Category Archives: Rachel Barnard

The Lost Train – An Anthology by Local Authors from FreeValley Publishing with Art from North Bend Art & Industry

by in Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

THE LOST TRAIN Anthology will be Released September 1st. 
Limited signed copies available through NBAI’s Silent Auction starting August 24th. Copies available through NBAI & Amazon.com  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FXC28WC

 

An anthology by local authors and artists presenting a diversity of visions, ideas and genres interpreted in seven short stories and ten works of art. Created for enjoyment by all ages, on the theme: The Lost Train. A cooperative collection from FVP Books Authors and NBA&I Artists. Proceeds benefit non-profit Arts organization: North Bend Arts & Industry.

The project rallied artists to work together online while isolated during the lockdown and continues to support and inspire them through this time of social separation and change. They are excited to share these stories and artworks to encourage and entertain the community around them as well.

~An old train lost on an abandoned stretch of tracks inspires teens to imagine haunting train whistles in the night and other RAILWAY TALES. By Jeffrey Cook * Paired Artist: Lesia Tiongson.

~A tale of a mysterious gold heist follows a lost train of the past into the forest to find THE SHANGHAIED TRAIN. By David S. Moore * Paired Artist: Leslie Kreher.

~A young woman finds herself AT A LOSS when her train of thought careens through modern life and a state of ‘great collective trauma’. By Casondra Brewster * Paired Artist: Gayll Morrison.

~A remarkable coffee shop turned intergalactic train, offers escape from a dystopic earth. An eclectic mix of vibrant souls seek tracks to a more hopeful future on THE L.O.S.T. TRAIN. By Tommia Wright * Paired Artist: Madison Wachter.

~A child’s whim nearly causes the loss of his best train-friend, Folio. Captain Spyglass keeps watch as FOLIO THE BRAVE ventures into the perils of Dreamland to keep Anatole from growing up too soon. By Victoria Bastedo * Paired Artist: Pepper Allphin.

~Thoughts run OFF THE RAILS into dementia and alternate reality. Love stories run parallel through tests of time. Can a steam train break through space-time into dimensions of the mind? Is it true, all you need is love? By Sheri J. Kennedy & Kennedy J. Quinn * Paired Artists: Kristin Tetuán and Cameron Tower & Ellen Rowan.

~The theft of an Airbnb train car triggers feelings of lost stability, financial independence, and freedom. It takes a village to solve the mystery and SAVOUR the moment. By Rachel Barnard * Paired Artist: Stefanie Allison

What I Ate in 2 Months – Intentional Eating – Beyond a Program – Lifestyle 6/15/20 – 8/9/20

by in Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Data Time!

Month one:
145 total miles biked
2044 minutes/34 hours worked out total
Average resting heart rate: 65.2
Average ounces of water/day: 62.3
Days without gluten: 26/28 (93%)
Days without dairy: 22/28 (79%)
Weight change: – 2.2lbs

Month two:
89 total miles biked
1212 minutes/20.2 hours worked out total
Average resting heart rate: 68.2
Average ounces of water/day: 62.7
Days without gluten: 20/28 (71%)
Days without dairy: 10/28 (36%)
Weight change: +1.2lbs

Food Pictures! Not all meals/snacks are pictured…

DIY Garden 2020 – Partial Shade PNW Zone 8b/9a – 2 Months Progress Report

by in Garden, Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , , , ,

It is now exactly two months out from my original garden post which you can view here. And one month from my last update (view here)!

Front yard – my ‘orchard’ -After walking my local pea patch several times and hearing about local gardeners’ tomatoes doing poorly, I wasn’t completely discouraged that I had zero tomatoes on my plants at the beginning of the month. Then, lo and behold, an explosion of growth! I now have green baby tomatoes growing on every single tomato plant! How exciting! One of the large potted tomatoes started getting brown/yellow leafs so I moved it to quarantine away from the others ‘just in case.’ I later found out that potentially this particular plant might have been sunburned – eek! I have also been watering all my plants at least every other day if not every day with our full days of sunshine these past few weeks.

6/2/2020

7/2/2020

7/2/2020

8/2/2020

8/2/2020

8/2/2020 – My lemon tree is growing baby green lemons!

