Joseph F. Radosevich

I'm growing spring brussels sprouts as an experiment because they are usually grown from summer into the fall. I'm growing the variety Hestia from Gurney Seeds. Here are a few notes on growing spring brussels sprouts. The plants are huge! I can't wait to take them out because they are crowding everything around.  One advantage is that they grew large before ever showing signs of insect damage. They haven't been sprayed yet this year and are just now starting to get some insect damage. Last week (maybe 2 weeks ago) I topped the plants by plucking off the growing top to let them put all their energy into the sprouts. You are supposed to wait until the ones on the bottom of the plant are full-sized. All the energy is supposed go to the upper ones. I topped it just a little bit early, but they have grown the sprouts all along the stem. I can't wait to try them.

I read Myron Dillow's book Harvesttime on the Prairie  over the last year, and it is excellent! Many Baptist histories are simple overviews with little original research and no new contributions. Dillow's book goes through sources to break new ground. It was published in the 1990's, but it helped me understand many of the issues, people, controversies, and places that have influenced Baptist and evangelical work in IL. We need more books like this.  My favorite part of the book was finding my current church and its first pastor, Jacob Bower, included in it. Without his book, I wouldn't have known those stories or found his autobiography. I also found where our church's statement of faith came from and details about Baptist work throughout our region. The stories and details are now part of my regular thinking and conversation. I even used an early resolution as the basis for part of my pastoral prayer on Sunday morning.

"Vacation workout"  sounds like you are obsessed and should take a break. In my case, I don't think I'm obsessed, I just wanted to keep feeling good and be free to eat a little extra and enjoy myself on vacation. I've worked hard for the last two years to get my waist down to a healthy size. One week wouldn't necessarily blow up all that work, but keeping my metabolism running each day would help. I finished my workout before my kids woke up. The days were filled with swimming, sight-seeing, and other play.  This is what I did: Ladders (1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 or 2,4,6,8,6,4,2 of the main four exercises) Split squat Push-up Lying Back Press or Lying Scapular Press (an isometric exercise) Single-leg Glute Bridge 2 sets of RKC Isometric Plank for 10 seconds Stretch The only equipment this required was a dining chair for the Glute Bridges. The whole workout took 20 minutes. I felt good on vacation and think it was worth it.

   A couple of months ago, I had a few thoughts about what I would do differently if I were a personal trainer or fitness studio owner again. *I don't want to do that. I have no desire or plan to be a trainer again. These thoughts are based on what I've learned about growth, fitness, aging (your thirties are different than when I was a trainer in my twenties), life balance, etc. In no particular order: I would focus on giving workouts that are an experience. I would make them fun, good workouts. I think that when I was a trainer, I gave people what I thought was the perfect workout, but there was not an element of fun, games, and what makes this interesting. I was all about efficiency and effectiveness. I would have tried to find ways to make it an experience. Now, when I workout, I think about what makes it fun and effective. If I don't enjoy it, then I won't do it. I would inject my personality. Out of fear, I was not myself. I was very calm and straight-laced. I thin...

  Vegetable Gardening in the Midwest is probably my most used of these books right now.

 Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year. It is the day I plant tomato seeds.  Opening that file is like seeing old friends. They have come from friends, acquaintances, breeders, and catalogs. I've carried them between states, saved some from years past, and renamed a few that got confusing. They come in all sizes (large, medium, and small) and colors (pink, purple, brown, green, yellow, orange, striped).  They will grow indoors until Memorial Day weekend.   The best day of the year.  "for me each seedling that sprouted was its own kindness, its own obedience to Christ's command to come forth from the grave." The God of the Garden , 117 Andrew Peterson

 I've been working on a couple of furniture projects this winter. I didn't plan on it being a theme, but it is. Project #1: I (along with a friend) stripped the inside of a piano out, refinished the outside, modified it a bit, and turned it into a modern keyboard rig. This is for our church. Project #2: I bought a large oak table that needed refinishing and fixing. I fixed the gears, and then have prepped and painted it. We need a large table and I wanted one where the wood would be stable. An older oak table fit the bill, and this is also extendable beyond what we need.  I'm not sure my wife will like the way it turned out, but I told her that if she doesn't like it, then I can strip it an start again. Hopefully, it doesn't come to that. (Update: She did like it!) I'm trying to get my physical projects out of the way before spring hits and I start yard and garden work.

What I would change about being a trainer If I were a personal trainer again, I would plan in more variety in my clients' workouts.  Just like variety in reading, I've found that variety in my workouts helps me to stay motivated and on track even if I'm not feeling my normal workout. I have found that sometimes I don't feel like doing the very best workout. Sometimes, all I can handle is some time on the Airdyne bike and some stretching. I imagine my clients sometimes felt that. Since my goals now have to do with getting in good workouts rather than lifting a certain amount, it doesn't matter if the workout is strength training or cardio on the bike.  Variety means that there is always something smart that I can do.

