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Iowa Valley Global Food Project (IVGFP) Spring Unity Gardens Event and Picnic

Iowa City, IA – May 8, 2017 – On Earth Day 2017 Iowa Valley Global Food Project had their first meeting with the multicultural families of growers who will be among the first to farm IVGFP land. These families hail from Sudan, Congo, Morocco, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico & Iowa. Together, with these families, the Iowa Valley Global Food Project invites the public to the Iowa Valley Global Food Project (IVGFP) Spring Unity Gardens Event and Picnic, a kick-off celebration for the project’s first gardening season at the Johnson County Poor Farm. We all know that developing a list of fun picnic lunch ideas is the key to using this travel food strategy to save money on the road.

Join IVGFP on Saturday, May 20, 2017 from 2:30 pm to 7 pm (rain date May 21st) , for this celebration which will include singing and gardening activities, ending the day with a picnic dinner and bonfire.

Learn more about this exciting community project, meet IVGFP board members and member families, help do a little gardening, and bring old tools to donate. IVGFP will also be accepting donations of gently used gardening tools needed (ihoes, hand tools, shovels) at the celebration. Participants are encouraged to sign up at iowavalleyglobalfood.org . Please click on the green “Spring Celebration of Diversity” button at the top of the page.

A complete list and schedule of activities is included at the bottom of this release.

More about The Iowa Valley Global Food Project (IVGFP)

The Iowa Valley Global Food Project (IVGFP) envisions a community where local citizens and new Iowans work hand-in-hand to grow and share their preferred and traditional foods, increase access to high quality food, and encourage youth learn about local food and the neighbors around them.

IVGFP aims to lead Johnson County in expanding access to organic, affordable food production, which supports social interconnectedness, sustainability, and learning opportunities.

IVGFP members come from many parts of our community. We come to learn about and from each other around our universal love of growing, preparing and eating. We are active partners with nonprofits and community groups that are working together to make our local food system more inclusive by creating opportunities for immigrant community members— new Iowans— to obtain greater access to food, land, and educational resources.

IVGFP has been granted a lease for 3.7 acres of land at the Johnson County Poor Farm. IVGFP will establish community garden plots for food production on this land, establish test areas for crops new to Johnson County, but familiar to recent immigrants to our area. These culturally relevant foods will help new arrivals to our community grow bridges to their past while proudly bringing new recipes and traditions to our collective present and future.

Digital Signage – Powerful and Flexible Ways to Market Your Business in Tough Times

You gain new clients, increase average spend, save on print costs, introduce an elevated level of energy and vitality, and increase your profits. You have to have a good reason not to use it. Whether you’re a Hotel, Boutique, Pharmacy, Leisure Centre, Car Dealership, Restaurant, or Take-Away, providing clients with eye-catching messages and information is vital. Absolutesignsolutions.com.au provides professional service for all your signage Sydney requirements.

Time to join your fellow SMEs who are tapping into the power of digital signage to attract attention, boost sales and avoid the costs associated with static, non-digital methods for presenting menus and promotions. Discover as many others have, the real benefits, savings and increased sales that exist within those pixels.

Impulse buying behaviour

Where you have a market dependent on impulse i.e. Boutiques, Restaurants and Take-a-ways to name a few, you’ve got it made. Impulse buying disrupts the normal decision-making models in consumers’ brains. The logical sequence of the consumers’ actions is replaced with an irrational moment of self-gratification. Impulse items appeal to the emotional side of consumers. Some items bought on impulse are not considered functional or necessary in the consumers’ lives.

Good signage solutions are designed to trigger these impulses, by exposing promotional messages at the right place and at the right time – you simply nudge consumers’ to spot that something that stirs a particular passion in them – which in turn leads them straight to your tills.

Raise your company’s profile

Many SMEs also realise that not only do they generate a great Return on Investment (ROI). Sure, we know they’re eye-catching and that they can easily tempt passer-by’s with mouth-watering images or up-sell on impulse using carefully crafted messages using the power of motion and change.

But now those screens are also saving money in creating a modernising effect; at a lower cost than undertaking major leasehold improvements i.e. an “eye-catching” 40″ digital screen integrated into the design of your shop front, on display to anyone walking past. You can save a lot of money; Digital Signage can introduce an elevated level of energy and vitality to any shop front, adding a fresh look to your business premises. A more “high-end” appearance, this is easily achieved by any small business with a vision and desire to stand out from its competitors.

Not only does this provide SMEs with a prime promotional space on any busy high street, it also raises their profile. As digital signage becomes more established as a mainstream marketing technique it becomes more accessible to smaller businesses. The days of only seeing digital signage in Piccadilly Circus are over; the age of digital marketing is upon us.

Opportunity to profit from advertising time

These systems can also be used as a tool to generate advertising revenue by promoting other businesses and services; by selling advertising time on your digital display to other local businesses.

