text:
Introduction to Minimal Meal Planning
Hi there. I’m Miranda Anderson. I’m so happy that you are here listening to Live Free Creative. The podcast today is Episode 22 and we’re going to talk about minimal meal planning. Today’s episode is for those of you who once in a while, or maybe every night, ask yourself the question, what am I supposed to do for dinner?
It’s also for those of you who really liked cooking and really like food, but don’t know that you have all of the time in the world to spend on it. It’s also for those of you who don’t like cooking and who don’t have all the time in the world and who really would just like to simplify, take one more decision out of your pocket for the week.
The other benefit of this minimal meal plan I’m going to discuss is a huge amount of consistency in budgeting for groceries and for food, which is also an incredible byproduct. So that is what we’re going to talk about. Of course I love my segments and it’s been a little while since I talked about life lately.
Segment: Life Lately
So let me catch you up on what’s been going on and then we will dive into today’s topic.
House Flood Update
Our life lately has already started looking as exciting as usual. If you have been following along for awhile, you know that our family is no stranger to unexpected kind of out of the ordinary events, the most recent of which was a flood in November that destroyed a lot of our house. During the holidays we were able to move back in and enjoy being at home even just without ceilings in with half a bathroom and with no flooring upstairs. We’ve really liked being home. So that’s a great feeling.
However, in order to accomplish all of the remaining repairs for the flood damage, including an update on the master bathroom in the upstairs part of the house, we have had to move out again. I don’t know exactly when we are going to move out right now. We’re still in the house, but I’m hoping by the time it airs that we have moved out because that will mean we will be onto the next phase of the process, which is going to be all of our belongings, furniture and artwork and clothing and everything that we don’t pack into our suitcases to take to the airbnb. All of our belongings are going to be packed and taken to a storage facility.
This what the contractor felt was the best option to get everything out of the house. Just because so much of this actual square footage of our house was affected. We live in a 1400 square foot house and about 1200 of the square feet of our house were affected by the flood in one way or another. So, essentially the entire house was affected and they need to repair ceilings with drywall, they need to paint and then at the end of all of that they’re also going to refinish the flooring. So it’s both the ceiling and the floor in ninety percent of the house.
The best option was for us to move out. The expected time that will be out of the house is two months, which feels like a very long time with the other things we have going on. Some upcoming fun travel, etc.
I am finishing up the first draft of my manuscript for my book and it will go into editing soon. So all of those things are just going to keep us moving forward and hopefully we get that all taken care of soon.
The Chicken Coop Remodel
In the meantime, the chickens (who I haven’t talked about in a little while) doing so well. In fact their house got an upgrade a couple of weeks ago.
We have four hens. Their names are Mozzarella, Goldie Hen, Blackberry, and Feathers. We got them as 15-week-old pullets and knew that they would start laying eggs probably in the springtime when they were old enough and when the daylight hours were long enough. When I initially got the four hens, I ordered a great chicken coop off of Amazon.
Here is a link for the cedar chicken coop we have. When I got an and put it together, I was surprised that it was a little bit smaller than I expected. But after talking to a couple of friends who also own chickens, they said, “Oh, if you let them range in the yard during the day, they will be just fine in that hen house and with the couple lay boxes.” So we went with that for a couple months and felt like it really is a great hen house. I really liked the design of it. It was easy to put together. It was not expensive.
But, because of the weather where we live, especially during the wintertime. This won’t be an issue in the summer, but there have been lots of rainy, lots of rainy days and also a couple snowy days. In fact, we had a snowstorm in December that took everyone out of school and work for an entire week and of course on rainy days and snowy blizzardy days, the chickens do not want to leave that coop, but they also don’t have a whole lot of covered area to run around.
Double Coop Hack
So what I did was order a second coop, the exact same style and I put it together and we just hooked the two coops together! So now, instead of one little chicken run with a hen house and some lay boxes, they have a longer chicken run with two little hen houses and too little a box is it doubled the size of sheltered area that they can run around in. Which was really great and we had these big plans to like build a big chicken run around the little coop and then to put garden boxes all around that. And we still love that idea. We just weren’t getting to executing quick enough and felt like our lady’s needed a little bit more room to stretch their legs on rainy days, so I’ve been super impressed by the way that it is worked out.
I’ve also been able to–because now there’s extra space–I was able to also hang their food off of the ground, which is really nice, so basically I feel like we’re about three months into chicken ownership and it has been so fun. They are hilarious to watch. They’re all just getting big and fluffy and they are learning to come to us. When I go outside they’ll run over to me because they know that I’ll give them treats. I give a mealworms and grapes. They are great with my kids. We finally have gotten to a point after a couple minutes of training that our dog is able to have her dog door open so she can run outside and back inside when when the chickens are free ranging in the yard.
Chickens As Symbols Of Empowerment
Having chickens has been a really fun experience. In fact, this is so bizarre, but for whatever reason I feel like these chickens are this manifestation of something that I had wanted in my life for a really long time. The first time I heard about people having that having backyard chicken several years ago, I thought that would be so amazing. I love fresh eggs. I love it. I think I’m like a little bit of a farmer at heart even though I have no idea what that actually would be like and probably I would be terrible at it and I don’t know that that’s really what I want, but I love. I love having the chickens and we thought about it for so long before we actually made it a reality and I’m so happy that we just decided to take the plunge in the fall.
I Can Create The Life I Want
It was kind of unusual timing and we just thought that was the best option. We gave each of our kids a for Christmas, so they got their Christmas gift a little bit early. That was our family Christmas gift this year: the chicken coop and the hens. It has been really fun.
I have moments where I’m out cleaning the coop or I’m out walking in the yard and I paused and I just look at those chickens and it’s like the symbol to me of the way that I can really create the life that I want. That there might be all of these reasons that I tell myself that I can’t or shouldn’t do things that I really want to do and at the end of the day it’s still my choice. Maybe that sounds silly, but having a backyard full of chickens has helped me feel empowered in living the life of my dreams. That is Life Lately.
“There might be all of these reasons that I tell myself that I can’t or shouldn’t do things that I really want to do. At the end of the day it’s still my choice.”
My Meal Planning History
There are lots of different ways to meal plan. We have done it from A to Z. A few years ago I decided that I need to simplify even further than any of the other meal plans that I had ever done and I created what I called the minimalist meal plan.
I’m going to go into more detail in a few minutes about the specifics of what that looks like for our family and how we have implemented it and the results of the implementation in our own lives.
I loved to cook as a kid.
First, I want to tell a little bit of background. I love to cook and you might not love to cook and that’s okay. We can be different in that way. All growing up I was kind of a free range child and that included in the kitchen. We always had groceries around and when I was hungry I would decide what I wanted to eat and experiment and I would try all different things.
I remember one time rubbing chicken with raspberry jam and dijon mustard, which were both things I liked the flavor of and I love the savory sweet and I thought that would be really good together, so I rubbed it all over these frozen chicken tenders that were in the freezer from Costco and put it in the oven and basically made my own little like sweet and sour glazed chicken bites. It was not the prettiest thing in the world, but I remember them being delicious and thinking, “Gosh, this is so fun.” I love being able to experiment in the kitchen.
I experimented as an adult.
Fast forward to getting married. Because of my love of cooking and some things that I had learned about shopping at Costco, I insisted that we got a Costco membership because that was the only place that I knew how to shop. I grew up in a family with six kids and my parents shopped in bulk for feeding the family. So, Dave and I got our little Costco membership and would go over to Costco and I would buy like five pounds of ground beef and then go home and divide it into Ziploc bags and put it in the freezer so that when I needed it, I had it on hand.
I remember one day thinking, “My entire freezer is full of food, but there’s nothing in the fridge. What do people put in their refrigerators?” I had no idea how to actually shop and cook for just the two of us. It took years of figuring that out and experimenting.
Recipes are for following.
Also– this is so funny– I was talking to someone the other day and told them about the day that I realized that cookbooks were meant for actually following recipes. Maybe this tells you a little bit about the way that my mom cooks. A little bit of way that I grew up, but I thought cookbooks were like inspirational books. I thought that they were just for ideas and the pictures were really fun so you could get an idea about something you wanted to make.
I really was a full blown adult before I realized that if I followed the recipe the way that it was written, that the meal would turn out exactly as the author of the recipe intended. That it seems so silly. It seems so dumb, but I was just a free spirit with my cooking so I would get an idea from a recipe, but I never ever actually followed the recipe exactly the way that it was written. I would substitute things in and I would just kind of do my own thing.
I remember thinking cooking is so easy when you have a recipe and you actually follow it. There’s no guesswork. It just works. And what an incredible revelation that was. For me, this was like in my twenties with two kids that I finally realized the way cookbooks are meant to be used. All of that to say I’ve had just my own journey with food and with meals and with cooking as I’m sure you all have as well.
In early motherhood, I tried all the meal plans.
In the early years of motherhood especially, I heard all of this buzz about meal planning. The way that I had done it up to that point, it was just go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of things that seemed like they looked good. Then when I got home, because of the way that I had taught myself to cook this experimental method of cooking, I just decided that I would look in the fridge every night and kind of throw things together. That it seemed really normal to me because that was the way that I had learned to do things.
At some point. Maybe around the time I had the revelation about cookbooks actually being instructions for creating specific types of meals. I decided that we were going to learn how to use cookbooks. Dave and I printed out a calendar and we decided the meals for the month. Each week I included one to two recipes, specific recipes from some of my favorite cookbooks.
Some Favorite Cookbooks
