On Top of the World

View on February 7, 2021

Hi Everyone! We’ve had a few snowy days this winter providing us with some spectacular views and some brisk walks!

On the same day that we took the picture above, we harvested some lettuce that we’ve been growing hydroponically in our basement. We eat salad every day (except Wednesday) and had wanted a way to extend our growing season for lettuce. We learned about a hydroponic growing process called the Kratky method. It starts with a growing medium called rock wool.

Mr. Fifty Shades cutting rock wool into individual sections.

Placing the rock wool sections in water to hydrate.

Once they are hydrated, lettuce seeds are carefully placed into the rock wool sections – this occurred on December 17th.

A few days later – Voila! The lettuce seeds sprouted!

After the lettuce grows a bit, the rock wool is transferred to a cup into which clay pellets are arranged.

Then the planting cup is placed into a mason jar filled with a mixture of water and growing nutrients. The mason jar is then covered with aluminum foil. We could use something other than aluminum foil but that is the easiest thing to use in order to prevent light from coming into the jar, possibly resulting in fungus or mold. Where you do want light is directly above the plants, so Mr. Fifty Shades installed some LED shop lights over the mason jars.

Once they start growing, the roots extend into the jar, drinking up the water and nutrients.

Romaine lettuce with roots.

First harvest of hydroponic romaine lettuce – February 7th.

We like the way this worked so well that we decided to try growing the lettuce in a bigger container.

Opaque container with seedlings.

We’ve added more shelving and lights in the basement and have begun experimenting with spinach and broccoli seeds.

Our basil plants are doing well under the grow lights, too.

When I grow up I want to be pesto!

As I read this post, with the aluminum foil and other weird sounding stuff, it all comes across a bit like science fiction – but this is real, not fake news! We think it’s all pretty nifty, especially in this Covid Decade Year. Just when we thought we couldn’t handle any more fun, Mr. Fifty Shades bought a new toilet seat. The box in which it was packaged claimed it would be the “best seat in the house.” This could be an exaggeration. Two humans and a dog participated in the removal of the old seat and installation of the new. Sadly, no pictures of this event.

We were about to think things couldn’t get any better when they did! We received a phone call from our local health department and now Mr. Fifty Shades and I have appointments at the end of this month to receive our first Covid vaccination. What a relief – we feel like we’ve won the lottery, the Triple Crown and the Pillsbury Bake-Off all in one!

Until next time, dear friends and family, remain covid-free and stay safe!

Your Fifty Shades of Green Acres Team

We were dreaming…

…and this happened...we got a White Christmas!

• 

• 

• 

• 

  bluebird houses

• 

  apple trees

• 

  snow on new fence

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

  no picnic today

• 

• 

• 

• 

We also checked on our cold frame to see how the lettuce is doing…

• 

• 

• 

Lettuce in the cold frame looks pretty good considering…snow – 18 degrees!!!

It has been such a difficult year – whether you are missing loved ones, dealing with health issues, or just trying to get through the days, we wish you peace and happiness and a nice vaccine to celebrate in 2021!

Missing everyone but we are grateful for our friends and family and the ability to stay in touch! We love you.

Fifty Shades of Green Acres Team

I Finished the Fence!

Hi All. Spanning three seasons, our fencing event concluded with great success. Mr. Fifty Shades sweetly gave me the honor of hammering in the final nail.

• 300 posts
• 24+ 100′ rolls of wire
• 340 16′ corral boards
• 75 pounds deck screws
• 100 bags of concrete
• 20 pounds staples
• A little bit of sweat (no blood and no crying in fencing)

And this is what we got…

• 

• 

• 

• 

All of us are loving it…we’re enjoying our leashless visiting time…

• 

• 

…plus we have more time to engage in some other pastimes like…eating pears…

• 

  Selecting just the perfect pear

• 

  Spoiled little girl getting a pear cut up for her

…picking apples

a good apple crop from our trees this year

…and enjoying the fall scenery…

• 

  Leaves piling up along the road

• 

  Some fall colors emerging

• 

• 

  Dogwood Berries

• 

  Sunset

…In other news…

Mr. Fifty Shades built a cold frame to protect lettuce we planted a few weeks ago. Hopefully, we’ll have salads for a couple more months!