The side yard – my ‘berries’ – My blueberry looks like it is slowly dying 😦 but my salmonberry is very much thriving and threatens to take over this raised box! None of my cilantro seeds panned out but I have many parsely plants… and I tried a leaf and discovered that I don’t like parsley. Sigh. In order to use this plant I’ll have to trade it for something I like or simply dry it for integrating into future dishes.

6/2/2020

7/2/2020

8/2/2020

The backyard – ‘greenhouse’ – We’ve been leaving the cover half off this box to let in more sun and rain (not that we’ve had rain in the past few weeks). The zucchini are taking over and, along with the slugs, have killed off my three squash starts. We harvested most of the lettuce and are eagerly awaiting actual zucchinis. We still only have the flowers and I’m thinking I have to research pollinating. I’ve heard some mentions about self-pollinating and male/female flowers?

6/2/2020

7/2/2020

8/2/2020

6/2/2020

7/2/2020

8/2/2020

You’ll notice our mint is slowly dying… And that’s because I haven’t been watering due to the invasion of another type of ‘pest’ — a cute little nest of three eggs, two of which have hatched so far!

The backyard raised bed garden – the big ‘project’ – three raised garden beds with potato planted in front and thimbleberry bush start and a raspberry bush start off to the side. These beds continue to forest out. The only success so far are the green beans! They are almost ready to harvest and from the sample I picked they are 6/10 on flavor and 10/10 on texture.

6/2/2020

7/2/2020

8/2/2020

6/2/2020

7/2/2020

8/2/2020

The beds have the following planted in them:

Bush Beans
Carrots Nantes
Bush Beans
Carrots Nantes
Bush Beans
Carrots Short ‘n Sweet
Bush Beans
Carrots Short ‘n Sweet

Spinach
Spinach
Chard
Chard
6 cucumber mounds

4 rows of corn
6 zucchini starter mounds
1 row of mounds of cauliflower seeds

 

8/2/2020

My housemate and I finished up our last wood project – building a railing bed that sits on top of the porch railing. I immediately planted more of our lettuce mix and am very pleased with how the rough project turned out. My calendula and mystery flower continue to thrive and grow very tall. The basil is somehow still alive.

8/2/2020

The rhubarb I planted out front looks meh. I know they have a long growing cycle – but the only changes I’ve observed so far are the slight yellowing of some of the leaves.

Not pictured – I’ve been trying to grow avocado trees from seed and I have two that are growing stems and roots! I’m getting ready to move the first viable plant out of its water cup and into a bucket of dirt. I also have a mango seed that I’ve planted.

My future projects include the following:

  1. Build a trellis and grow loofah!
  2. Build a seed library and place it near my Pea Patch if I get permission (source an outside viable medicine cabinet and DIY it into a seed library)
  3. Plan for a winter crop and next year (less variety and more spacing between plants)
  4. Finish using the free pallet wood and build a long planter box and small square raised garden boxes
  5. Giveaway the rest of the project wood pieces

Tacoma Tiny House Trip – Viable Living Option?

by in Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , ,

I’ve been obsessing over the tiny house movement lately – watching every episode of Tiny House Nation on Netflix, subscribing to Living Big in a Tiny House, Living Tiny with the Bushes, and Tiny House Giant Journey on Youtube. I’ve also browsed local and national tiny house listings. And yet… I’ve never actually been in a tiny house – Airstreams and the like notwithstanding. This new ‘hobby’ of mine is rather a natural development from my most recent hobbies of minimalism, zero-waste, and frugal living. Tiny house living can check all those boxes.

I spent hours combing through AirBnB and best tiny houses to rent in the PNW. I stumbled on one amazing listing that even came with kayaks and was on the water! However, it came with a 4-day minimum commitment, a lot of the good dates were taken (i.e. over weekends), and it was pricey. So I went for my second choice and a top contender for a typical tiny house with a small footprint. Away we went for the weekend.