I have a couple very favorite cookbooks. One of them is How to Cook Everything. One of them is Smitten Kitchen. Those are the ones that come directly to mind. So for a number of months we would do a monthly meal plan and then I went through the process of going through my cookbooks and choosing a recipe and then creating a shopping list that included all of the ingredients for all of the different dinners I had planned, plus the things we might need for lunches and breakfasts.
Themed Dinner Nights
That worked well for a while and then it kind of was a lot and I remember when my one of my son stopped napping, I don’t remember which one. And then the evenings got a little trickier because he was kind of grumpy in the evening but we still needed to eat and Dave was in school and didn’t get home until. So I was doing dinner and feeding the kids by myself before he got home and all of the sudden making an elaborate meal from a cookbook seemed very silly because I was the only one there to eat it with my little kids eating, you know, they’re kind of kid, kid versions of it. So I decided that we needed to scale back even differently. We started doing a more simplified version where we did themed meals and this is really popular.
Maybe you know about this: Choosing like Italian food on Mondays, Mexican food on Tuesdays, breakfast for dinner on Thursdays and just going with a theme for each night of the week. That also worked really well for a while where we had the theme. Then there were just what seemed like a finite number of options within each theme and I still did all of the writing out of all everything that we needed and going to the grocery store and getting all these specific things. And I still had this feeling that I wanted to switch it up a little bit. I wanted it to be fun. I wanted to add variety. I wanted to be exciting and different and I wanted to enjoy the process of cooking it as well, which is something that I loved.
Meal planning is a lot of work.
Now after my third baby was born, I just absolutely hit a wall with meals. I didn’t enjoy cooking anymore because I couldn’t even be present in the process.
Everything felt like it was a lot of work. Coming up with ideas for recipes was a lot of work. Writing down all of the different ideas for meals was a lot of work. Putting together grocery shopping lists was a lot of work going to the grocery store and looking for sometimes random things that I didn’t buy very often with a lot of work, trying to even make something like macaroni and cheese with one baby in my arms and one opening every drawer in the kitchen, taking every single thing out of all the covers and putting on the floor… (You moms of toddlers know what I’m talking about.) …and then the other one, you know, tugging on my shirt, crying, needing something.
All of that felt like, “We’re just going to have quesadillas every night for the rest of our lives because that is the only thing that we can even accomplish with any sort of joy or any sort of fulfillment.”
The Minimalist Meal Plan Emerges
Having my third baby really rocked the boat. My life went from feeling semi-organized, never perfect, into feeling like a three ring circus all the time. I was doing lots of things to simplify. This is when I implemented the capsule wardrobe. This is when I quit my job for six months and I quit blogging for the year. All of a lot of the things that were just normal to me were not working anymore. I needed to stop and evaluate and decide what actually worked for my family in the stage we were in right now. What came to me when I did that, thinking about our meals was this rather than a themed weeknight meal, I needed a meal for each weeknight. Period.
“I needed to stop and evaluate and decide what actually worked for my family in the stage we were in right now. What came to me when I did was that I needed one meal for each weeknight. Period.”
I didn’t want to do Italian night on Mondays, I wanted to do spaghetti and eatballs with a green salad from a bag. I didn’t want to do Mexican night on Tuesdays I wanted to do breakfast tacos with guacamole. I was able to simplify so much that my meal plan all of the sudden looked as easy as seven meals for seven days repeated over and over and over again.
Now, if you haven’t ever heard me talk about this or you haven’t read my blog post about the minimalist meal plan, some of the things you might be thinking right now are, “I would get so sick of those meals. There’s no way I could ever do that.”
We in America especially think of variety as really a normal part of life. If you think of different cultures around the world and the types of cuisine that they create, most likely what will come to mind are very cultural specific types of meals.
When I lived for five months in Costa Rica in my college years, I ate Gallo Pinto, which is a fried rice and black beans with lizano salsa every single day. When Dave and I lived in Puerto Rico, soon after we got married, we ate some form of plantains every single day. Whether it was tostones or mofongo, plantains were on the plate every single day. During the 18 months that I lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I eat empanadas all the time.
I think the three meals that we eat the most in Argentina were empanadas, pizza and pasta, just regular spaghetti with spaghetti sauce and some sort of beef short ribs or something on top. I guess I can’t mention Argentina without talking about meat too, like just tons of meat on the parilla. We ate essentially the same meals over and over and over again.
But when you live in America, you are going to eat Italian food on Mondays and Mexican food on Tuesdays and breakfast for dinner on Wednesdays and Asian food on Thursdays and we just come up with these ideas for exciting and overcomplicating the way that we eat.
What is the purpose of food?
When you consider the primary purpose of food is as fuel for our bodies, the way that we get nutrients and fiber and carbohydrates and calories and minerals and all of those things that our body needs for survival. That is the primary purpose for food and it can happen a lot of different ways.
There are of secondary purposes for food and I think those are important as well. Food builds cultures and it creates relationships. Food can inspire emotions. I think that maybe sometimes there’s some dangers that can happen with tying your emotions too closely, closely to food, but we know that it happens. I mean, we all do that in some form.
Minimal Meal Plan Benefits
“When I hit this moment of deciding I needed a minimalist meal plan, I made the conscious decision to trade variety for consistency and stress for enjoyment.”
When I hit this moment of deciding I needed a minimalist meal plan, I made the conscious decision to trade my variety for consistency. I was going to trade my stress for enjoyment and I was going to trade all of those impulsive last minute “I have no idea what I’m doing for dinner, so we’re just going to drive through chick-fil-a for the 10th time this month.” into simple healthy meals that were easy to prepare for me and my family. The benefits of the minimal meal plan were numerous.
One, I always knew exactly what was for dinner. If I knew what day of the week it was– which, you know, sometimes we’re not exactly sure what day of the week it is– but if I could look at a calendar and see that it was Tuesday, I knew exactly what I was making for dinner that night. Not only that, it also greatly simplified my grocery shopping list because I bought the same groceries almost every single week. There were a little bit of variations in breakfast foods or you know, things that took longer to run out of. So I didn’t have to replace some things every single week.
Repeating Grocery List
For the most part. My basic grocery shopping list was not just similar. It was the same for weeks on end. That had the unexpected fabulous consequence of keeping our grocery budget very, very consistent. In fact, over the years that we did our minimalist meal plan, our grocery budget was so much lower than it had been because of all of the random fluctuations depending on the ingredients that I was using in years past. So it was really, really beneficial.
On top of that, the other benefits of doing a meal plan this way where that the meals that we chose, we involve the kids in choosing and so they would eat them. I knew that they were going to eat them. We had decided we were going to eat them, so I wasn’t making a big meal. Just haven’t, you know, crossing my fingers that people would enjoy it.
They were also all 30 minutes or less meals so that I could start and finish and have food on the table and get the kids ready for bed all easily, even if Dave was not yet home for work. The final super unexpected consequence was that my kids loved it. I had no idea how much they would love the consistency of knowing themselves what was for dinner every night of the week.
I’m going to tell you how to do this in just a second and in the meantime you can print off this FREE MINIMAL MEAL PLAN PRINTABLE WORKSHEET.
You will be guided through the process of creating your own family specific minimal meal plan.
Everyone loves a minimal meal plan!
Now, one thing that I did not expect, like I mentioned, was how much my kids would love it. An example that always makes me laugh was that my oldest son had helped choose the meal spaghetti and meatballs because that was his favorite meal at the time. Spaghetti and meatballs was a Monday meal. Every time my son realized it was Monday and that we were having spaghetti and meat balls, he would cheer and he would come over and give me a hug and say, “Mom, I am so glad it’s spaghetti and meatball night! I love Spaghetti and meatballs! Thank you so much!”
And I thought, why was I kicking myself trying to figure out how to create this exciting, varied, elaborate meal plan when all that my five year old really wants is a plate of spaghetti and meatballs? My realization that simple can be better depending on the circumstance and as long as we were choosing meals that had some nutritional value and that was beneficial.
Families are unique, so your meals are unique
You guys, every single one of us is going to have different ideas about what the right nutrition for our family and our kids looks like. Maybe you are a meat-less family. Maybe you’re an only-plant-based family and you have a fully vegan lifestyle. Maybe you your kids don’t eat vegetables at all and you have to sneak them in every once in a while or just give them supplements there.
This is a no judgment minimal meal plan zone. You can create whatever meals your family loves and that you feel good about. The point of this plan is to eliminate the unnecessary stress and decision making that comes with meal planning and give yourself a baseline that you know you can succeed doing. I want to walk you through the process of how I suggest to create a minimal meal plan for your family.
What you choose to do with it after you create one is up to you, but if you think that you could benefit from less stress, from more consistency, from less impulse, fast food eating and from some more healthy, easy options in your everyday life, then I think that you should give it a try.
“The point of this minimal meal plan is to eliminate the unnecessary stress and decision making that comes with meal planning and give yourself a baseline that you know you can succeed doing.”
Give it a try for just a couple months and see what you think and make adjustments as necessary for your family. But I think if you try it, you will find that you like it.
How to Create A Minimal Meal Plan
The first thing that you want to do as you’re planning your minimum meal plan for your family is to print off the meal planning worksheet.
Page one is going to give you a space for brainstorming. I suggest that everyone who is going to eat the meals in your family be included in the brainstorming phase.
A couple of weeks ago I gave my kids a piece of paper and I let them do all of the brainstorming work. At the beginning I said, here, you guys write down all of the meals that you love, that you can think about that you remember eating recently, that you really like. Just write down everything you could.
My two boys, nine-years-old and seven-years-old, filled the page with all of the meals that they loved. The next part of that was Dave and I taking that and immediately we could cross them off the list. We were not going to have Lucky Charms with bananas for dinner, so no judgment if that goes into your meal plan, but that was not going to be one of ours.
The Components of A Basic Meal