Revenue generation by advertising local non-conflicting businesses; a big brand like Budweiser may not get excited about advertising on your one – two screens within your shop, but the local hairdressers or plumbers around the corner might. And with the local community Newspapers circulation falling – similar local retailers would be wise to follow.

Digital Signage can be an active element in anyone’s marketing, unlike those never-changing listings within local directories and printed banners/signs – which when you add all these up – can cost the average retailer a fortune over time, and with a hard to measure ROI.

In tough times, you have to change the way you do business, by stopping the drip of less viable products that provide limited value to you. Digital Signage delivers real and measureable benefits to SMEs – proven business benefits.

Digital Signage = Smart Expenditure

The rising use of digital signage by small and medium-sized companies can be attributed to many factors, falling equipment costs – a 50% drop in the price of LCD displays over the last five years has made previously expensive solutions a realistic proposition for SMEs – increased awareness and a realisation of the competitive advantage that can be gained are all positive drivers. Smart expenditure, on this type of technology provides SMEs with a real affordable advantage in tough times.

The following excerpt from an article “Small businesses should make their technology pay” from SMEWeb.com (The online resource for SMEs in the UK) acknowledges this competitive advantage:

“Digital signage is another area which has seen leaps of progress over the past few years. And far from being a luxury, these screens can save considerable costs and so offer fast ROI – particularly for customer-facing businesses. After all, one way to increase market share is to ensure your customers have the information they need about your company and products at the point of purchase.

Nowadays digital signage is far more than an elaborate poster; used correctly it can provide real-time data; stimulate demand by offering further information surrounding and complementary to products such as recipes or alternatives. Already they are being used extensively in restaurants and hotels – for example, to promote special dishes and update menus without the printing costs and allied transport overheads.

Small businesses need to be more responsive and quicker off the mark than their larger counterparts – there’s no better way to do this than using a digital sign which can be updated, either from a central location or locally, to reflect changing situations.

These are just two examples of the way that making smart investments in technology can make a real difference to the effectiveness of a business today. The challenge, particularly for SMEs, is to know what is available and how to implement them for the best return.

The key is to find a solutions provider that can give reliable advice and has a good relationship with a vendor so they can give you the inside track on the development of the product in future.

Hopefully we are through the tunnel of recession. However, it’s worth coming up for air and taking a look at what there is to help smaller businesses. Far from being mere window dressing, the new electronics equipment just emerging onto the market can really make a difference.” Time to open your eyes to the opportunities that digital signage has to offer.

Innovative Advertising Displays

You need a solution that addresses the fast growing need for digital signage displays in areas within the public eye, providing an effective form of advertising, information, communication or entertainment – you really need to be exploiting this, now.

Your best course of action would be to select one with a built-in media player and scheduling software; allowing for simple plug and play methods for updating content, making them extremely user-friendly. Unlike many of your fellow SMEs, you will not be exploited into having to continually pay out for annual software licences.

Using our Plug and Play displays, you do not need a computer or DVD support as the display has a memory card reader built-in. Simply insert an SD/CF Memory Card and power on. The screen automatically starts playing the images, video and music that are loaded onto the card.

You can easily set the position order and interval time (Breakfast, Lunch Hour Specials and Evening Dining) of each slide giving you complete control over every aspect of your digital signage – take a glimpse as to how easy our Software is at Scheduling your playlists. The screen has a memory card locker to protect the memory card from public access. A wall mount also comes with the screen, so you can fix the screen on the wall without extra cost. Professional installation can be provided which also includes a walk-through of the product and its features.

Commercial grade displays are different from that of a TV purchased from your local electronic shop – these displays are more robust and rated to show content for more total hours, fit for purpose. All displays are designed for 24/7 usage and have special LCD panels so that the colour doesn’t fade over time, as it would with other LCD panels found in TVs and PC monitors.

Their sleek, elegant tempered glass styling, ability to be in constant use (more energy-efficient) and wide viewing angle means that they offer many advantages over using home TVs for commercial display. As well as these benefits the Digital Advertising Displays are also brighter than home TVs and have no buttons or controls on show. By placing a TV in a business environment, you typically lose or limit its warranty.

Additionally they can be easily networked or wirelessly connected to a PC for more frequent updates and even up to the minute RSS feeds.

Digital signage can be one of the most impactful shopper marketing technologies in use in retail today; it can deliver the right message to the right place, at the right time, and in the right format; it has the power to impact sales, build brands and improve the customers’ experience.

Cost of content and who controls it

There are companies that are claiming to be creators of Digital Signage, where the opposite being, there just jumping into the industry simply because it’s hot. And with the analysts promising 33 percent or higher growth this year; this creates plenty of scope for others to follow.

