jackson-gold-speed-skating-2022-winter-olympics/.