Activities to Garden your way to Health and Fitness.

One of the best ways to lose weight is by enjoining the support and encouragement of your family to be involved or to join in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Kids naturally have a sweet tooth, and they will always choose a pancakes and eggs over an oatmeal breakfast. It is important that kids must be taught to eat healthy. The Department of Education has regulated the school canteens of public schools to over meals and food that have high nutritional value, rather than selling burgers, fries and chips. Among kids, the incidence of obesity is also prevalent, making them vulnerable to be picked on or bullied by their peers for their weight.

Cooking with your kids is not only an opportunity to teach them how to become independent, but it also allows them to take control over the food they eat. The great thing about teaching cooking skills is that it involves learning many things – from chemistry, to culture and geography. Kids become knowledgeable about a variety of foods and flavor, about presenting dishes, and on becoming a sophisticated and nutritious eater. Best of all, teaching your kids how to cook can be a great bonding activity for the whole family.

The first things kids should remember about eating healthy is reduce, replace or eliminate fats, sodium and sweets in their diet or cooking recipes. For example, reduce calories by reducing salt content and replacing them with herbs and spices that also add flavor to the food. Replace full cream milk with low-fat dairy products such as yoghurt and cottage cheese. Eliminate or reduce salad dressings, seasonings and condiments into your dinner meals. When frying, replace standard cooking oil with canola oil or olive oil. Both canola and olive oil have one of the lowest fat content and helps protect your heart and arteries from possible cholesterol build up.

When cooking healthy meals with kids, it is best not to use the frying method, since this always entails using cooking oil. Instead, bake, grill, boil or steam your food. These cooking methods require using fresh food retains the food’s nutritional value and does not require adding up on sweets or sodium to give it flavor. When mixing ingredients with a Bosch mixer, replace ingredients such as sugar or oil with lemon or orange extracts and with buttermilk. Always include fruits in your diet and whole wheat grains. Baking using the Bosch bread mixer, makes it easier to combine all the thick, but healthy ingredients.

You probably know what it feels like – pushing your conventional push mower our lawn is larger than .25 acres! For those with larger lawns, they should seriously consider purchasing a reactor-type lawnmower. It is relatively easy to operate and can cover medium to large lawns far quicker than the conventional push lawnmowers.

There are electric models for your lawn mower as well as the standard push mowers that everybody has seen. With powerful batteries, such designs can last for half an acre before it runs out of power and needs to be re-energized. These electric models are really quiet, good for the environment and don’t produce any noxious fumes. They lack the horsepower of the gasoline operated models and might run the hassle of being trapped in bushier places.

If you are a professional lawn care specialist, you might want to look into models that have reel blades that cut out in front. The rotary type is good if there isn’t a golf link to mow. The mowing blades are usually found below the deck below the seat and can give you some vibration. A good seat with plenty of cushion, however, won’t bother you.

You can find smaller riding mowers that will work with your lawn as well. The designs are basically the same as the bigger ones. The capacity and the size of the machine will be the main difference. You will always want more horsepower with your mower, but if you have a well-built machine, it won’t need as much horsepower to do a great job.

You do not really need much horsepower if your yard is flat and even. If you have a very hilly area, however, you will need a lot more. If you have a lot of hills, a lawn tractor will be your better choice.

A lawn tractor will have 10-15 horsepower and can work well. Considering that a car has 150 ‘ 300 horsepower, it seems that it’s a lot less energy, but you don’t need that much. You will pay more for more horsepower, just like with a car. Make sure you really need it first.

Prices will go up if you have a mower that can cut a bigger area. Lawn tractor blades usually cut between 38 ‘ 42 inches and can cut the lawn quicker. But you will probably be only able to cut your lawn 10% more quickly and the mower might be a lot more inaccurate.

You can get a garden tractor with 20 horsepower and up to 60″ mowing blades for a powerful, efficient machine. If you need to haul dirt or tree parts with an attached trailer, you can use this more efficiently.

You will want to look at the turning radius of the mower you are about to buy too. If you have a very low or even zero degree turning radius, it will cost a lot more. If you don’t have a lawn that is difficult to negotiate, you probably won’t need it.

The automatic lawn mower saves you time and effort. Unlike other lawn mowers, mows the lawn for you. No hassle as with electric lawn mowers or push lawn mowers. These Automatic lawn movers requires a one time simple set-up, which can be easily done by anyone. A wire is laid around the outer edges of the lawn, and attached to the surface of the lawn with pegs every few meters.