We could immediately cross off some meals that just were not going to make it on the list and also enhance or add some things that were beneficial. I personally love a meal to include some form of carbohydrate, a whole grain if possible, but sometimes it’s going to be a potato or a roll. I like a meal to include some form of protein and it can be an animal protein, fish protein, or it can be a lagoon protein, plant protein. I also love a meal to include some sort of fresh produce, fruits and vegetables. Greenery. Leafy greens are great.
I feel like that is a very, very simple outline for a basic meal. When I was teaching nutrition as a nurse, we talked about the plate method and this is something that we use the United States uses a lot where half of the plate should be vegetables, raw or cooked kind of leafy Greens. A quarter of your plate should be some form of carbohydrate and a quarter of your plate, some form of lean protein. As a general guideline, that is the way that I try to plan our meals to include those elements that is accomplished in so many different ways.
Choose 7 Favorite Meals
So we looked at the plan and some of the things that our kids were excited about eating and when years ago when we did this, our meals were different than they are now because my kids have grown up a little bit. The things that they love eating all the time have changed a little bit. So we did the brainstorming phase. We got all the meals down on the page and then Dave and I went through an enhanced a little bit of them. Choose your seven favorites.
Mostly the work for us was figuring out what types of vegetables are fresh produce we wanted to add to the meals because the kids had already written things down that included like hamburgers. So they want it, you know, they had the the protein and the carbohydrate and we need to bulk it up with a salad and some sweet potato, French fries in the oven after the brainstorming phase. And this looks so unique and individual for each family.
Calendar Your Meals
Then you turn over onto the calendar page. So this gives you the days of the week for your family and your calendar. I want you to look at what is actually existing in the activities of your life.
Consider do you have piano lessons on Tuesdays at 7:00? Well, maybe you want Tuesday nights to be a little bit more simple. Do you have a consistent place that you have to be? Maybe your, maybe if you’re a modern American family, one of your meals a week is usually eaten in the car because you’re driving to dance lessons or your picking kids up from a tutoring program.
Whatever your life looks like. When you look at your week, you will have a vibe for what type of meal would work, including both the preparation, what it includes, two, like how fast you can get it ready. Some of our meals I can get ready in 10 minutes or less because of the simple because of the simple nature of them and I love that. So look at your week and look at your meals and you at this point should have chosen seven meals and then you just plug them into where they work.
An Example: Our Family’s Minimal Meal Plan 2.0
By way of example, I want to share our families minimal meal plan. I’m calling this version 2.0 because we had an original version that we started doing back in 2014 and used for a long time. When we moved to Richmond we got a little bit thrown off. We lived in a rental. We did Hello Fresh. We did lots of Chick-fil-a and I mentioned in my Episode 2.0 about my year in review that I wanted to get back to having more healthy, regular meals.
So I thought about what had worked and I thought this worked so well for so long. There’s no reason that it shouldn’t work again. So we’re doing version 2.0.
Monday: Soup + Sandwich + Salad
Our Monday meal is soup with a sandwich and slash or a salad. Our baseline is tomato soup. I love the organic tomato soup from Trader Joe’s and we do a whole grain cheddar, grilled cheese sandwich, and then a green salad as well. So my kids don’t often eat the green salad. I invite them to do a couple bites and I want them to eat it if they will, but the green salad that I’m using is just a bag, cabbage and cherries, green salad from Trader Joe’s as well. That meal is literally a five minute meal. It takes so little time and everyone enjoys it.
Tuesday: Fish Tacos + Slaw + Guacamole
Our Tuesday meal is fish tacos, grilled tilapia from the frozen section at Trader Joe’s, and a cabbage slaw. That is really easy to make. I use one a recipe from Smitten Kitchen that now I know it so well. I just do it by heart. And then corn and flour tortillas. My kids love flour tortillas. I love corn tortillas, so I’m using those. And then we’re doing guacamole as well.
Wednesday: Burgers + Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Our Wednesday meal is burgers and fries. I don’t love doing red meat every, like all, all, all the time at home. So this is one that our baseline meal is going to be with lean ground beef and those really yummy soft Hawaiian rolls and then baked sweet potato fries and a green salad. And I also know that this one from time to time I may switch up for a salmon burger or for a veggie burger just to keep a more plants in our diet. But my very baseline, the meal as it’s written is a ground beef hamburger with toppings.
My kids put all different stuff on them. And then sweet potato french fries, and a green salad. Again, I just used the bagged salad from Trader Joe’s to keep my life very simple.
Thursday: Power Bowl
Thursday night is a powerful. So this is a rice or farro bowl with roasted vegetables and feta cheese and some tazkiki and I like to put greens on top of it. Just like fresh greens from the box, like organic spring greens. And then it’s just so good. I shared the recipe for this one that we’ve been using in instagram stories a while back, but I will link it again or share the recipe again.
Friday: Pizza Night
Friday is our pizza night and Friday has been pizza night for 10 over 10 years at our house. I love it so much. Friday night pizza night was the original minimum meal plan night and so I remember thinking, Gosh, we do Friday pizza every single week and no one gets sick of it. So I mean, I don’t know who could ever get sick of pizza. I would eat it for every meal all the time, but Friday pizza night and we do that a lot of different ways.
Right now we’re doing some homemade pizza and Dave and I are doing cauliflower crust because we’re in the middle of a nutrition reset and so we’re not doing the refined flour right now. I also think that it’s great to order pizza or to get taken bake pizza. So we do pizza all different ways and I have actually just never felt stressed out about the pizza because I can just, I mean last resort I can just go to Little Caesar’s and grab one for $5.
Saturday: Date Night / Mac + Cheese + Veggies
Saturday night is date night for Dave and me. We choose a new restaurant to go to every week and it’s one of our favorite parts of the week. This is when we get to explore and we get to try things out and then things that we love we can take the kids back to later. Saturday night at home is mac and cheese with steamed vegetables for my kids and they have never yet complained about mac and cheese.
In fact, mac and cheese is what Plum would eat every single meal if she had her options. So Mac and cheese with, you know, usually peas and broccoli kind of get stirred into it and then cut up apples or grapes on the side.
Sunday: Greek Salmon Salad or Shrimp + Grits + Roasted Veggies
Sunday night we chose two meals because we were on the fence and so we decided to just go with two and we’ll switch back and forth. One of them is a Greek salmon salad that I’ve been making for years and years inspired by the Oasis Cafe in Salt Lake City. It’s a green salad that has grilled salmon, roasted yukon potatoes, grilled tomatoes, hummus taziki, pepperoncini, olives, feta cheese. It is just like this Greek, Mediterranean delight and I love it so much and so that is one of our Sunday meals. The other Sunday meal is shrimp and grits with roasted vegetables and that is a new favorite for my kids.
When we moved to Richmond, we started making shrimp and grits. It is a very cultural southern food and my kids love it and it’s easy to make and with the roasted vegetables and we’ve got the carbohydrates in the corn ground, and then the shrimp. Everyone is happy.
You Choose What Works For You!
So those are our family’s minimal meals for right now. You might listen to that list and think, wow, I would not want to be one of your children because I don’t like any of that food. And that’s okay. The beauty of the minimal meal plan and the beauty of just being a person and living your life is: You get to choose.
These are the seven meals that are consistently on our calendar. I know exactly what to buy for groceries every single week because I can quickly go through and think what our seven meals are now.
Add variety when you need it or have extra energy.
This is the part that is a little bit fun. If you feel like you crave variety in your life, the minimal meal plan at the very, very least is a wonderful baseline for your meals so you never have to ask the question, “what are we going to eat?” Even if you like doing extra plans and you like switching it up, it’s a really great idea to have a baseline for your family so that on the weeks or the days that you feel not up to doing the work of the whole meal plan, that this is the one you just fall back on.
This is the one that your family has decided we liked these meals, were okay with these meals. We’re going to go with this this week. It gives you an option that is not just eating out or ordering in. It gives you an option that includes simple, healthy, thoughtful, intentional meals that you’ve decided to create.
If you get to the grocery store and you’re feeling super energized one week and you think, “You know, instead of the soup and sandwiches tonight, I’m going to do a beef bourguignon. I have hours in my day to cook.” Then go for it! You go mama!
You can expand. This is like giving you the least common denominator for your meals. This is the very baseline and if you have this, you print it out, you work through it with your family, you hang it inside the cupboard or stick it up on the fridge. Then you always have a plan. You’re not left on those nights thinking, I have zero idea and I feel so stressed out and so frustrated, so I’m really curious to see what you think.
“Being prepared with a baseline minimal meal plan allows so much more freedom in other areas of your life.”
It allows you more time because you’re not thinking consistently about what to get. At the grocery store, what to plan for your meals, where that recipe went, you get to reclaim some of that energy that you would use doing this a different way. You might be in a phase of your life that you have all of the time in the world to create meal plans and to try new recipes and that brings you a lot of joy and that is so fun. I look forward to the time in my life that I get to do that.
For now, this brings such relief. It brings such peace knowing that I’ve already made these decisions and so I can use my energy and my time to make different maybe more important ones.
This is the first step to getting ready to sit down with your family, fill out your brainstorming session, and then go through and fill out your days of the week, decide on these meals, and just enjoy all of the empowerment that you get from making that decision right now.
Now I invite you to try it out. Even if you’re skeptical about this and you’re like, I don’t know, Miranda, I’m not really sure about it. I think you should give it a try. Create the meal plan and give it at least two weeks, I think at least a month, but at the very least, give it two weeks.
Let yourself go through the motion of knowing exactly what’s happening and see how that feels for you. Our meal plan, one point, oh, the very beginning one, I will link the blog post where I talked about that all those years ago and that shares my specific meals that we chose back then.
Give it a try!
We did that minimal meal plan for almost three years and we felt successful and excited about it the entire time, so if you have any doubts, I think that you should experiment and challenge yourself to give it a try and see what you think.
I can’t wait to see what you’re here. Thank you so much for listening. If you get a chance to share this episode with someone who you think would enjoy it, I would love that, and if you haven’t yet left a rating and slash or a review over at apple, I would be thrilled for you to hop over and do that right now. While this episode is fresh in your mind, you guys are the best. I love the show and I’m so happy to share it with you every week. I will talk to you next time.