Here are some of my thoughts:

  • Location of the tiny house on the host property is very important! Our tiny house was located on a typical suburban lot in the back of a property already occupied by a full-sized house. The backyard was home to the yard, the driveway, four cars, and a small play set. For the amount of space available, the location of the tiny house was ideal and as private as it could be, but also not all that private. The windows of the loft bedroom looked out on an alleyway that had pedestrians and cars going by 12 feet away. Sometimes the kids from the main house played outside and the family came and went using this driveway to the side of the tiny house. The sprinkler for the grass came on every night for at least an hour and the sound carried right into our open windows.
  • I banged my knee on the loft railing one time, hit a hip on one of the cabinets one time, and pinched my fingers twice on the cabinet that pulled out under the sink to reveal the garbage. Otherwise, I was most worried about hitting my head on the large microwave/oven but never did. My 6’2″ partner did not bump into anything at any time.
  • I found the steps to get up to the loft a little too high for getting down and felt more comfortable descending backwards.
  • The air-conditioner – when on – was loud. I like the white noise it provided. It did blow directly on me when I worked in the kitchen and made me too cold. The windows weren’t cool enough for the loft at night and I had trouble falling asleep but didn’t feel like getting up and going down the large steps to turn on the air-conditioner.
  • The stove top burners had to be lit with a lighter/match which made me nervous at first but they worked nicely and didn’t ‘flame out’ like the gas burning stove we have at home does. This stove top was actually less scary than the one I use all the time.
  • I prepped a meal with three different pans and utilized the large counter and the area beside the sink while prepping without too much difficulty but I imagine if I was really prepping using my Vitamix, Instant Pot, and chopping vegetables it would get really crowded really fast.
  • Much of the storage was beyond my reach, even grabbing and putting the dishes away was well above my head and I clacked them together finding the right rack to place them.
  • This particular unit didn’t have washer/dryer/dishwasher.
  • I tried out the bath and found it as big as it needed to be for my 5’2″ petite frame. The toilet was also adequate and I enjoyed the little stomp flush. The sink in the bathroom felt small when I was brushing my teeth and the hand towel was right above the toilet paper roll – which seemed like poor planning at first but I didn’t notice water falling on the toilet tissue. We weren’t sure where to hang our towels to dry as there were a lot of places to hang them but not enough space for them to hang down without touching trash/toilet/floor and I placed mine on the shower curtain rod.
  • The fridge was a mini-fridge and would not have been adequate for fresh food storage at the amount I usually store. We filled it up with drinks and that worked great for the weekend.
  • It took longer than I’m used to for the hot water to kick in and it took me a few tries to get the temperature just right for the shower.

This is my current Tiny House Needs and Wants list:

Need:

  • Large fridge (small apartment size)
  • adequate kitchen prep/counter space
  • Aesthetic design
  • Guest/storage loft
  • Downstairs sleeping area
  • washer/dryer

Want:

  • 2-sided sink
  • Double lofts
  • Roof porch
  • loft pole to slide down
  • bathroom bidet
  • tub
  • large tv
  • dual work computer screens

What I Ate in a Month – Intentional Eating – Love Yourself Lean Program

by in Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

For four weeks I ate intentionally and according to a specific nutrition plan from the Love Yourself Lean Program. “Our 4-Week Coaching Program combines an online course, live group coaching, and 1-on-1 support to help you predictably boost fat loss, energy levels, and mental focus.” I’m a fan of charts and challenges and had fun documenting everything I ate in the last month along with my activity level and workouts. I’m always fascinated to look at the details and specifics of what people eat and enjoy the “what I eat in a day” videos on Youtube. I like seeing how the food is prepared and the portion sizes so I decided to take pictures of meals and snacks as much as possible. At the beginning of this program my partner and I did a Bodyscan and I was surprised that even though the scale tells me I am the same weight that I was two years ago, I’ve gained 3% bodyfat in the last 1.5 years. After we finish our P90X workout program we plan to do another Bodyscan and I’ll be able to truly see the effects of continuing with the Love Yourself Lean nutrition program.

Goals for the month:

Goal

Explanation/Comments

Cook 99% of meals (84 meals not including snacks)

I prepared 82/84 of my meals = 98%

Eat more veggies

So many veggies!

