On a recent hike with my son we found a huge log with a smooth cut. My son wondered how old the tree was? Which led to a discussion about tree rings and how you can tell how old a tree is by counting the tree rings. Here’s a photo of the rings:

Counting Tree Rings

We both looked at the rings and both decided that this was an old tree. I took this photo so that we could sit down and zoom in to count the rings.

It looks like a daunting task to count them all. What if I lose track of the count along the way? What if I can’t tell what is a ring or just a line as they get closer and closer?

The only way to count all the rings is to start counting the rings.

There will be blips along the way, you may lose your place, or can’t decipher a ring, but the only way to finish is to get started.

There is no grand prize to those that successfully count all the rings, only the achievement that you tackled something that seemed overwhelming at the beginning.

I’ve attempted to count the rings twice. This tree is over 100 years old, and I get lost after that.

Once you decide to start counting the rings, the beginning is fairly easy, the rings are wide apart and quickly things get more difficult. The rings narrow as you move outward and it is really hard to decipher what a ring is. It seemed too hard to figure out so I stopped.

Counting the rings reminded me of Seth Godin’s little book called The Dip, anything that is worth while usually encounters the dip or the tiny rings that are too hard for me to count. Somethings are worth pushing through the dip(i.e. weight loss, getting out of debt, etc) and other times counting tree rings just isn’t worth it.

Once you start there will always be resistance. Deciding to push through the resistance is up to you.

Sometimes You Just Want Soup! So I came up with a fun Spicy Vegetable Bean Soup with items on hand in the pantry and fridge! Yes, it’s naturally Vegan and Gluten Free!

Spicy Vegetable Bean Soup

On the way home from my son’s baseball practice and after a long week I felt like soup. Not just any soup but a hearty soup from scratch! So I started thinking about what I had at home that could make a great soup. I knew I had an onion, a few sweet potatoes and some other items and then go from there. So when I got home I grabbed a tall soup/stock pot and turned the stove on, and quickly grabbed a dash of olive oil to start heating up, then took a medium sized red onion and diced it up and added it to the stock pot. Then peeled a medium sized sweet potato and diced it up and threw that into the pot with the onions that were starting to wilt. I then rummaged around the fridge and the pantry for more ingredients and found a can of red kidney beans, a can of Garbonzo Beans and 1 16oz box of Organic Vegetable stock and set them on the counter. Then to the fridge and found a 3 small fresh tomatoes and 1 zucchini and half of a Reed Avocado!

I opened the box of Vegetable Stock and dumped the whole thing in the stock pot. While that started heating with the onions and sweet potato I opened the two cans of beans and drained and rinsed them and added them in the stock pot. At this time I added a few seasonings, 1 TBS of Cumin, 1-2TBS of Chili Powder and 1TBS Garlic Salt. I then diced up the zucchini and added that to the stock pot and allowed the soup to come to a slow boil before reducing the heat to simmer. Allowing the soup to simmer until the Sweet Potato and Zucchini were tender, I then added the fresh diced tomato at the very end, right before serving. Served the soup in large soup bowels and topped with the Fresh Reed Avocado.

Ingredient list:

1 16oz Organic Vegetable Stock
2TBS Olive Oil
1 Medium Red Onion
1 Medium Sweet Potato
1 Zucchini
1 Can Garbonzo Beans
1 Can Red Kidney Beans
1 Cup Diced Tomatoes
1 TBS Cumin
1-2TBS Chili Powder-(Add or subtract to your taste buds)
1 TBS Garlic Salt
Add extra salt as you see fit.
1/2 cup Fresh Diced Avocado, we enjoy Reed Avocados when they are in season!