• 

• 

  Cold Frame 2020

…we celebrated our 30 year wedding anniversary a couple weeks ago. Last year we talked about maybe traveling to Italy to commemorate the occasion, but instead, in this strange covid year, we opted to serve lasagna for dinner. 🙂

Hope you are all staying safe and well!

Until next time,

Fifty Shades of Green Acres Team

Summer 2020 – the fencing continues!

Mr. Fifty Shades of Green Acres is powering through this hot and steamy summer – the fencing project is over half way to completion.

Digging post holes with tractor attachment

Clearing away brush with mattock so that wire fencing rests on the ground.

In foreground, tops of posts have been cut off; in background, posts are up with bracing support until they are set in with concrete.

• 

• 

• 

  Brace supports
  
  

Fence wire and posts in the staging area!

As the Car Talk boys would say, he’ll soon be starting on the third half of the project!

 

In other news…

The invasion of the hummingbirds: it begins with just a few…

…and soon becomes a feeding frenzy. They zoom in and out all day long and jockey for position among four feeders. Word spread quickly that we opened a hummingbird bed & breakfast (lunch and dinner)!

• 

•  

We can’t keep the feeders filled – they go through six cups of nectar a day!

This summer we said good bye to our rooster, Murphy (due to old age).  He always behaved like a “gentleman” and had been a constant fixture here since 2013.  RIP, Murphy! 

Today, Mr. Fifty Shades has chased a deer and a skunk (at the other end of Scout’s leash) and is about to go purchase ten 60 pound bags of concrete for the fence posts (he used 600 pounds of concrete last week).  So far, a wonderful way to spend the day!

Until the fence is built, I will just hang around and look handsome.

Until next time, stay safe, everyone, and remember to practice proper social distancing!

Your Fifty Shades of Green Acres Team!

Racing with Squirrels

Right there  on top of the fence post is a discarded piece of a beautiful ripe red strawberry.  We try to pick strawberries from our garden at least once a day but it’s a race to see who gets to them first – us or the squirrels.  Once the pesky squirrels beat us to the day’s bounty, they then have the nerve to eat just part of a berry and leave the rest to taunt us.

The Discarded Strawberry

But it’s okay.  They only want the prettiest, reddest, sweetest looking ones.  😦  Birds seem kind of partial to them, too!

IN OTHER NEWS…

• A Journey of Half a Mile Begins With a Hundred Feet

Mr. Fifty Shades started a new project.  Yes, we’ve all been wondering what the next project would be…a new garden shed, finishing up the inside of of his shop, making a new piece of furniture? …Options abound for what project gets pulled out of the hat.  This project involves the use of these tools lined up against the side of our house:

From Right to Left: Post Hole Diggers, Level, Rock Bar, Shovel, Ax, etc.

It also involves dealing with clearing out some trees and underbrush, and working on some steep and rocky terrain…

Yep, you guessed it…it’s a fencing project that will begin on the north side of our house and go around the property and encompass most of the land to the west of our driveway – in total about half a mile of fencing.  It’s a huge undertaking and Mr. Fifty Shades is pretty excited about taking it on…

The tractor’s post hole digger is a wonderful attachment and will save Mr. Fifty Shades a lot of digging by hand.  Unfortunately, at least the first 100 feet of fencing were in a place that the tractor was only able to be used on the two holes behind him in the picture.

Already, he’s pulled about 100 feet of fencing and has made the turn for the part that will go behind our house to the west.

 

It’s back breaking work – some parts go quicker than others depending upon if you hit rock when digging or just need to take down a couple small trees.  Mr. Fifty Shades wants to be done by the end of summer (just not sure what year!?!).

• Snakes Alive!

Not long ago I walked just outside our garden and encountered this snake.  Mr. Fifty Shades was nowhere close so I decided to take a picture and even though I was sure this was the “good kind” of snake, I was really proud of myself for getting this close – boy, was Mr. Fifty Shades going to be impressed with my bravery.  After the picture taking ceremony, I watched the snake slither into our garden and so I figured I didn’t need to work in the garden anymore that day.  I was almost back to the house when I heard Mr. Fifty Shades’ voice and then some frantic barking from Scout and Sage.  I rushed back down to find the dogs in their penned in area trying to get to the snake and Mr. Fifty Shades trying to keep them away from it.  What happened next … a blur.  I am trying to hang on to two fifty+/- pound dogs while Mr. Fifty Shades grabbed the snake at the base of hits head and got him out of harm’s (dogs’) way.  To top it all off, our neighbor walked up at the time all of this was happening to ask a question.  Up pops Mr. Fifty Shades with a four foot snake in his hand and walking out the gate like this happened every day.  I wish I could have had a picture of that – but, I was a little busy.