The wire and pegs are supplied with the lawn mover. The wire is connected to a small battery powered current source called Perimeter Switch (also supplied in the box). Typically the wire will be covered by grass and become unnoticeable in a matter of 2-3 weeks. The automatic lawn mower recognizes the wire using a special sensor, and makes sure it always stays inside the designated area. If the lawn mower is equipped with a Charging Station, it’s even easier! After completing the one-time set-up of wire around the lawn including the Charging Station, set the weekly program and forget about mowing for the entire season! The automatic lawn mower will automatically depart at the day and time scheduled and automatically return to the Charging Station to recharge and get ready for the next scheduled operation.

The weekly program can be re-set at any time, if and when required. Almost all the automatic lawn mower use the mulching system: the grass is cut into very small clippings that are buried in the roots of the lawn, where they decompose and act like a natural fertilizer. This results in a healthier and better-looking lawn, and eliminates the need to collect and remove the clippings.

Use this lawn mower is the most convenient way to maintain your lawn. You can cut the lawn anytime without disturbing your neighbors, you don’t need to collect the clippings, with this automatic lawn mower you have a lot of free time: no more spending your weekends mowing the lawn, spend your free time with the family and do the things you really like to do.

Picture this: A what seemed happy and ordinary dinner evening ruined because a fire erupted from your kitchen or from one of your bedrooms. Properties damaged and burned down. Worse even are lives of your loved ones lost.

According to government data, fire is the leading cause of death among natural disasters combined. And with these numbers of victims, 84% of them were killed in a fire from their own residences. Among the causes of fire listed by the Fire Safety Bureau are misuse of electrical appliances, wiring problems, blocked cooling vent, improperly-extinguished tobacco, lit candles that are left unattended, house clutters, especially clothes on gas dryer and blockage of fire exit. And the fire hazard that ranked first is unattended cooking. The Jackson Fire Safety Bureau identified all these hazards that are said to be evident not just locally, but across the nation as well.

In line with fire safety promotion, the Jackson Bureau of Fire Safety Fire Districts 1 and 3 offers free cooking fire safety. And in addition to their advocacy in fire safety, the said bureaus are also offering free battery operated smoke detectors to Jackson residents. Fire OfficialFrank Mc Donnell said that if you do not have smoke detectors in your home or the smoke detectors that you own is more than 10 years old, contact them at 732-928-1666, ext.14. You can also reach them by sending them an email at fmcdonnell@jacksonfiredist3.org.

Here is the list of the pieces of advice that the Jackson Fire Safety Bureau wants to share with the public. First is to fire-proof your home. This means that check all electrical wirings for wear and tear. Contact a duly certified electrician for repair needs. Install a smoke-detector. Make sure that your smoke detectors is working and in good condition. Next is to use electrical appliances properly. Do not plug several appliances in one socket as it can cause an electrical overload. Next is to de-clutter your home. As clutters like clothes and candles lying around can cause or start a fire.

And their safety tips in cooking? A firefighter’s advice is to be alert! While cooking, see to it that you are not multitasking with distracting activities like being on a computer, watching TV and talking on the phone. It is also best not to cook if you are drowsy, under medication or tired because your condition may contribute to a fire in your homes. Also, train your children to not to play inside the kitchen.

Incidentally, use appliances that are of good quality. Check out a Bosch mixer sale and get a Bosch universal mixer for your cooking needs.

Poverty and hunger go hand-in-hand. And recent report from the Food and Agriculture Organization show results that there are more than 1 billion people around the world who suffer from hunger everyday. Not only as this report is alarming but also disheartening to think that while some of us waste food on the table, a huge number of people have nothing on their plate.

And today, World Food Day is being celebrated across the globe. Rev. David Beckmann, the President of Bread for the World, recounts some important events with hunger and poverty. He relates that in 1980, 17 cents per $1 aid from developing nation is allocated for farmers living in poverty and for developing agriculture industry around the world. And twenty six years after that, the allocation has fallen to less than 4 cents. Another point that Rev. Beckmann stressed is the fast rising of the number of hungry people. His accounts show that there are over 1.02 billion people who are undernourished. Among the severely affected are children and women who are subsistence-level farmers who only depend on their small fields to feed their children.

This startling facts and agonizing situation among impoverished nations is the main concern of Rev. Beckmann’s Bread for the World Foundation. His first foreseeable solution is investing in agriculture especially in developing countries. He stresses that policies should be formulated to increase agricultural products, thus also increasing food security. It’s instability with foods and other agricultural crops that spurred riot among 30 nations. He also said that the report of FAO in State of Food Insecurity in 2009, should serve as a wake-up call to take a closer look with hunger and poverty. Another factor is the high-priced crop commodities like sorghum, wheat, corn and rice. And his offered solution is always being prepared to address price instability.

