As most of you know, I’ve been involved with the Royal City Farmers Market since 2009 and I’ve developed an interest in urban agriculture. We have two hens now producing all the eggs we need to feed our family of three, and after a totally engaging talk at the RCFM AGM from John Gibeau last week, I’m pretty convinced we need a home bee hive to start producing our own honey. I’ve started consuming some really great books to help me get the most out of my city lot here in New …

A group of dedicated women from each of the twenty-three North American 30-Minute-Hit locations is participating in the KICK THE *&%! OUT OF CANCER event. They have pledged to “hit” (complete the kickboxing workout) a certain number of times during the month of October in exchange for donations to the British Columbian Cancer Foundation.

Just an FYI for parents of babies & toddlers and other regulars at the public health office: the New Westminster Public Health Unit is relocating to Uptown from its current home at 537 Carnarvon.

The Early Childhood Development Committee (for children ages 0-6) and the Middle Childhood Development Committee (6-12) are looking for input for their upcoming Summer Activity Guide. Do you have an event or group you’d like to share?

Jarrah Hodge checks out the 65 Red Roses Benefit concert featuring Dan Mangan, Hannah Georgas, David Vertesi, and The Zolas.

Jen checks out Kids in Motion, a Creative Arts Studio for 0-8 year olds in Sapperton run by Natasha Young.

Last week the main swimming pool at Canada Games Pool was shut down for two days to repair a broken pipe. The pool was half emptied and swimming lessons and public swims were cancelled for two days. Does it need a major upgrade?

The SPCA Thrift Mart, a well known and active business member of our community, is once again putting together a Coat Drive to help gets coats to some of the Lower Mainland’s most needy. I posted about the SPCA coat drive experience I had a few years ago, and wanted to remind you all of this annual event. This is the 16th annual coat drive, and organizer Roni-Lyn Saunders says the need is greater than ever. Roni and her dad have been working hard to put together this year’s coat drive …

In North America (New Westminster included), we have innovated physical activity out of our lives. This is trouble for our bodies that require physical activity to function properly. You only have to look at the health section of the news to see the health issues caused by physical inactivity.

I participated in a focus group this past Tuesday night to help improve the website for  New Westminster Parks, Culture, and Recreation and part of our “homework” prior to the evening was to troll around on the NWPCR website to get a better idea of what worked and what didn’t. It was while trolling around I discovered that the NWPCR department has put together a Spring Wellness Challenge to get us all up and at ‘em, dust off those wintery cobwebs, and get our collective butts moving. Here’s a little …

Recently, we put the call out to our readers to submit the questions about local matters that have you stumped. Today, we’ve got the answer to a question from Kathryn Berry: “Why are there are so few recreational classes offered by NWPR for adults, such as dance classes? There are lots for children and for seniors, but there seems to be a paucity of physical recreation for the adult crowd.”

I am one of those guys who is really out of place at a gym; a fish out of water. I spent most of my life as a slender book worm with little interest in sports but as age, fatherhood, a desk job and an affinity for a cheerfully empty pint of beer, I knew something had to change. I had to get active, channel that participaction! action and sign up with the program. For the first time in my life, I needed to get fit; but how? And when?
Looking …

Of the five friends I have who delivered their babies at Royal Columbian Hospital, four of us had 30+ hour labours ending in emergency Cesarean sections. I have wondered how it could be that four out of five young, healthy women could all have so much trouble delivering our babies naturally that we would need our babies cut out of our bodies.

For those of us who welcomed a new baby into our lives in 2009, losing the baby weight is likely top of mind when it comes to our 2010 resolutions. As part of our Hyack Your Health series to help New West folk keep our New Year’s resolutions, Caroline Neitzel from Thank You Mommy Wellness offers a few tips for new moms starting post-partum workouts.

Throughout January, Tenth to the Fraser is spotlighting advice from local experts on how to successfully follow through on New Year’s resolutions. This is a guest post by Svetlana Balysheva from Bamboo Yoga.

Cough cough, hack hack. Sound familiar?

I quit smoking October 1, 2003 and have never smoked since. I had decided I didn’t want to turn 30 and still be a smoker – 12 years at a pack a day had taken its toll on me – I had a continual hack, I couldn’t smell a thing and my fingers were an embarrassing shade of yellow – so I gave myself a 6 month cushion before that pivotal birthday and picked a day and quit. Sounds simple, right?

As we get into the swing of things in 2010, it’s time to start following through on those resolutions! To help you out a little, we’ll be running a series of posts with advice from local folks on how to help keep common resolutions.

Let’s start by helping those who rang in the New Year with a baby in tow! Here are four nutrition tips to help lose that baby weight from Caroline Neitzel of Thank You Mommy Wellness.

Happy New Year everyone! As 2010 dawns and hangover treatment begins, it’s time to knuckle down and do something about those resolutions you drunkenly swore you’d really keep this time. Since ‘getting fit’ is one of the most common pledges come January 1, we’ve partnered with Bamboo Yoga to offer a $100 gift certificate to one lucky New Westie.
To win, you must demonstrate that it’s not just your body that’s well-rounded (ha!). Write us your best Haiku poem inspired by life in our fair city, and leave it in the …

There’s a lot of debate over whether to get the H1N1 vaccine out there. Those of us in New Westminster who choose to vaccinate should know there’s a vaccine clinic tomorrow (Nov. 4) at Royal City Centre  in the Community Room from 9am-1pm.
Here’s who’s eligible:

Children six months of age to under five years old
Health care workers, starting with priority groups that deliver critical and frontline health care services
Household contacts and care providers of infants under six months of age
Household contacts and care providers of people who have weakened immune systems
People …

I recently made a decision to raise money for cancer research. Like a lot of people, cancer has had a direct impact on me. In 2006 I lost my dad to prostate cancer and in the early part of this year, my mom battled and beat breast cancer, thanks largely to research forwarding treatment options. I’ve always taken a bit of a skeptical eye to many of the charity runs – a lot of times I wonder if people even know how much of their dollars goes to the actual cause. …