One of their more noticeable mistakes, being content creation, an issue for these resellers, which in turn becomes an issue for their clients – these companies are simply not adept to creating interesting visual content – let alone the need and importance of refreshing content.

These companies often try to sell you expensive digital campaigns with their products – it should be noted that most of these content deals are just simple PowerPoint presentations that can be done by anyone with little experience. Alternatively, most will provide you with contact numbers to very expensive Design Agencies that they have formed partnerships with – all this can be a real put-off for SMEs.

As an SME, you will want to cut costs when it comes to Digital Signage Content, so using in-house resources instead of giving the business to an outside supplier is one sure way of cutting costs. Most of us, have PowerPoint installed on our computers, and with powerful editing features such as adding videos, pictures and animations, you would be crazy not to use it for creating your own Digital Signage Content.

Integrating existing content such as logos, images, animations and video will be less time-consuming and inexpensive – this also ensures compliance with your existing image, portrayed by your company. Many SMEs may have internal/external marketing, printing and web design departments – these are great places to look for existing assets. Inevitable though, new content will obviously be required at some point in time.

Many suppliers and brands that may be part of your on-going promotions can also provide these assets. Existing logos and graphics can be retouched and animated, to provide a more dynamic and contemporary look. There is no reason why an SME cannot produce and deliver a broadcast-quality experience to their clients, using in-house resources.

Small businesses in particular need to control the cost of content, to make their investment in a Digital Signage System, worthwhile. Therefore, when considering your Digital Signage Partner, it is best to choose a provider that will consider your size, budget and needs – one that specialises in designing low-cost media and content for SMEs.

A knowledgeable Partner that has the time and desire to provide you with that one-to-one attention, dedicated to the highest level of customer satisfaction and service – walking you through every step of the specification and implementation process; focusing on three things: improving sales, reducing costs and improving customer relations. A Digital Signage Partner with, a good proposition at good cost.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6362306

Skiing Exercises for Recreational Skiers

If you exercise often, you’ll begin to build your strength and enhance your endurance in the muscle groups used in downhill skiing. You’ll be preparing yourself for the rigors of skiing in the expert zones where both staying power and explosive power are of the utmost importance. First, we’ll get into the why and when you need to exercise, before moving onto the five essential elements of ski-specific exercising. Big White’s latest hot ski Canada deals and special offers entice tourist to go there.

The ultimate body for an expert skier is powerful, from strong ankles to strong shoulders, and every finely-tuned muscle in between. Remember the last time you watched someone effortlessly weave through a mogul field and wondered, “How does he do that?” It’s partly due to practice, and partly to the body awareness and balance that strength training provides. The expert skier, who is physically strong, instinctively cues every part of his or her body. A fit body is like a well-tuned sports car. It handles effortlessly, acting on subtle intuitions.

Skiing requires a number of athletic abilities including technical, physical, and mental skills. This article is all about the physical requirements of expert skiing. Future articles will deal with the technical aspects of all-terrain skiing, as well as establishing the right mind set. But first, to ski strong you need to be strong.

Why do ski exercises?

If you think skiing exercises are just for serious skiers, think again. Strong muscles improve every skier’s performance, whether he or she is a beginner, intermediate, advanced, or expert skier. For those who feel they’ve reached a plateau in their skiing ability, ski exercises may provide the boost you need to reach the next level.

Few sports are as physically demanding as downhill skiing, especially skiing on moguls, in trees, and down steeps. Yet, many skiers hit the slopes after little or no training in the preseason. They pay for it with sore muscles, but that’s only the beginning. The lack of good physical fitness also increases the chances of injury. The most common ski injuries are joint related, and the best way to protect joints is by building muscle. Strong muscles stabilize your joints and, in turn, enable you to control your skis.

In light of the above, this article focuses on building the muscle groups around the joints that skiing taxes the most, including the knees, hips, and ankles. For the knee and ankle joints, we’ll be dealing with the upper leg muscles, including the quads and hamstrings, as well as the lower leg muscles, most noticeably the calves and Achilles tendons. For the hip joints, we’ll be concerned with the core, namely, the hip flexors, glutes, abdominals, groin, and lower back muscles.

Doing the downhill skiing exercises on a regular basis will make your skiing a lot easier, as well as take your skill set to the next level, because you will:

  • Build muscle strength in your legs, core, and upper body
  • Enhance muscle endurance and staying power for those long runs that never seem to end
  • Increase your cardiovascular endurance so you can ski all day long
  • Improve your stability and balance in all types of terrain and snow conditions
  • Help your foot-to-foot quickness in the tight, tree runs
  • Add explosive power for those short, intensive bursts in the mogul fields
  • Avoid sore muscles, injuries, and spills

When should you do ski exercises?

Exercising can be done any time you feel like it. However, in the context of the sport of downhill skiing, I recommend you begin exercising at home, two to three months prior to the start of the ski season. If your season kicks off in December, try to begin your preseason conditioning program in late September.