domain: food


text:
The use of no tillage (NT) integrated with cover cropping is a management practice that is becoming more popular with commercial ‘jack-o-lantern’ pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) growers in the eastern and midwestern United States, although little is known about nitrogen (N) fertilizer requirements for this production system. A field study was established at the Southern Illinois University Horticulture Research Center in Carbondale to evaluate the yield response of pumpkin and associated revenues to N fertilization in a NT production system after wheat (Triticum aestivum) harvest. Nitrogen application rate affected pumpkin leaf chlorophyll content, and resulting yields and revenues. At all sampling dates, pumpkin fertilized with 224 kg·ha−1 N had the greatest leaf chlorophyll content. Quadratic relationships best described pumpkin fruit size and diameter increase with N rates from 0 to 224 kg·ha−1. Furthermore, pumpkin fruit number and weight per hectare also increased in a quadratic manner, as N application rates increased from 0 to 224 kg·ha−1. The application of 168 kg·ha−1 N also provided high yields and large fruit sizes, although quadratic models indicated that maximum net revenues for NT pumpkins were achieved with 224 kg·ha−1 N. Growers applying 224 kg·ha−1 N would increase net revenues by ≈54%, 52%, and 51% at pumpkin fruit price points of $0.33, $0.44, $0.55 per kg, respectively, compared with 0 kg·ha−1 N fertilization. An additional 123 kg·ha−1 N from fertilizer was required for NT pumpkin production after wheat harvest in fields with high amounts of cereal straw residues on the soil surface compared with the 101 kg·ha−1 N recommended for conventional tillage systems with no cover crop residues. This study suggests that N fertilizer investments will provide significant monetary returns in NT pumpkin systems. However, the 168 kg·ha−1 N rate provided the highest return on fertilizer investment at all pumpkin pricing points compared with all other N rates evaluated. Additionally, pumpkins grown in NT systems using a winter grain crop that is ended at flowering should require similar N amounts, because little N is used during heading and grain ripening. Although growers often look for ways to reduce input costs in vegetable production systems, N fertilization is clearly an important investment that provides increased yields and revenues in NT pumpkins. The results of this study should provide additional information to establish N fertilizer recommendations for NT pumpkin production.
The use of NT practices for pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) production is becoming popular in the eastern and midwestern United States (Harrelson et al., 2007; Morse et al., 2001; O’Rourke and Peterson, 2016; Rapp et al., 2004; Walters, 2016; Walters et al., 2008). Many growers understand that NT practices not only provide an effective, cost-efficient means of reducing soil erosion but will also increase soil organic matter and improve both water conservation and nutrient-holding capacities of soils (Johnson and Hoyt, 1999; O’Rourke and Peterson, 2016; Walters, 2016). Additionally, pumpkin fruit produced in NT systems tend to be cleaner with little to no soil attached onto the fruit skin surface, which results from pumpkins residing on cover crop or other crop residues. These pumpkins often garner a premium price compared with those fruit grown in conventional tillage (CT), which often have soil attached to the skin (Walters et al., 2008).
Fertility management in NT pumpkin production systems is essential to maximize fruit yield. Hoyt et al. (1994) indicated that nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates must be adjusted for vegetables growing in NT compared with those recommended for CT. Moreover, Sanders (2006) indicated that an additional 22 to 34 kg·ha−1 N will need to be applied when small grain cover residues remain on the soil surface in NT vegetable systems. If additional N is not applied, cover crop mulch residues with high C:N ratios residing on the soil surface may reduce the yield of the next vegetable crop grown due to N immobilization. Although winter grass cover crops, such as wheat (Triticum aestivum) or winter rye (Secale cereale), are often used in vegetable NT production systems to reduce soil erosion and to increase soil organic matter, these crops can temporarily tie up soil N in the spring and can have a slow rate of decomposition during the summer (Morse and Seward, 1986). Thus, these cover crops may create an N deficiency for the succeeding vegetable crop through microbial N assimilation, which creates N immobilization (Skarphol et al., 1987; Vyn et al., 1999). The decomposition of cover crop residues and subsequent N release is regulated in part by their C:N ratio (Walters, 2016). Cover crop residues with a C:N ratio greater than 25:1 may reduce the yield of the following vegetable crop due to net N immobilization (Francis et al., 1998; Paul and Clark, 1996; Schonbeck et al., 1993). However, uptake of N by grass cover crops can prevent some N losses due to leaching during the winter months and early spring and provide a slow release of N as residues decompose during the warmer months of the growing season (Knavel and Herron, 1986).
It is widely known that vegetables grown in NT systems with grass cover crop or cereal grain crop mulch residues on the soil surface require increased amounts of N fertilization compared with those grown in CT systems. However, the amount of N required is directly related to several factors, including soil type, crop grown, cover crop residues present, previous crops/cropping systems, and fertility management used in prior years. There is little available information regarding fertilizer recommendations for vegetable crops grown in NT production systems (Walters, 2016). Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the optimal N fertilization rate for NT pumpkin grown in fields with substantial amounts of cereal crop residue left on the soil surface following grain harvest.
Materials and Methods
A field study was conducted from 2009 to 2010 and 2010 to 2011 in different fields at the Southern Illinois University Horticultural Research Center in Carbondale to evaluate the effect of N fertilizer applications on NT pumpkin production. The soil type in both fields was a Hosmer silt loam (fine-silty, mixed, mesic Typic Fragiudalfs; Herman, 1979). During mid-Oct. 2009 and 2010, ‘Pioneer 25R78’ winter wheat was drill planted at 3.7 million seeds/ha. Fertilizer was applied before wheat was planted each year with 40 kg N, 45 kg phosphorus (P), and 139 kg potassium (K)/ha from diammonium phosphate (18N–20P–0K) and potassium chloride (0N–0P–31K). In early spring, an additional 100 kg·ha−1 N from urea ammonium nitrate solution (28N–0P–0K) was applied. Wheat was harvested mid-June each year, and within a week after harvest, four soil samples (at 10- to 15-cm depths) were randomly collected from the field for analysis by Brookside Laboratories Inc. (New Knoxville, OH). Soil analysis results were similar over the 2 years with pH of 7.0, 1.8% organic matter content, and organic N (Kjeldahl method; Kjeldahl, 1883) at 62 kg·ha−1. For both years, the amount of P (by Bray I method; Bray and Kurtz, 1945) and K (by Mehlich III method; Mehlich, 1984) in the soil was 175 and 215 kg·ha−1, respectively; calcium content (by Mehlich III method; Mehlich, 1984) was 3800 kg·ha−1, equivalent to 82% Ca2+ saturation of total cation exchange capacity.
The experiment was set up as a split-plot design with four replications. The main plots were three pumpkin cultivars Appalachian (Seedway, Elizabethtown, PA), Gold Medal (Rupp Seeds Inc., Wauseon, OH), and Magic Wand (Harris Moran Seed, Modesto, CA). The subplots consisted of five N rates (kg·ha−1): 0, 56, 112, 168, and 224, with the N application consisting of a 1:1 mixture (by weight) of calcium nitrate (15.5N–0P–0K) and a standard complete fertilizer (13N–6P–7K), with half the application made on 10 July (broadcast) and the other half on 10 Aug. (sidedress) during each growing season. Both applications were made by hand using weight of fertilizers. Because the soil samples indicated that phosphorus and potassium levels were in sufficient ranges for pumpkin production (Egel et al., 2017), these nutrients should not have influenced results; further, no deficiency symptoms of these nutrients were observed on plants.
Pumpkin seeds were germinated in a greenhouse and grown in 72-cell plastic containers filled with a soilless media (2:1:1 peat:perlite:vermiculite ratio). Plants were hardened off in a coldframe 3 to 4 d before transplanting in the field. During late June each year, plants were transplanted into the field at the two- to three-leaf stage. Pumpkin transplants were planted into 13.2 m-long subplots that had a 2-m alley between mainplots and center-to-center row spacings of 2.3 m. Border plantings of ‘Magic Wand’ was included on each side of the main plot, with each mainplot 13.2 m long and 11.5 m wide. Because each pumpkin cultivar evaluated produces a different mature vine size, in-row spacings were 1.3, 1.6, or 2 m for ‘Magic Wand’, ‘Appalachian’, and ‘Gold Medal’, respectively; this allowed 10, 8, and 6 plants to be grown in each plot for ‘Magic Wand’, ‘Appalachian’, and ‘Gold Medal’, respectively. ‘Magic Wand’ produces medium-sized vines that bear 7- to 11-kg dark orange fruit with a flattened, round shape and large firm handle. ‘Appalachian’ produces a semibush type plant that produces 8- to 11-kg, slightly elongated, smooth-ribbed, dark orange fruit with strong handles. ‘Gold Medal’ has very large vines, and 14- to 18-kg fruit with deep orange color, moderate ribbing, fairly uniform round shape, and thick, strongly attached stems.
Pumpkins were transplanted after wheat harvest, and therefore a burndown herbicide (1.6 L·ha−1 glyphosate; Roundup WeatherMax, Monsanto, St. Louis, MO) was applied to the entire field 7 d before pumpkin seedling transplanting, and s-metolachlor (Dual Magnum; Syngenta Crop Protection, Greensboro, NC) at 1.55 L·ha−1 was applied 3 d before transplanting. Spot applications of paraquat (Gramoxone Inteon; Syngenta Crop Protection) at 3.5 L·ha−1 + 1% v/v crop oil concentrate (COC; Growmark, Bloomington, IL) were made to noncrop areas before pumpkin vines had spread across the soil surface. All herbicide treatments were applied with a CO2-pressurized backpack sprayer using XR 8003 flat-fan spray tips (TeeJet; Spraying Systems, Wheaton, IL) at 40 psi in 187 L·ha−1 water. Overhead irrigation was used to incorporate the preemergence herbicide into the soil (1.25 cm water was applied within a day after herbicide application) and provide at least 2.5 cm of water per week throughout the growing season, which include rainfall events.
Standard insect and disease management practices for pumpkin production in Illinois were followed (Egel et al., 2010). At transplanting, imidacloprid (Admire 2 Flowable; Bayer CropScience, Research Triangle Park, NC) was applied as a drench by hand to each plant at 1.46 L·ha−1 to provide insect control for the first 30 d after application. Diseases and insects were controlled by spraying recommended rates of esfenvalerate (Asana XL; E.I. du Pont de Nemours, Wilmington, DE), chlorothalonil (Bravo WeatherStik; Zeneca, Wilmington, DE), or azoxystrobin (Quadris, Syngenta Crop Protection) and thiophanate-methyl (Topsin M; Cerexagri, King of Prussia, PA) every 10 d starting at the 10- to 12-leaf stage until first harvest. Once fruit set had begun, recommended rates of copper hydroxide [Cu(OH)2] (Kocide, E.I. du Pont de Nemours) was also added into the tank mixture.
Pumpkin leaf chlorophyll content was measured on 10 Aug. and 10 Sept. each year using a Konica Minolta SPAD-502 chlorophyll meter (Special Products Analysis Division, Konica Minolta Sensing, Inc., Osaka, Japan) on five mature leaves near the vine center of four randomly selected plants in each plot. The number, fresh weight (kg), and diameter (cm) of mature, orange-colored pumpkins were determined for each experimental unit at two harvests on 10 Sept. and 10 Oct. each year.
A partial budget analysis was used to determine the effect of fertilizer costs on NT pumpkin yields and revenues at different N rates. The N applied was a 1:1 mixture of calcium nitrate + standard complete fertilizer, with N fertilizer costs of $4.74 and $4.39 per kg for these fertilizers, respectively (Southern FS Corp., Cobden, IL). When the fertilizers were mixed and application fees at $0.22/kg N were added, this equated to $4.79/kg N. Thus, N costs were $0, $268.24, $536.48, $804.72, and $1072.96 for 0, 56, 112, 168, and 224 kg·ha−1 N, respectively. Labor costs of $12 per harvested t were estimated assuming a laborer will harvest 100, 10-kg pumpkin fruit per hour, at a wage of $12 per hour, which relates to ≈$0.012 per kg. This equates to one person harvesting enough pumpkins to fill three 30- to 35-count bins per hour. Labor costs are based on the weight of fruit obtained for each N fertilizer rate. The total costs were estimated as an additional $3725 per ha, which is estimated from fixed and variable costs (without fertilizer and harvest labor costs) based on jack-o-lantern pumpkin production costs and revenue projections (Walters, 2005). The fertilizer and harvest labor costs were added later depending on N rate and resulting yields. The gross revenues were calculated from pumpkin weights obtained per hectare at the specific N rates evaluated and multiplied by $0.33, $0.44, or $0.55 per kg, reflecting a range of prices, depending on the market where pumpkins are sold. Net revenues were calculated based on gross revenues – total costs. Return on fertilizer investment (ROFI) was also calculated based on pumpkin net revenues generated at each price point, with ROFI calculated as