And perhaps another topic that can be of help in fighting hunger is educating the parents and the community as well with responsible parenting. Though the Church and the state have disagreements with it, it’s worth a try to educate and liberate the people.

While most of us worry about the meals to be prepared or maybe the lack of kitchen help like a Bosch mixer and other handy kitchen gadgets, take time to think of those who are suffering from hunger. And while you’re thinking about when is the next Bosch universal sale, also take time to ponder on how you can help even in littlest way. Say no to hunger!

If you have a large lawn that is getting too much to handle with a walk-behind mower you may be considering buying a lawn tractor or a riding mower. A lawn tractor may have various attachments available and can be used for hauling materials about your yard in addition to mowing your lawn. More expensive than riding mowers they have multiple uses. You should also be looking for mowing decks that are easily adjustable and have mulching capabilities.

Choosing the Type of Mower

Zero Turn Mowers

For a lawn that is more than 1/2 acre with multiple objects a zero turn mower would be a good choice. The time taken to mow your lawn can be cut in half with a zero turn mower as these mowers are more efficient. The excellent maneuverability allows you to easily mow around all size objects without having to back up and turn repeatedly. The rear wheels are used for both power and steering and operate independently so one wheel can reverse while the other wheel rotates forward allowing zero to 360 degree turns. In addition these mowers are fast, up to 6.5 mph so you can quickly cover a large lawn.

Riding Mowers

For a lawn of between 1/2 to 1 acre a riding mower will be ideal. They have few attachments as they are primarily built to do one thin wheel and that is to cut the lawn!

Lawn Tractors

With higher horsepower engines lawn tractors are better for larger lawns and rougher terrain. They also have a good range of optional attachments so if you want to use your mower as a snowblower, an aerator, a machine to move material around your yard you should choose a lawn tractor.

Garden Tractors

The toughest of these machines with the highest horsepower, garden tractors usually have two-cylinder engines and sturdy transmissions. For a very large garden or yard with rough terrain choose a garden tractor.

Factors to consider before you purchase a lawn tractor or riding mower

Size of Lawn

The first thing to take into account is the power of the engine and the cutting width and to ensure that these are suitable for the size of your lawn. Here are some general guidelines to help you choose. Be aware of the width between any obstacles as a larger deck may cut down the time to mow a large area but be unable to mow between obstacles.

1/2 to 1 acre lawn: You will need a mower with at least a 14 hp engine and a 42″ cutting width

1 to 2 acres lawn: A cutting width of between 42″ and 46″ with a 14 to 16hp engine should be adequate

3 Acres and above: For this size lawn area an engine size of between 18 and 24 hp and a 46″ to 54″ cutting deck would be the best buy

Attachments

A wide range of attachments are available for lawn tractors including snowblowers, front blades, tractor shovel, electric spreaders, baggers etc. Check that attachments that you might need now or in the future are available for the model you are considering. Riding mowers generally have very few attachments but are cheaper to buy so if all you want to do is mow your lawn a riding mower would be the best buy.

Transmission

Gear Driven or Automatic?

Consider the layout of the lawn area to be cut with your lawn tractor or riding mower. A gear driven mower will be better on open areas with few obstacles such as flower beds or bird baths. Choose an automatic transmission for areas that have obstacles so that you can easily vary the speed around the objects. Most of the lawn tractors with automatic transmission also have cruise control so you can set this in areas that are clearer.

Bagging, Mulching or Side Discharging

Many lawn mowers have the options to easily switch between mulching or side discharging. Most have optional bagging attachments.

Safety Concerns

The higher speed of lawn tractors and riding mowers leads to some concern for safety and operators should be aware of these factors before they use the machines.

Obstacles: Care must be taken with obstacles on the lawn as hitting a solid object will do severe damage to the machine at these speeds.

Scattering objects: Any small objects, for instance stones, twigs, household objects left on the lawn will be picked up by the mower and projected at high speed. Always ensure there are no people or pets in the area when operating the machines.

Noise: Some of these mowers can be very noisy. Wear ear protection if this applies to your model

Advantages and Disadvantages

Lawn Tractors

Advantages: Durable, built to last, attachments to do many other tasks

Disadvantages: Expensive, leaves uncut areas at the end of turns, needs a large storage area, difficult to take in for repairs

Zero Turn Mowers

Advantages: Fast, best for a lawn with many obstacles, no uncut areas at the end of turns, few attachments

Disadvantages: Expensive, needs a large storage area, difficult to take in for repairs, few attachments, some safety concerns due to the high speed.

Riding Mowers

Advantages: Cheaper than lawn tractors, reasonably fast, leaves uncut areas at the end of turns,few attachments

Disadvantages: Awkward to steer around obstacles and leaves uncut grass close to obstacles.