Exercising in the Preseason

However, if you’re already involved in a ski-related conditioning program during the summer months, you’ll be able to shorten you’re fall program from three months to about six weeks. In addition, you should do your ski exercises on three nonconsecutive days each week. This will allow 48 hours between successive work-outs. The muscle groups will have plenty of time to recover.

Does this seem like a lot of work? At first, it will be. But after your first runs of the season, you’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to link smooth, short-radius turns from top-to-bottom, all day long. You’ll look back up the hill and smile, knowing that your exercise program in the fall was well worth the effort. You will have cleared the first hurdle on the road to expert skiing. Physically, you will now be much stronger!

Exercising during the Season

Strenuous activities like downhill skiing, especially at the expert level, promote tightness and inflexibility in the muscle groups. Therefore, stretching before and after skiing will keep you flexible and help prevent common injuries. Should you do the ski exercises after the season starts?

Yes, definitely. After the season starts you can catch up and get in sync by doing the exercises during the week when you’re not out skiing. If you ski on Saturday and/or Sunday, do the skiing exercises on Tuesdays and Thursdays. By exercising throughout the season, as well as skiing, you’ll accelerate the strength building process, and your performance will show a marked improvement.

Exercising in the Postseason

By exercising in the postseason you will maintain your fitness level that you worked hard to implement in the preseason. Aspiring expert skiers need to impart continuity in their conditioning programs throughout the year. Once you become strong, you need to stay strong.

In addition, by participating in a ski-related exercise program from June to September, you’ll be able to ramp up much more quickly in the fall. The summer is also a good time to improve your cardiovascular endurance.

The Five Essentials of Ski-Specific Exercising

Flexibility, cardio, strength, balance, and power are the five essential elements for the expert skier to master. Let’s consider each one of these requirements in turn.

Flexibility: Your range of motion or mobility is of prime importance. Stretching to maintain muscle elasticity, which decreases with age, is vital for skiing. Stretching for skiers will not be covered here, as we have already dealt with this subject in a previous article entitled Ski Fitness for Recreational Skiers.

Cardiovascular Endurance: Aerobic capacity is very important to skiers so they have the stamina to ski in the expert zones, and the endurance to ski all day long. If you wish to improve your cardiovascular fitness, try one of the following activities on three nonconsecutive days per week. Perhaps it would be best to do your cardiovascular routine on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and your strength, balance, and power exercises on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

  • Lap swimming, 25 laps to begin with, increase to 50 laps
  • Brisk walking for at least 30 minutes, preferably 45 minutes
  • Jogging, 15 to 20 minutes, but no more
  • Rowing machine, 15 to 20 minutes
  • Treadmill, 15 to 20 minutes
  • Cross-country skiing
  • Cycling, short sprints are best
  • Inline skating, long distances and short sprints are best

Strength and Endurance: Muscular strength improves the expert skier’s ability to relax, yet still maintain control, and to handle the quick adjustments needed in all-terrain skiing. The movements in alpine skiing include all the major muscle groups, so total body muscular strength is of prime importance. You’ll want to do exercises that strengthen your entire body.

With this in mind, target the following ski exercises and muscle groups:

Essential exercises for the legs – quadriceps, hamstrings, hips, calves, and ankles
Essential exercises for the center – abdominals, hip flexors, glutei, and lower back

Stability and Balance: Why should you care about balance? Well, for starters, it’s the basic skill needed in practically every sport. Changing your center of gravity to match your moves is the key to efficiency in sport. Good balance can help you keep your form when you encounter changing terrain and snow conditions. The result is better skiing and fewer spills.

Slight deviations in terrain often require subtle adjustments in your balance to avoid injury. To enhance your stability and balance, target the following muscle groups:

Essential exercises for the center – abdominals, hip flexors, glutei, and lower back

Fortunately, the exercises that help improve stability and balance work to build muscle strength and endurance in the core, all at the same time. This can be seen if you look back at the previous topic, Strength and Endurance.

Power and Quickness: To improve your reflexes and foot-to-foot quickness, you need dynamic, ski-specific drills from lateral training that simulate the actual movements you do on the ski hill. With this in mind, we’ve included five jumping exercises, which are also called plyometrics, as the essential exercises to improve your foot-to-foot quickness and explosive power.

Plyometrics are commonly referred to as explosive types of exercise drills, and are often used in conditioning programs for elite skiers because the combination of squatting with weights and lateral jumps, sprints, or quickness drills, develops the leg and hip power necessary for high performance skiing.

Before you Start

Caution must be exercised whenever beginning any conditioning program. Use an exercise regimen that’s appropriate for your body type and your present level of conditioning. Please consult with your physician, if you suspect that this ski-specific program is not suitable for you at the present time.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jim_Safianuk/1196

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