Data were subjected to analysis of variance using the general linear models procedure of SAS (version 9.2; SAS Institute, Cary, NC) appropriate for a split plot experimental design to determine the effects of pumpkin cultivar and N fertilizer rates on leaf chlorophyll content and fruit yield. No interactions (P > 0.05) were observed between pumpkin cultivar or N rate and year, thus data were pooled over years. Furthermore, no interactions (P > 0.05) were detected between main effect treatments of cultivar and N rate. Fisher’s protected least significant difference (lsd) test was used to separate pumpkin cultivar differences at P ≤ 0.05. Regression analyses were also used to ascertain the relationship between N rate and leaf chlorophyll content, fruit yield, production costs, gross and net revenues, and ROFI with best models determined based on higher adjusted and predicted R2 values and low P values. On the basis of Cerrato and Blackmer (1990), these data were fit to linear, linear-plateau, quadratic, and quadratic-plateau, and cubic models using PROC REG and PROC NLIN in SAS. However, ROFI did not fit any of the models tested, so Fisher’s protected lsd test was used to separate N rates for three ROFI price points at P ≤ 0.05.
The wheat crop residues remaining after harvest operations contributed significant organic mulch residue over the soil surface. For both growing seasons, wheat stubble and straw left from harvest operations were visually estimated to provide ≈75% to 80% soil coverage. The wheat stubble was ≈10 cm in height each year, and straw was evenly distributed over the soil surface. The amount of water received at any rainfall event during the growing season in each year was not sufficient to cause leaching or runoff of applied N.
Pumpkin cultivars did not differ (P > 0.05) for leaf chlorophyll content at either sampling date (Table 1). However, differences were observed among the cultivars for pumpkin fruit and yield parameters. ‘Appalachian’ produced the highest pumpkin yields at 48,800 kg·ha−1, although it did not differ from ‘Gold Medal’ at 43,700 kg·ha−1. ‘Magic Wand’ produced the lowest weights at 39,000 kg·ha−1 but did not differ (P > 0.05) from ‘Gold Medal’. ‘Appalachian’ and ‘Magic Wand’ both produced 6900 fruit/ha, and ‘Gold Medal’ produced the fewest at 5400 fruit/ha. All cultivars differed (P ≤ 0.05) for average fruit weight and diameter. ‘Gold Medal’ produced the largest fruits, averaging 8.1 kg, followed by ‘Appalachian’ at 7.1 kg and ‘Magic Wand’ at 5.7 kg. ‘Gold Medal’ had the largest fruit diameter at 28.2 cm, with ‘Magic Wand’ and ‘Appalachian’ producing smaller fruit with diameters of 25.7 and 23.2 cm, respectively. ‘Appalachian’ fruit tend to be more elongated and had the smallest diameter of all cultivars evaluated.
Influence of pumpkin cultivar and nitrogen fertility rate on leaf chlorophyll content, pumpkin yield, and fruit parameters.
N application rate.
Nitrogen application rate affected pumpkin leaf chlorophyll content. Leaf chlorophyll content in pumpkin for both sampling dates was best described by quadratic models (Fig. 1). As the N application rate increased, leaf chlorophyll content also increased in the plant. For the midseason sampling (10 Aug.), the chlorophyll content value was 35.9 for the treatment with no fertilizer and increased in a quadratic manner to 44.9 at the 224 kg·ha−1 N application rate. At the late-season sampling (10 Sept.), the leaf chlorophyll content value was 26.8 for the no N fertilizer treatment, with a quadratic relationship best describing the increase to 42.8 at the 224 kg·ha−1 N application rate. However, the slope coefficient of the quadratic model was larger for the late-season sampling date compared with early season, indicating a greater effect of each N rate at this later timing.
Pumpkin fruit number and yield in the NT system were influenced by N application rate. The relationship of total pumpkin fruit number and weight per hectare were best described by quadratic models (Fig. 2A and B) with 168 and 224 kg·ha−1 N providing the greatest yield increases compared with no N. Pumpkin fruit number and weight per hectare increased by ≈23% and 48%, respectively, as application rates increased from 0 to 224 kg·ha−1 N. Applications of 168 and 224 kg·ha−1 N produced the greatest pumpkin yields, as these rates resulted in high fruit number and weight per hectare, compared with the lower N fertilizer rates. With applications of 168 and 224 kg·ha−1 N, pumpkin fruit number was slightly more than 7000 fruit/ha, and pumpkin weight was slightly more than 51,000 kg·ha−1.
Nitrogen application rate affected average pumpkin fruit weight and diameter, with quadratic models best explaining these relationships (Fig. 3A and B). Average fruit weight increased by 20% and diameter rose by 18% as application rates increased from 0 to 224 kg·ha−1 N. Nitrogen rates of 168 and 224 kg·ha−1 N resulted in pumpkins having similar average fruit weight and diameter, with both of these rates producing larger fruit than pumpkin plants fertilized with lower N rates.
Higher amounts of N applied per hectare led to an increase in associated labor and total input costs but also substantially improved gross and net revenues at three pumpkin price points. Linear relationships best described the influence of N fertilizer rate on resulting labor and total input costs (Fig. 4). These costs were higher but similar for the 168 and 224 kg·ha−1 N rates compared with the 0, 56, and 112 kg·ha−1 N rates. The increase in gross and net revenues with N fertilizer rate were best described by quadratic models up to 224 kg·ha−1 N at each of three common price selling points (Fig. 5A and B). Net revenues for NT pumpkins were $7778, $11,613, and $15,447 per ha at $0.33, $0.44, or $0.55 per kg, respectively, when no N was applied. Net revenues increased to $12,001, $17,657, and $23,319 for those same pricing points, respectively, when 224 kg·ha−1 N was applied (Fig. 5B). This study indicated that an application of 224 kg·ha−1 N in NT pumpkin production would increase net revenues by ≈54%, 52%, and 51% at the price points of $0.33, $0.44, and $0.55 per kg, respectively, compared with no N fertilizer applications.
The cost of N fertilizer applications in NT pumpkin production is an important investment considering the increased revenues that are generated when optimal N rates are used. The estimated N application costs were ≈$4.79/kg N. The 168 kg·ha−1 N provided the highest ROFI for all price points, and a grower would get a return of ≈449%, 672%, and 896% on that investment (additional monetary gain from 0 to 168 kg·ha−1 N) when pumpkins are sold at $0.33, $0.44, and $0.55 per kg, respectively (Table 2). The highest N rate (224 kg·ha−1) provided the least return on fertilizer investment for all price points, with both the 56 and 112 kg·ha−1 N rates resulting in a higher ROFI. This indicates that N fertilizer applications are a valuable investment in NT pumpkin production to improve net revenues.
Return on fertilizer investment (ROFI) based on pumpkin net revenues generated at each price point.
Appropriate N fertilizer investments will provide significant yield improvements and increased monetary returns in NT pumpkin production systems (Figs. 2, 5A and B). Our study indicated that NT pumpkin yields and revenues could be significantly improved at optimal N application rates. Quadratic models best explained the increase in pumpkin yields and revenues as N application rates increased from 0 to 224 kg·ha−1. Harrelson et al. (2008) indicated that the highest N rate applied to NT pumpkins in their study (120 kg·ha−1 N) provided the greatest yield and that higher pumpkin yields would likely be possible at even greater N rates.
The recommended N rate for pumpkins produced in the Midwest for CT soils with less than 3% organic matter is 101 kg·ha−1 (Egel et al., 2017), with a preplant broadcast application of 56 kg·ha−1 and a sidedress application of 45 kg·ha−1 at the onset of vining. Our study indicated that compared with CT, an additional 123 kg·ha−1 N is required to maximize NT pumpkin net revenues planted after wheat harvest when there are significant amounts of small grain straw residues on the soil surface. Additionally, pumpkins grown in NT systems using a winter grain crop that is ended at flowering should require similar N amounts because N is mostly used in wheat during vegetative growth with little N used during heading and grain ripening (Malhi et al., 2006).
Nitrogen sources play an important role in availability to pumpkin plants. The predominant form of N used in this study was nitrate, which is readily leachable. Due to the two application timings used (10 July and 10 Aug.), and that supplemental irrigation was required each week in both growing seasons to provide sufficient water, leaching of nitrate should not have been an issue to influence the results obtained. Additionally, the organic N measured in soil before pumpkin seedling transplanting (62 kg·ha−1) was not considered as part of the amount of recommended N because release of N from organic matter in the soil is inconsistent over a 3- to 4-month growing season. The release of N from organic matter is difficult to estimate because it is controlled by the soil environment, especially available moisture, temperature, and microbial populations (Agehara and Warnke, 2005). However, ≈1% organic matter in soil will typically release on average ≈10 kg·ha−1 N over the course of a growing season (Walters, 2016). On NT pumpkin sites having significantly more soil organic matter than that found in our study, optimal N rates may be lower than what is reported herein due to more N released over the course of a growing season.
Other macronutrients, such as P and K, should not have influenced the outcomes of this study because fields were maintained with significant applications of diammonium phosphate and potassium chloride each year, and the soil pH was in acceptable range for efficient uptake. There were no visible symptoms of P or K deficiencies observed on pumpkin plants at any time during the growing season. The deficiencies of P and K can both have a direct influence on resulting pumpkin yields and fruit quality; thus, these macronutrients had to be maintained at proper levels because results obtained would have reflected more on the lack of these nutrients than on N fertilizer rates.
This study indicated that proper management of N fertility is crucial to maximize yield and fruit size in NT pumpkin production. N fertilizer investments were shown to provide significant monetary returns in NT pumpkin production systems. Although growers often look for ways to reduce input costs in vegetable production systems, N fertilization is clearly an important investment that provides increased yields and revenues in NT pumpkins.
Agehara, S. & Warnke, D.D. 2005 Soil moisture and temperature effects on nitrogen release from organic nitrogen sources Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 69 1844 1855
Egel, D., Foster, R., Maynard, E., Weinzierl, R., Babadoost, M., Tabor, H., Bauernfeind, R., Carey, T., Kennelly, M., Hutchison, B. & Gu, S. 2010 Midwest vegetable production guide for commercial growers 2010. Univ. of Illinois Ext. Bul. C1373-10, Champaign-Urbana, IL
Egel, D., Foster, R., Maynard, E., Weller, S., Babadoost, M., Nair, A., Rivard, C., Kennelly, M., Hausbeck, M., Szendra, Z., Hutchison, B., Orshinsky, A., Eaton, T., Welty, C. & Miller, S. 2017 Midwest vegetable production guide for commercial growers 2017. Univ. of Illinois Ext. Bul. C1373-17, Champaign-Urbana, IL
Francis, G.S., Bartley, K.M. & Tabley, F.J. 1998 The effect of winter cover crop management on nitrate leaching losses and crop growth J. Agric. Sci. 131 299 308
Harrelson, E.R., Hoyt, G.D., Havlin, J.L. & Monks, D.W. 2007 Effect of winter cover crop residue on no-till pumpkin yield HortScience 42 1568 1574
Harrelson, E.R., Hoyt, G.D., Havlin, J.L. & Monks, D.W. 2008 Effect of planting date and nitrogen fertilization rates on no-till pumpkins HortScience 43 857 861
Herman, R.J. 1979 Soil Survey of Jackson County, Illinois. Illinois Agr. Expt. Sta. Soil Rpt. 106
Knavel, D.E. & Herron, J.W. 1986 Response of vegetable crops to nitrogen rates in tillage systems with and without vetch and ryegrass J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 111 502 507
Malhi, S.S., Johnston, A.M., Schoenau, J.J., Wang, Z.H. & Vera, C.L. 2006 Seasonal biomass accumulation and nutrient uptake of wheat, barley and oat on a Black Chernozem soil in Saskatchewan Can. J. Plant Sci. 86 1005 1014
Morse, R., Elkner, T. & Groff, S. 2001 No-till pumpkin production principles and practices. Pennsylvania Marketing and Research Program, Harrisburg, PA. 16 p
O’Rourke, M.E. & Peterson, J. 2016 Reduced tillage impacts on pumpkin yield, weed pressure, soil moisture and soil erosion HortScience 51 1524 1528
Paul, E.A. & Clark, F.E. 1996 Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry. 2nd ed. Academic Press Inc., London, UK
Rapp, H.S., Bellinder, R.R., Wien, H.C. & Vermeylen, F.M. 2004 Reduced tillage, rye residues, and herbicides influence weed suppression and yield of pumpkins Weed Technol. 18 953 961
Sanders, D.C. 2006 Southeastern U.S. 2006 Vegetable Crop Handbook. Vance Publishing Corporation, Lincolnshire, IL
Schonbeck, M., Herbert, S., DeGregorio, R., Mangan, F., Guillard, K., Sideman, E., Herbst, J. & Jaye, R. 1993 Cover cropping system in the northeastern United States: I. Cover crop and vegetable yields, nutrients, and soil conditions J. Sustain. Agr. 3 105 132
Skarphol, B.J., Corey, K.A. & Meisinger, J.J. 1987 Response of snap beans to tillage and cover crop combinations J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 112 936 941
Vyn, T.J., Janovicek, K.L., Miller, M.H. & Beauchamp, E.G. 1999 Soil nitrate accumulation and corn response to preceding small-grain fertilization and cover crops Agron. J. 91 17 24
Walters, S.A. 2016 No-Tillage Production Systems for Cucurbit Vegetables, p. 129–138. In: M. Pessaraki (ed.). Handbook of Cucurbits, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL
Walters, S.A. 2005 Jack-o-lantern pumpkin production costs and revenue projections. Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, College of Agricultural Sciences, SIUC Horticultural Factsheet 1
Walters, S.A., Young, B.G. & Krausz, R.F. 2008 Influence of tillage, cover crop, and preemergence herbicides on weed control and pumpkin yield Intl. J. Veg. Sci. 14 2 522 527