No added sugars

Kombucha with low sugar, dark chocolate, milk chocolate bar, juneberry homemade jam with small amount of white sugar

No cheese or dairy

Jalapeno cheese in the hot dog I ate, ricotta cheese in the GF pasta I made, Haggis (sheep’s milk cheese) = 4 meals out of 84 with dairy in them

64oz water/day (28 days total)

17/28 days drank >64oz water = 61%, 1744oz total or 62oz average per day

No gluten

Chicken wings, Where Ya Matt beignet and bites of prepared foods for 2/84 of the meals

No alcohol

Low sugar can of hard cider over two meals and two days near the end of the four weeks

 

From the Love Yourself Lean Program: Avoid as much as possible:

  • GLUTEN GRAINS
  • DAIRY
  • Soy
  • Artificial ingredients
  • Alcohol
  • Caffeine
  • Sugar
  • Corn
  • Legumes
  • Vegetable Oils

My daily meals, snacks, water intake, activities, steps from my Oura ring counter, mile walking equivalency from my Oura ring, total burn in calories from my Oura ring, weight every morning, and any significant feelings or issues are detailed below. I noticed that the first week I craved corn chips. I could eat corn chips for every meal every day that whole week. I slowly adopted more of the nutritional guidelines into my meals after the first week while focusing on my 7 main goals.

DIY Garden 2020 – Partial Shade PNW Zone 8b/9a – 1 Month Progress Report

by in Garden, Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

It is now exactly one month out from my original garden post which you can view here.

Front yard – my ‘orchard’ – I keep reorganizing the front orchard to better utilize the sun, plant potatoes, keep the landscaping company from destroying anything, and to create tomato supports. This is my final design for the season. I lined up the six buckets each with one tomato plant and rigged my own support out of the plastic international shipping box twine that holds your box together. I also received some t-posts from my BuyNothing group and utilized them here. By clicking on the image you can see in the larger zoom that I have 0 tomatoes fruiting… Did I not prune enough or correctly? Did I not plant soon enough? Am I not getting enough sun or water? Is there too much water and not enough drainage? The stalks are also more spindly than others I’ve seen at my local Pea Patch.

6/2/2020

The side yard – my ‘berries’ – None of my berry bushes (huckleberry, salmonberry, blueberry) have changed since I planted them. The blueberry was full of unripe blueberries and none of them have ripened. I also planted some cilantro and parsley in this box and they’ve sprouted nicely above ground.

6/2/2020

The backyard – ‘greenhouse’ – I’ve already harvested some of the spicy Mesclun lettuce mix and will attempt to eat my way through these two rows this month so that the three squash starts I planted between the rows will have room to grow. The zucchini in the back are doing nicely but I don’t see any zucchinis yet. These plants seem to be larger than the ones I planted in the other planter box without the greenhouse tarp. The best crop by far is the mint you can see in the large pot behind the stump. I wish I liked mint more and am not sure what to do with such a large crop… The chocolate mint is delicious to eat plain though and I highly recommend planting this variety!

6/2/2020

6/2/2020

The backyard raised bed garden – the big ‘project’ – three raised garden beds with potato planted in front and thimbleberry bush start and a raspberry bush start off to the side. These beds are growing nicely but haven’t produced anything yet… The corn in the back appears to be leaning towards the neighbor’s fence and I’m not sure they’re getting enough sun in the back there.

6/2/2020

6/2/2020

The beds have the following planted in them:

Bush Beans
Carrots Nantes
Bush Beans
Carrots Nantes
Bush Beans
Carrots Short ‘n Sweet
Bush Beans
Carrots Short ‘n Sweet

Spinach
Spinach
Chard
Chard
6 cucumber mounds

4 rows of corn
6 zucchini starter mounds
1 row of mounds of cauliflower seeds

My future projects include the following:

  1. Build a trellis and grow loofah!
  2. Build a seed library and place it near my Pea Patch if I get permission
  3. Plan for a winter crop
  4. Finish using the free pallet wood and build a long planter box and small square raised garden boxes
  5. Giveaway the rest of the project wood pieces

2020 Q2 Goals – Accountability, Check in, and an Uneventful Spring

by in Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Financial Independence Goals for 2020 Q2 snapshot