We always start our year planning the gardening. That means that my spreadsheet is what is growing this time of year (and all my scratch paper). I use spreadsheets for most things these days. I had already started a file with all the preferred seeds and vendors from the last year. I tend to forget details from the last year, so writing things down helps me. My most helpful file from last year was a spreadsheet that was my journal and included gardening notes, rain amounts, along with my reading and other events. A spreadsheet journal works way better for me than any other kind. *I got the idea from an article I read on a tech website, but I can't remember where. First, I narrowed down the list of plants to just what I wanted to grow. This was a hard but freeing exercise this year. Usually, we add more plants and more varieties. We cut away at things that are hard to grow or that aren't worth the effort this year. For example, our kids don't care for my homegrown carrots bec...

 Here are my goals for 2023: I plan on posting updates on my progress. Health Workout 200 Times (This is 16x a month) 54/200 Do 5 pull-ups FINISHED 3 Power Wheel roll-outs (I've been working on roll-outs for 2 years. They are hard.)  Learn Learn to make Chicken Biryani (Last year was Tikka Masala.) FINISHED Read 36 books (6 audiobooks) 4/6 Personal Finish edits on my Family Dictionary of Theology (This is the 3rd round of edits.) FINISHED Draft 2 other book ideas Write 26 times on blog Have 20 fires in firepit with my family (This is so that I slow down and enjoy time at home without a to-do list.) Visit 5 historic sites with my family in our area

 If you are reading my blog and care about reading recommendations, you might like my discussion with Emma about what we read last year. We've done video and audio versions of this for at least 5 years now.  Enjoy: https://anchor.fm/raiseemrad/episodes/Our-2022-Reading-Recap-e1svo0f

These are my favorite books of the year. I tried to narrow it to 5 but couldn't get past 6. The Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones , Iain Murray The Reason for God , Tim Keller Gregor the Overlander , Suzanne Collins All Things Bright and Beautiful , James Herriot The Case of the Missing Servant , Tarquin Hall Mansfield Park , Jane Austen I reread The Reason for God and The Case of the Missing Servant . This year, I decided that if a book is really good, then maybe it will be just as good the second time. Both of these were.  I planned on reading more literature and more biographies. Austen and Murray were my favorites.  Gregor  was such a surprise, but I fell in love with it from the first time I picked it up while we were on vacation. Some lines from the book are family favorites now.

 A friend asked me, "what is the best way to deal with weeds?" I've tried lots of different things. Newspaper, mulch, raised beds, in-ground beds, tilling, hoeing, etc. My advice was pretty short: Make the garden small enough that you can weed it. If the garden is too large, then I have not found a way to weed it back. Once the garden gets out of control, it will stay out of control. You can use methods like a thick layer of mulch on top of cardboard (that works!), hoeing weekly (that works too!), and raised beds (that really works!). Gardens have weeds though. There is no way around it. All you can do is manage your planning and have a garden that is the right size for your life. If you have a job, kids, dog, hobbies, or health issues, then you have to plan for what you can manage. Last year, I grew my in-ground garden where I grow watermelon, corn, okra, dry beans, pumpkins, and squash. I only had enough time to weed one half of it. That half stayed clear. Every time, I...

 I heard an interview recently where the hosts and guest talked about goals (The podcast was My First Million . I don't know anything about them. I was curious about the thoughts of interviewee Steph Smith).  One of their throw away lines was that you shouldn't hit all your goals every year; if you do, then they were too low. I'm going to hit about half my goals for 2022. Health issues came up twice to interrupt my physical goals, but I made really good progress on them. I met my reading goal and half of my cooking and writing goals. 8 Pull-ups/3 Kneeling Roll-outs Define 250 terms for book Publish 4 Articles Republish Book Read 36 Books (Finish Jane Austen's 6 books) Learn to cook Butter Chicken , Chicken Biryani , and Tikki Masala Try Sushi I'm not going to feel bad about not hitting all my goals. I'll probably make them higher than otherwise too.

  How can you read more in 2023? Maybe you admire those who read 1 book per day like D.A. Carson and Al Mohler. Maybe you have a stack of books that you want to read and it never gets shorter. Maybe you just want to go from reading 10 books a year to 25. How can you read more without just pure effort? Here’s my strategy: Pick 4-6 books and read 25-50 pages per day between them all. You might read 3-5 pages in some books and 20 in another. If your schedule allows, find different times of day to read in each. One book you might read along with your devotions. Another couple you might read before bed for fun. This makes the reading load lighter. If you read 50 pages per day, you will finish around 4-5 books a month and 60 in a year. If you read 25 pages per day, you will finish 30 books in a year. (This is different from skim reading that some people do to stay up on all the latest books. This strategy is for slower reading for knowledge and pleasure.) Here are some of the advantages ...