domain: literature


How Canada made the Koch brothers rich - 2015-05-04
The attacks were nasty.
In the winter of 2011, Karen Kleiss, a reporter with the Edmonton Journal, wrote a story about how Koch Industries Inc. had hired a lobbyist in Alberta. The story provided background on the Wichita, Kansas-based energy conglomerate, its presence in Alberta, and its American billionaire owners, Charles and David Koch.
Kleiss reported at the time that no one from Koch Industries addressed her questions. Nevertheless, after her story appeared, Koch Industries went on the offensive. On their website, kochfacts.com – and in vivid red type – they lashed out at Kleiss's article, claiming it was "slanted," that it "parroted partisan political rhetoric and other distortions" and that its coverage of the Koch brothers registering a lobbyist in Alberta was a "purported story." The Koch Industries representative summed up by saying:


text:
In the contemporary era, power distribution systems became very crucial for the large scale distribution of power. It is more so in the wake of different power generation sources like wind power and solar power. Current harmonics in power distribution system is one of the main cause for power quality concern. Therefore, it is essential to mitigate current harmonics and ensure that the quality of power distribution is enhanced. In this paper a hybrid approach is proposed to achieve this. It comprises of Shun Active Power Filter and Neural Network controller. With the NN controller, the conventional controller’s performance is significantly improved. The proposed hybrid active filter exploits the capacitor energy in order to maintain voltage of DC link of a shunt active filter. In presence of variations in the load the proposed method can reduce transient response time. The hybrid filter is designed and implemented using MATLAB Simulink. The simulation study with extensive experiments revealed that the NN based SAPF is capable of reducing harmonics in power distribution system. This could improve quality of power distribution system significantly.
Volume 11 | Issue 10

domain: design


text:
Finn, a baby gray seal, is afraid to go into the sea: it is just too big for him! His mother and his friend Sula try to persuade him, but Finn is happy sitting by his rock pool watching the little creatures.
Then one day a big wave sweeps Finn into the sea. Will he be able to finally overcome his fears and find where he truly belongs?
This is a heart-warming story about growing up and learning to embrace new experiences. Artist Sandra Klaassen fills her characters with life and expression and her dramatic landscapes are rendered in beautiful, detailed watercolor illustrations.

domain: entertainment


text:
|SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center|
Nut Butter and Banana Rollups
Prep time: 5 minutes
Recipe makes: 2 servings
Tip: To pack this recipe for lunch, wrap each serving tightly in plastic wrap and cut it up right before you eat. Share the other serving with a friend!
Reviewed by: Meredith Parkinson, RD