  1. Max out my Roth IRA, 401k and HSA contributions = monthly deductions mean this happens automatically!
  2. Build up my emergency savings to 6 months/~$18,000 = $10,200 in current emergency savings and $5800 in savings for car/computer/travel/phone
  3. Save 50% of my income =
  4. Don’t renew housing lease end of July (no rent spending 8/1 onwards = change of plans. We have renewed our rent with our current house as travel and house sitting is not a good option right now. I will continue to use house sitting as an option for potential low-cost travel. I love looking for new listings weekly on Trusted Housesitters. You can use this link to get 25% off a membership at Trusted Housesitters: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF286731/

Here is an updated snapshot of my budgeting goals and how I’m meeting them. Red indicates going over the monthly budgeted amount and green indicates staying under.

Notable spending:

  1. I bought a used ebike for personal and business use! $1000
  2. I supported an IndieGoGo campaign for a few hundred dollars
  3. I tricked out my garden DIY style ~$200
  4. I bought a garage fridge for $220
  5. I bought a pull-up freestanding bar and under-desk elliptical and inversion bench used for $195 total
  6. I spent $75 on a 4-week nutrition and health program

Fitness

Here are my fitness stats for Q2 of 2020:

  1. Biking: 36.5 miles
  2. Pole classes: 1
  3. Stretch classes: 7
  4. Other classes: 4 Pilates classes, 3 handstand conditioning classes, 1 Alexander Technique class
  5. Other activities: Gardening, Beach Body Workouts!

Health goals 2020
1. Full P90X for 90 days!
2. Lose 3% body fat (I went from 26% to 29% using the BodyScan measurement 01/19 to 06/20)
3. 5+ pull-ups any format (I purchased a secondhand pull-up freestanding bar) and can currently do 4 chin ups, 3 pull-ups, 1 wide grip pull-up, 3 narrow pull-ups

Writing Goals for 2020:

  1. Deplete my physical book inventory = I sold and gave away several books in January and February but still have significant numbers of print books left. I will perhaps run more giveaways or do something creative like sell a book along with a free ARC reading or x amount of words edited.
  2. Break even on Ataxia and At One’s Beast = I met this goal in Q1!
  3. Revamp my website = I haven’t made any substantial changes to my website yet
  4. Write 4 short stories = I wrote 2 short stories thus far for two separate anthologies
  5. Send out 4 newsletters = 1 sent out 1 newsletter and am working on my Q2 newsletter this week
  6. Publish a new coloring book = Haven’t made any progress on this goal yet. I’m still deciding on the subject material.

Here is a list of my accomplishments for Q2:

  1. Run a giveaway
  2. Sell more print books (half of what I currently have in inventory)
  3. Give out review copies of books
  4. Redo all interior files for Seize the Donut, At One’s Beast, Ataxia and push to all marketplaces
  5. Create another niche coloring book
  6. Read 25 books
  7. Write 6 book reviews on my blog
  8. Create a promotion and marketing plan for the rest of 2020
  9. Write 1 short story
  10. Send out 1 newsletter

The view from 520 Bridge as I bike home from Seattle on my new e-bike!

My first forage in the PNW! Juneberries, Huckleberries, and Salmonberries

My favorite new breakfast! Grilled Portobello mushroom with egg and cheese on a bed of spinach surrounded by strawberries

 

What are your goals and how are you meeting them?

Online Courses Review: Yale’s Science of Well-Being, TESOL, Budgeting Boot Camp and Productivity Boot Camp by FunCheapOrFree

by in Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , , , ,

I love trying out new things. I found the Science of Well-Being course offered by Yale free through Coursera and decided to give it a go. I took the course simultaneously with thousands of others. The course is 10 weeks long and the instruction portion is not overly tedious in length. I found that most of the content was familiar to me as I had taken many psychology classes in college (my area of concentration was psychology) and though none of the psychology classes I’ve taken centered on happiness, much of the science behind well-being is backed by psychological concepts and studies I am familiar with. It was nice to get the refresher, though, and to learn a few new tidbits. For the layman and those who didn’t study psychology, this course is an excellent survey of psychology centered on personal growth. This is especially true if you are taken with the concept of self-care that has been so very popular recently. I would highly recommend this structured take on scientifically understanding happiness and how to incorporate more aspects of well-being into your life. Some of the takeaways are not so obvious! And you will have homework to do! I highly recommend this particular course and really enjoyed the lecture style of Laurie Santos – the Yale professor. The homework was reasonable to accomplish and relevant. There were quite a number of recommended books to supplement the short to-the-point lectures if you want even more subject matter knowledge.

