For Mother’s Day this year I received some gardening tools and a little
pamphlet entitled Spring into Action, Gardening Safety Tips. The
pamphlet was produced by the Canadian Physiotherapy Association which
also has a website at www.physiotherapy.ca/npmintro.htm.
Smart gardening
Gardening is one of the best activities for keeping you healthy, by
maintaining good flexibility, endurance and strength. Thirty minutes of
gardening can give the same health benefits as going for a brisk walk.
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People of all ages participate in gardening activities.
Every spring thousands of Canadians hit their yards and gardens in
weekend splurges of planting, weeding and landscaping. Sore necks,
backs, knees and muscles and blistered hands are often the result of
these bursts of activity. This is especially likely after a long winter
when we’ve all been a little less active. Most gardening-related
injuries are preventable. The Canadian Physiotherapy Association offers
these safe gardening tips.
- Warm up with some stretches that are slow, sustained for 10-20
seconds and pain free.
- Have the right tools for the job, maintained and ready for safe use.
- Avoid uncomfortable postures by moving with your work rather than
leaning. Keep the work in front of you and close to your body. Use
assisting tools such as a stool, sprinkler and hose caddy.
- Match the size of the gardening tool handle to the size of your hand.
Hold your tools in a loose comfortable grip.
- Use tools to reduce work. Transport supplies with a wheelbarrow or
wagon. Use power tools for repetitive work. Use an extended handle to
reduce the reach.
- Adapt or create tools for your comfort by padding the handle for hand
comfort, using knee pads or a foam pad for kneeling, or improving your
grip by wrapping a slippery handle with hockey stick tape.
Know your limits
Occupational health standards list safe lifting loads as 29 kilograms
for middle aged men and 13 kg for women.
Spread heavy lifting and digging tasks over a week rather than a
weekend. Spread major projects throughout spring, summer and fall. Take
time to recover between projects. Rotate tasks. Avoid overuse injuries
by working in different positions and by doing different activities
throughout the day.
Seeking snack recipe
Dear TEAM: I am looking for a recipe that I clipped from the paper last
year. It was called Snacks and was made with ordinary soda crackers
laid on a cookie sheet. I believe the other ingredients were brown
sugar and chocolate chips. It sounded like a good recipe to have on
hand for visiting children. – M.R, Hythe, Alta.
Dear M.R.: I was thinking about making this when your letter arrived
so I knew exactly what you were looking for. My recipe is in a cookbook
that our sons, Ray and Mike, put together along with their Grade 4
classmates. The recipe was submitted by Jodi Russell of Rosetown, Sask.
Cookie sheet cake
Line a cookie sheet with foil or grease it well. Then line the pan with
soda crackers.
Boil together for 30 seconds:
1 cup brown sugar 250 mL
1 cup margarine 250 mL
Add 1 teaspoon (5 mL) vanilla
Pour sugar syrup over the crackers. Put into a 400 F (200 C) oven until
the syrup bubbles, about five minutes. Watch carefully.
Sprinkle with chocolate chips, pop back into the oven to soften. Then
spread the melted chocolate chips over the whole surface. Cool, then
break apart.
Fundraising cookbook
Our church women decided to produce a cookbook to raise money to buy a
dishwasher for the church kitchen. The cookbooks arrived recently and
we were all pleasantly surprised by the beautiful, easy to read and
use, professionally printed books.
Recipes were collected from friends and family who submitted them on
preprinted recipe sheets provided by the printer. They were sorted by
category, then mailed to the Rasmussen Co. for typesetting and
printing.
This printer specializes in printing cookbooks, offering a variety of
coloured covers and divider pages, kitchen tips and quotes as well as a
recipe index. Our cookbook has 250 recipes and sells for $8. If your
group or organization is considering a fundraiser, contact the
Rasmussen Co. at www.cookbookprinter.com or phone 800-665-0222.
One of the things I really like about our cookbook, Daily Bread: A
celebration of friendship, food and faith, is that I know everyone who
submitted recipes and I have enjoyed many of the dishes in their homes
or at potlucks. The cookbook was dedicated to the memory of two women
from our church who died during the past year. Several of their recipes
are included in the cookbook.
Tips for safe bicycling
Several people I know enjoy cycling both recreationally and
competitively. These safe bicycling tips from the Saskatchewan Cycling
Association caught my attention.
Being a safe cyclist starts at home. Ensure that your bicycle is the
proper size, or you may have problems controlling it. With your feet
flat on the ground, you should be able to straddle the bicycle’s frame
with a bit of room to spare.
For night riding, equip your bike with reflectors and buy reflective
clothing so you will be more easily visible to drivers.
A well-maintained bike is a safe one. Have it professionally tuned once
a year. Every time you are going to ride, check for loose nuts and
bolts, particularly on the handlebar, pedal, brake and wheel assemblies.
Always wear a helmet. Make sure that it is either CSA, ASTM, CPSC or
Snell-approved, and never wear a helmet that was not intended for
cycling.
Adjust the straps and foam padding so t the helmet fits properly. It
should be snug, and not slide forward, back or from side to side.
When riding your bike, always keep basic traffic and safety principles
in mind. Only small children who do not yet have the skills to ride on
the street should ride on the sidewalk. Otherwise, a bicycle is a
vehicle that should be ridden on the road, and you must follow the same
rules of the road as automobiles do.
Ride on the right side of the street so that you go with traffic and
not against it. Ride at least a metre from the right-hand curb, or from
any cars that are parked alongside it. Turn left from near the street’s
centre line, and turn right from near the right-hand curb. Always
shoulder-check when changing lanes or turning, and be aware of what
pedestrians, motorists and other cyclists may do.
Use the proper hand signals so drivers know what you are planning. Hold
your left arm straight out to signal that you are turning left. Bend
your left arm at the elbow and point your hand straight up for a right
turn signal. Bend your left arm at the elbow and point your hand at the
ground to signal you are going to stop.
For more information, visit the Saskatchewan Cycling Association’s
website at www.saskcycling.ca or call 306-780-9299.
Betty Ann Deobald is a home economist from Rosetown, Sask., and one of
four columnists comprising Team Resources. Send correspondence in care
of this newspaper, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4.