text:
Chase Suite Hotel Brea3100 E Imperial Hwy, Brea 3.0 out of 5.0
This Brea, Orange County hotel is just 2.5 miles from California State University Fullerton and the Richard Nixon Library and Museum. Disneyland® Park and Disney ...
It was a good hotel, it is not a luxurious one but a nice one
Anabella Hotel1030 W Katella Ave, Anaheim 3.5 out of 5.0
Set amid 7 acres of landscaped grounds, this smoke-free condominium resort is right across the street from Disneyland® Resort and adjacent to the Anaheim Convention ...
Room did not have hot water showered with cold water you can hear all the noise from the other room i could hear the guy snoring in the next room not happy. Only good thing it is walking distance to Disneyland..
Travelodge Brea805 S Brea Blvd, Brea 2.0 out of 5.0
Situated in Brea, this hotel is 0.4 mi (0.6 km) from Brea Creek Golf Course and within 3 mi (5 km) of California State University Fullerton and Fullerton College. ...
Had a quick trip down for a wedding and wanted a simple place to stay. I didn't need anything fancy and the Travelodge Brea was clean, comfortable and perfect for the price. The breakfast is not large, but a piece of fruit or pastry is fine for me. The staff was nice and I enjoyed my stay.
Hilton Anaheim777 W Convention Way, Anaheim 4.0 out of 5.0
Rising 14 stories, this Anaheim hotel is 2 blocks from Disneyland® Resort and connected to the Anaheim Convention Center. Guests visiting Orange County for sports ...
We went to Disneyland took a break to check in and then went back to the park to watch the fireworks. Great hotel and very close to Disneyland.
Regency Motel of Brea723 S. Brea Blvd., Brea 2.5 out of 5.0
Situated in the entertainment district, this motel is 1.6 mi (2.7 km) from Brea Mall and 2.8 mi (4.5 km) from California State University Fullerton. Carbon Canyon ...
We recently stayed 2 nights in this motel. It is in a quiet part of town and the room is clean. If I have to write a negative thing about this place, it would be the extra hard bed (may be this is just my problem).
Embassy Suites by Hilton Brea - North Orange County900 East Birch Street, Brea 3.5 out of 5.0
Just off the highway and a 10-minute walk from Brea Mall, Embassy Suites Brea - North Orange County Hotel is the perfect base for theme park lovers: Disneyland® ...
The hotel is in the midst of a makeover. From its beginning, it had Egyptian themed decor. That is all going away eventually and now the room decor is calming colors of blues and taupes. New furniture, carpet, tiling, lighting and drapes are all freshly new. They changed the lighting to sensor activated, ...
Hyland Motel727 S Brea Blvd, Brea 2.0 out of 5.0
Situated in Brea, this motel is 0.3 mi (0.5 km) from Brea Creek Golf Course and within 3 mi (5 km) of California State University Fullerton and Fullerton College. ...
I can not say enough about this place. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The room was exceptional, it is a real gem. Extreamly clean and just tastefully remodeled. Non smoking rooms that had zero smell of smoke. Well appointed with Fridge, a Microwave, Ironing Board, Hair Dryer and much more. ...
Extended Stay America Orange County - Brea3050 E Imperial Hwy, Brea 2.5 out of 5.0
Situated in Brea, this aparthotel is 1 mi (1.5 km) from Brea Sports Park and 2.9 mi (4.6 km) from Richard Nixon Library and Museum. Carbon Canyon Regional Park ...
I enjoyed the hotel it was clean and comfortable. I liked the location of the hotel.
Red Lion Hotel Anaheim Resort1850 S Harbor Blvd, Anaheim 3.5 out of 5.0
Families enjoy this contemporary hotel's location 1 block from Disneyland® Resort, 1 block from Anaheim Convention Center, and a half-mile from the Shops at ...
Hotel was really nice & comfortable. We would stay here again. Lots of parking too. Hotel staff could be a little more friendlier but overall it was a great place to stay.
Anaheim Majestic Garden Hotel900 S Disneyland Dr, Anaheim 3.5 out of 5.0
This castle-themed hotel is next to the Disneyland® Theme Parks, with complimentary shuttle service to Disney attractions. Knott's Berry Farm is 4.6 miles ...
Kids had a great time; pool and jacuzzi very nice; koi pond nice restaurant and morning buffet good. free shuttle to and from disney every 30 minutes. Kids loved it. We'll stay there again. arcade; deli, this place has it all.
Orbitz makes it easy to find the best Brea hotel deals for your trip. With an outstanding selection, easy-to-use search tools and descriptive hotel profiles, you'll find Brea hotel deals in a wink..
Great selection of hotels in Brea
Whether you're searching for hotels in Brea on business, or hunting for a family getaway, Brea hotel options are only a click away. Find hotels in Brea with the location, star-rating and facilities you need. Narrow your search results even further by star rating, hotel chain and amenities, such as free parking, babysitting services, or fitness centers. And with area maps, you can view Brea hotels close you are to the airport and nearby attractions.
Brea hotel reviews, photos and virtual tours
Thanks to photos and virtual tours, you can look before you book your Brea hotel reservation. Check out Brea hotel properties using interactive tools which allow you view hotel rooms, common areas and key features. On Orbitz, you can also learn more about hotels in Brea with unbiased reviews from verified Brea hotel guests. We ask guests to offer candid feedback on services, comfort, location, value and amenities.
Grab Brea hotel deals and special offers
Orbitz works around the clock to find exclusive offers and Brea hotel deals, just for you. Sign up for deals by e-mail where you'll get first crack at money-saving extras like promo codes, resort credits, free nights and more. You can also "Like" Orbitz on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to receive up-to-the-minute news on hotel discounts, giveaways and more.
24/7 support with Brea hotel reservations
When it comes to finding hotels in Brea, an Orbitz specialist can help you find the property right for you. Chat live or call 1-800-454-3743 any time for help booking your hotels in Brea. Our team of experts can help you pinpoint Brea hotels options suited to your tastes and budget.
Forget Orbitz change or cancel fees on Brea hotels
On Orbitz, Brea hotel deals mean flexibility. If you need to change your Brea hotel reservations, or cancel your stay, Orbitz doesn't charge cancel or change fees. Orbitz also offers great selection on airline tickets, vacation packages, and car rental deals to so you can plan your trip to Brea all in one place.
* Prices reflect the lowest "base rate" found over the next 30 days. Rates are subject to change and may not include taxes and fees, hotel service charges, extra person charges, or incidentals, such as room service. All rates are displayed in USD unless otherwise noted. Converted rates are provided for your convenience. They are based on today's exchange rate, but the hotel will charge you in the local currency.

domain: geography


text:
Editor’s note: This is the first of what will become a monthly column that muses about the world of soccer. In the first installment, Willow explains her soccer origin story.
For me, 2020 was meant to be a golden year. A career milestone was in sight: after 12 years of writing superhero comics, I was finally going to write a Sandman book, stepping into the massive gothy shoes of Neil Gaiman, whose original Sandman series for DC Comics had a profound effect on me as a teenager and informed much of my own storytelling. I had been waiting half my life for this opportunity. But we all know what happened next: the Covid pandemic upended regular business across the entire planet, plunging whole industries into a state of existential uncertainty. My Sandman series was postponed. DC Comics switched distributors. Comics shops closed, some permanently. Projects that had been in the works for months were put on hold. I found myself with half of a job, spending most of my time homeschooling my two children to fill in the gaps left by the switch to remote learning. In the summer, forest fires raged in waves of scorching dry heat, leaving us with a choice between staying inside with the plague or going outside into poisonous, apocalyptic air.
This confluence of bullshit could not have come at a worse time for me. Unusually for a writer, I hit success early and hard, and by 35 had done and won nearly everything I set out to do, including, of course, co-creating Kamala Khan, which gave me the opportunity to see what it’s like to live in the eye of a media hurricane. (Equal parts thrilling and terrifying.) However, after I left Ms Marvel, I started to stumble. Everyone expected me to put in a similarly stellar shift on Wonder Woman; instead, my run was profoundly mediocre, and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. My creator-owned projects were critically well-received but didn’t sell very well. The Sandman series was supposed to be my comeback book, the project that helped me get my feet underneath me again. But when it was finally released after several pandemic-related delays, it floundered amid shockingly low sales. I wrote a whole novel, hated the ending, and shelved it. My freelance income, impressively steady for over a decade, shrank precipitously. I had a health scare that I will talk about when we know each other better, and which seemed to confirm, at least symbolically, that I was in a state of collapse. The golden year had become a year from hell.
I thought I was finished. I became obsessed with the idea that creative people — artists, writers, designers, inventors — get 10 peak years, after which they enter a slow but inevitable decline. I had used up my 10 peak years early, and now there was nothing to do but figure out something else to fill the dismaying slog of years left to live. If you’re thinking “this is a somewhat overcooked way to think about life at age 38,” you are correct, but nevertheless, that’s where I found myself. I was out of inspiration and I had no idea where to look for it. It had previously felt like an unlimited resource, and now it was gone.
I need a muse, I begged the almighty. It felt like a selfish, petulant thing to ask for at a time when morgues were filling up and every tree on the planet appeared to be on fire, but in my defense, my ability to churn out stories to a high standard was what kept a roof over the heads of my children. So I asked, though it was not the kind of thing I had ever asked for before. To paraphrase CS Lewis, God likes to catch us unaware.
Somewhere in the midst of this annus horribilis, a colleague suggested I watch Ted Lasso, which I had thus far been avoiding, as I was not a sports person.
“You should watch it anyway,” this colleague pressed. “It has the same vibes as Ms Marvel. It’s comforting.”
So I did. My colleague was right: It does have Ms Marvel vibes, occupying a delirious middle ground between realism and fantasy. But to my surprise, the thing that fascinated me most was not the story at all, it was the sport.

domain: artistic


METALLICA has announced that they will be playing on the opening of the brand new U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN.
On Saturday, August 20, 2016 METALLICA will be hitting the stage for the first ever rock show at the stadium as part of the opening weekend festivities featuring Luke Bryan the Friday before together with AVENGED SEVENFOLD and VOLBEAT for a proper kick-off to the new football season in a new home for the Vikings.
Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster on Friday, March 25th at 10:00 AM CDT, but Fifth Members can pick up theirs in a special presale starting on Tuesday, March 22 at 8:00 AM CDT. Log in for more details on how to pick up your tickets early. Not a Fifth Member? You can join at this location.