I now have my TESOL certificate – Teaching English as a Second Language. Why? Because I might want to teach English as a second language… I love languages, the study of languages, the nuance of learning a new language, etc. TESOL is one possibility for remote work as you can do it simply with a computer and high-speed internet connection. I took a simple TESOL certificate course online through International Open Academy that was recommended by one of the Youtubers (Katie Wismer) I watch. She has taught English as a second language with Qkids for over a year. I thought the course was fast and easy but not useful other than getting the certificate upon completion.

One of my other favorite Youtubers FunCheapOrFree offered her Budgeting Boot Camp and Productivity Boot Camp for free and I had to check them out. I love her channel. She is creative in her budgeting and productivity and I enjoy her well-edited videos. I did not, however, not either of her courses. It felt like she (and her husband) were reading a book in front of a camera. The two courses are divided into sections with videos that are around 10-15 minutes each. I liked all the stories where she related the information and instructions to her own life, but felt like I would rather just read the book version of these courses than sit through the videos in the course. I didn’t think this course was improved by telling the information in video format versus an audiobook or podcast for example. I also felt like the information wasn’t novel, especially to me with my current knowledge and since I’ve already watched many of the videos on Youtube already. I would not recommend paying for either course unless you’re completely new to budgeting or productivity and you prefer to watch videos in sequence than reading a book or simply subscribing to her channel. I would highly recommend instead to read the book “I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No BS. Just a 6-Week Program That Works” by Ramit Sethi as a step-to-step guide to crush debt and build wealth.

Happy National Donut Day

by in For the Love of Donuts, Rachel Barnard and tagged , | 1 Comment

HAPPY NATIONAL DONUT DAY!!!

Donuts in an Empty Field is turning 4 and I’m celebrating with a book sale!

Purchase Donuts in an Empty Field from Amazon HERE, the ebook that is normally $4.99 has been temporarily reduced to just $0.99

SALE: Always wanted a signed copy? Just $8 and I’ll ship you a signed copy (includes sales tax and shipping within the US). BONUS: I’ll send an extra copy free anywhere within the US. Send me your addresses to rachel.author.barnard@gmail.com. If you want to include both books in this duology, you can get them both for just $15. *While supplies last*

Letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.

Vanessa hasn’t been the same since her father’s death. A hero until the end, he died saving a restaurant owner’s son from a burning building. Nessa blames the boy, but her best friend Nichole thinks it’s time to let go of the past. In a last ditch effort to break Nessa’s obsession, Nichole hopes signing up for the local food challenge will bust her out of her shell. A single choice defines the road ahead for Nessa. Doing the right thing isn’t easy, but living with the consequences of doing nothing might be worse.

Purchase Seize the Donut from Amazon HERE

Friendships should never be taken for granted.

The ups and downs of high school forged an unbreakable bond between Vanessa and Nichole. Summer’s over and Vanessa is preparing for life at the local liberal arts college. Without her best friend by her side, Vanessa starts to chart her own path. Navigating new friendships and relationships proves easier said than done.

Nichole got kicked out of her mother’s house, lives with strangers in a sketchy neighborhood and commutes across town for her job in retail. She doesn’t always make the right choices and she has only herself to blame when things go wrong.

Something’s gotta give. Who will make the first move – or will fate intervene to remind each of them of the importance of their bond.

SALE on the Donuts (and corgis) themed coloring book:

Now half off through the weekend: Normally $10, now only $5.25

Where to get a FREE DONUT!!!

Krispy Kreme

Bonus SALE:

This weekend only get At One’s Beast by Rachel Barnard, a fairy tale retelling for free as an ebook HERE