text:
The process of applying to opportunities can be extremely rewarding. It is usually a time when you think and reflect deeper about yourself and take one step closer to your goals.
But at the same time, the process might be gruelling and hard to stick through. You may feel insecure and uncertain about most things. What’s hard is sticking through the process and doing what you are supposed to, despite all these feelings.
Before you begin to even familiarise with the guidance, let’s address the elephant in the room. Let us first look at some common challenges and insecurities one may face and how you can navigate through them. It is not certain that you will feel any of these but should you feel so, do understand that this is perfectly normal. Almost everyone goes through these challenges. But only the ones that come out of these will finally make it.
If you do not feel any of these insecurities, then great! congrats. You’re all set to begin. So jump to next chapter on approaching the applications and get started!
If you do feel worried, nervous? worked up? Stay patient and read through :)
I’m not good enough!
Almost everyone does this mistake of trying to evaluate and grade yourself based on what you think is good enough. Maybe you found out that your share of experiences and accomplishments are different from those of a previous winner. Maybe you are comparing yourself with another student who is applying to the opportunity. Or maybe you are reading through the selection criteria and feeling,”I don’t have any of these!”
Truth is that there is no need to feel so. Comparing yourself with anything or any one can be detrimental to your own growth. If you do feel that you are not good enough, then you should translate them to this: “I can do better than what I have done so far and I need to invest in my own growth”. Applying to this opportunity without judging yourself is you taking prompt action and investing in your growth.
I’m confused about my goals
While starting out with identifying our goals, everyone goes through this phase. We are all humans and it is quite natural to feel this way. What you want today might not be what you want tomorrow. As you evolve, your goals will also evolve.
But if you feel super confused while you apply, you should take a time out and rethink about them. Try and refocus your goals on to the frame of the opportunity and see if you can zero in on a goal at least for the purpose of filling up your application.
Will I get selected?
Honestly, no one knows the answer to this unless you do get selected or rejected. Worrying about this question is merely a waste of your own time and energy. Neither will you be able to find an answer to this, nor will you be able to focus your mind onto applying.
Remember that every second you worry about this, you are actually snatching away time from doing what you are really supposed to do in improving your chances of getting selected. you are much better off being calm and working on your application.
My parents wont anyway allow me to pursue the opportunity. Then why apply?!
The answer to this one is simple: Your parents might change their mind.
We have often seen a lot of cases where parents were initially reluctant about allowing their daughter or son to go attend a program but eased up once the student actually got selected.
Pheba, a 2017 GHCI scholar, in her interview with us, shares this experience of hers where her parents did not initially let her travel to Bangalore to attend the GHCI conference. But she finally managed to help them understand the important of the conference, the career fair that happens there and also how those opportunities could change her life. Her parents finally did permit her to attend the conference and true to Pheba’s words, the career fair at GHCI did change her life. She got placed at Microsoft as a Project Manager.
If you feel that your parents might not understand you and quit the very same moment without even trying, then your chances of availing the opportunity are nil. Instead of getting to these conclusions by yourself, what might be better is giving it a try. You never know what’s going to happen!
My language is bad
Not to worry about this one. Lot of students find language to be an issue primarily because they think that writing and speaking in flowery language is integral to a winning application. But this is actually not true. The reviewers of an opportunity evaluate you on the basis of who you are and what you have done. Your essays are not entering an essay writing competition. So beautiful language, while may be an advantage is definitely not a determining factor.
What matters more is that you write from your heart, with honesty and authenticity. Be true to yourself and to your application and the reviewers will definitely understand what it is that you are trying to convey.
If you do feel insecure about your language you can try using a spell and grammar check tool to find common mistakes and correct them. One such tool is Grammarly. It works really well in highlighting common errors in your writing and also provides you suggestions to improve it.
What you can also do is run your application past a good friend or someone who is proficient enough with language. Getting someone to proofread and help you edit it out along with helping you understand where you went wrong and how you could correct it is a good idea.
I don’t have enough accomplishments to write about.
This one is a bit tricky. Why because sometimes, you may genuinely not have much to write about. And this is when you know for sure that you haven’t participated in enough activities. Or maybe the activities you did take part in don’t fit in with the opportunity.
The other case is where you only feel that you don’t have enough accomplishments. This is a translation of the “I’m not good enough” issue that most applicants face.
If you really do feel that you genuinely do not have enough accomplishments to showcase about, then honestly, it is a clear message to yourself on what you must be improving upon. Take it in the right spirit instead of feeling bad about it. What’s important is that you decide to put in an application even though you feel so. Because we really don’t know what will click.
There isn’t a magic formula such as 3 projects, 2 volunteering experience and one good internship for you to get selected. So we don’t know for sure about where your accomplishments really stand. How you fare in the selection depends not just on you but also on your competitors. Let’s take the benefit of the doubt and choose to be on the brighter side here. Decide to apply this time and see for yourself what happens.
And when you are done applying, you can take up these issues you face and see how you can improve upon your accomplishments so that you increase your chances of getting selected at least the next year, if not this one.
This is just way too hard. I’ll try next time.
To put it bluntly, if this is what you think, you’re being lazy. And no lazy person ever made it to the top. It takes effort for you to really do things in life and only those who go through the process and the hardships that come with it finally make it to the finish line.
Take out some time and effort to try doing this. You will thank yourself at the end of it.
I have back papers.
This may not really be an issue in case of all opportunities. In cases where an opportunity specifies academic achievements or potential as one of their key selection criteria, this may matter. But in other cases where the opportunity evaluates you based on your skills and not your marks, your back papers might not matter.
In case the selection criteria is ambiguous and you do not know if you stand a chance to get through, then it really means that you may still have a window of chance to get selected. Ensure that you apply despite your reservations and see for yourself if it worked!
It will be a rollercoaster ride
Your application process is essentially a learning process and every learning cycle is not a smooth road. It is in all probability going to be a rollercoaster ride.
It is good for you to prepare yourself to face the ride ahead of time instead of fighting it as you encounter it.
See the image below? That’s probably what you might feel and go through for the first few times you begin applying. Eventually, with time and experience, you will get better at it and will be able to quickly complete application processes.
If you really think about it, every time you have tried to learn or do something new, you have gone through a series of ups and downs. And probably the only reason why you were able to finally manage to pull through and complete it was because you disciplined yourself.
You dealt with the difficult phases and kept doing what you were supposed to do. And that is probably what will help you get ahead through your application process too.
There might be times when you feel you aren’t good enough. But keep at it. Keep trying. Your effort will finally bring forth results.
While at it, do take care not to be too hard on yourself. While facing challenges, it is important for you to remain optimistic and determined to solve them. Instead, if you begin to believe that you may not be able to do it, then finally you may really not be able to do it.
Everyone has a different way of dealing with their issues. One of the things you may do at the beginning of the process is write down why you really want to apply for the opportunity. When things get difficult and you feel like quitting, it is good to go back and remind yourself about why you wanted to apply in the first place. Surrounding yourself with your well wishers and a positive support system is also essential.
Finally, always remember that if you decide to quit and not put in an application, your chances of getting selected is zero. Precisely, zero. But putting in an application, you have some chance at actually getting selected to the opportunity. It is good committing to applying no matter what, even if you feel it is a bad application or that you wouldn’t get selected.
For in most cases, there is no cost for putting in an application. You have nothing to lose but have everything to gain.
Dealing with Rejection
You very enthusiastically applied to an opportunity and perhaps got rejected? Let’s be honest, it hurts. Instead of ignoring how we feel about this and denying it, let’s look to acknowledge it. Let’s accept that some things might not have worked the way we wanted it to and that we need to try harder and smarter next time.
You might feel all sorts of negativity at the moment. But hey, rejection might not be so bad either. How come?
For one, the mere fact that you got rejected means that you pushed your limits. If it really was super easy for you to get selected, then it would mean that you were still playing around in your comfort zone. Instead, you tried to achieve for a higher target and means that you are genuinely trying to improve your capabilities.
Secondly, this may be a brilliant opportunity for you to really assess your abilities and understand what more you should learn and improve upon to get selected. If not for such an opportunity, you might not have even considered this.
Rejection is entirely an opportunity to learn and grow. Do not let yourself talk negative - that you did not deserve it, or that you are not good enough. For all you know, maybe you made it to the waiting list. Maybe you were selected but you had to be dropped due to restrictions on number of students who could be selected. So it’s not yet time for you to conclude that you cannot do this.
It’s time for you to pick yourself up and keep trying better no matter what. For this rejection really does not define who you are. You are stronger than this :)
I quite recently came across this challenge called as #100RejectionLetters. What this essentially means is that you make it a mission of your lives to receive 100 rejection letters. This sure is a fun way to look at Rejection and also even enjoy it a bit. So here, I dare you. Are you up for the #100RejectionLetter challenge?

domain: psychology


text:
French wage growth slowed in the three months to June, but the country banked another rise in private job creation.
Earnings growth came in at 0.4 per cent in the quarter, according to the French statistics office, down from growth of 0.6 per cent at the start of the year, the best growth recorded in France for three years.
In the quarter, 91,700 private sector jobs were created, up 0.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
The country's unemployment rate is now at 9.6 per cent, the lowest level since the eurozone crisis, as business confidence has jumped since the election of Emmanuel Macron.
Macron has pledged to overhaul France's labour laws, to make it cheaper for business to hire workers.
However, workers have been hit by rises in inflation. In the second quarter, inflation rose by an average of 0.7 per cent, almost twice the rate of earnings growth.

domain: news


text:
Why a supportive home life matters
It feels like pressure and stress continue to mount for today's teenagers and new research from America suggests that teenagers in high achieving schools need the support of a strong family dynamic at home more than ever before.
Research shows that levels of anxiety, depression and stress are rising strongly within teenagers and may be due to increases in screen time, changes to the way we bring up children and increases in the expectations placed on them by society at large.
However, these new findings show, and probably underline for many, the importance that positive relationships can make on these factors during the vitally important teenage years. Often we think that the start of senior school is the time when young people spread their wings and cast off the shackles of mum and dad, on the contrary just as children are moving into Senior school is the time when relationships at home matter more than ever.
New Year 7's and Year 9's will be stepping into the unknown as they enroll for the first time in their Senior school. The level of homework quickly mounts, the number of new faces seems to rise exponentially and above all the focus on academic achievement can feel overwhelming.
The message from the research is clearly that high expectations are tolerable if coupled with adequate support mechanisms at home and in school.
Sometimes the anxiety of the parent can trickle down to the child, stress can be something which is picked up through osmosis and again reiterates the importance of modelling the correct behaviour at home and working hard to develop a calm and supportive atmosphere within the family.
There is obviously more to today's mental health crisis than simply parental support but it is useful to remind ourselves just how much of a crutch we can provide to our young people throughout their turbulent teenage years.

domain: sociology


text:
A sheriff’s rescue helicopter hoisted a rock climber with an ankle injury off a ridge near Idyllwild, authorities said Sunday.
The injury was reported Saturday afternoon near a boulder known to rock climbers as “Fingertrip” in the Mt. San Jacinto State Park, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities said the man “had a possibly broken ankle” after falling 15 feet and was rescued from a hard-to-reach spot at an elevation of about 7,300 feet.
The mountain climber was flown to awaiting paramedics at a nearby U.S. Forest Service base for further treatment.


text:
LAST CLOUDIA Mod Apk (Damage Multiplier/Mod Menu) Download
LAST CLOUDIA Mod Apk Download: Welcome to Granzelia, where people live among magical beasts. Long ago this world was tyrannically ruled by the God of Ruin, until the hero Adel and goddess Lilaha joined forces to seal it away. In the centuries since then, that hero’s bloodline built the Aldana Empire to peacefully rule all the land—but lately changes are afoot.
>Absolute Evade (chance % to null enemy attack)
Visual values remain unchanged, but features still work.
Game may take a while to load.
LAST CLOUDIA Mod Apk
WHAT IS LAST CLOUDIA?
A fantasy RPG that weaves a sprawling tale with quirky characters and cinematic effects. Its gorgeous, fast-paced battles feature pixel art characters sweeping though 3D playspaces. Download now!
CINEMATIC EFFECTS AND SWEEPING SOUNDTRACK
A riveting tale told with pixel-art characters and 3D backgrounds, brought to life with lovingly crafted music and animation!
WHITE-KNUCKLE COMBAT ACTION
Heart-pounding real-time combat at a speed that’s only possible with pixel art!
DEEP CHARACTER-BUILDING SYSTEM
Go beyond collecting strong characters—train your favorite characters to have the stats you want! It’s all up to you!
No need to grind manually—just gear up your team and send them out to collect power-up materials!
STAR-STUDDED CAST OF VOICE ACTORS
Famous Japanese voice actors provide dynamic voices for characters in battle, when powering up, on the Home screen, and more!
As reports of strange beast attacks surge, the 12th Order knight Kyle and the magical beast Rei set out on a mission. Neither knows it’s the start of an epic battle that will shake the world!
SWORDS, SORCERY, AND SCINTILLATING COMBAT!
The RPG Last Cloudia has it all!