• Second Covid Haircut

Mr. Fifty Shades and I gave him his second covid cut – this one, a little shorter and we’re getting a little better at it.

• Lettuce

Our lettuce is growing well in our square foot gardens near the house.  We’re able to harvest a salad daily.

• Are We Losing It?

We thought we were doing so well…but, then this happened.  One evening during our last walk with the dogs I heard a noise in the distance.  I thought I knew what it was but didn’t say anything to Mr. Fifty Shades.  I heard it again and looked at him.  He said, “I thought I heard a donkey.”  I immediately said, “I did, too!”  Then, the sound got closer and it turned out…it was a plane.  Yes, what we thought was a donkey braying was a small plane.  Before you think, we’re completely bonkers, our neighbor’s donkey ran away a few day’s earlier, so we had that on our minds…really, the plane sounded like a donkey!  This gives a whole new meaning to “when donkeys fly.”

• Alvin

The picture quality is not great but I was able to grab a quick picture of Alvin the Chipmunk – if you look carefully you can see him on the tree in the middle of the picture.  He said he’d bring his buddies around soon.   I hope they don’t like strawberries too 😉

Until next time,

Fifty Shades of Green Acres Team

Birdwatch

 

 

 

We Temporarily Interrupt Spring…

We temporarily interrupt spring for…WINTER!  The calendar says May but the thermometer said 33 yesterday morning and 30 this morning!!!  We thought we could safely stow away our heavy coats and gloves but they need to be available for a few more days this week.

In other news…

A Barbershop Opened Up in Our Driveway

Mr. Fifty Shades and I teamed up to give him a haircut last week.  We basically made it a buzz cut but his hair was on the longish side so there was a lot of cutting and a good bit of shaving to do.  One thing I don’t think you’re supposed to hear when you are cutting your spouse’s hair is, “Ouch.”  But, it was just a little “ouch.”  Also, you probably shouldn’t remark, “Wow, look at all the gray in your hair.”  Just saying.

A Bagel Shop Opened Up in Our Kitchen

In an effort to answer our craving for carbs during these uncertain times, Mr. Fifty Shades has upped his game and learned to make bagels.

Shaping the dough into thin rolls.

Forming the thin rolls into circles prior to boiling.

These are the best bagels I’ve ever eaten (even better than NYC – or even, Casselberry! 🙂  )  Mr. Fifty Shades even made my favorite – sesame seed!!!

Boiling bagels.

Finished product – with sesame topping and oatmeal topping – yum.

Happy Mother’s Day

If you are a Mom and can’t be near your loved ones today, be good to yourself.  Have an extra piece of chocolate, read a book, and take a long nap.  Come to think of it, do that even if you are not a Mom!

Moonset, Sunrise Early Morning Western View

Until next time,

Fifty Shades of Green Acres

 

 

May You Live in Interesting Times

Well, maybe not quite so interesting would be okay.  It seems like in the blink of an eye we went from being The Young and The Restless to The Elderly and the Non-Essential.  Friends helped us work through this, though, and now we are referring to our group as The Advanced Demographic.  How strange all of this is to experience.  We find ourselves wanting to warn actors on tv not to get so close to the other folks in the scene and to caution characters in a book not to shake that person’s hand for goodness sake.

In many respects, we think we’ve been in training for self-isolation since we moved nearly 8 years ago.  There isn’t that much of a change for us in day to day activities, yet, just knowing that we can’t or shouldn’t venture out except for groceries is hard to wrap our heads around.  Reading the news and learning about so many in trauma and grief, those who are lonely or stressed, we are grateful to be in our little spot up here.  We are trying, as all of you are no doubt trying, to focus on activities that bring happiness and comfort and restore a little bit of normalcy…

We’re working on chores we usually do this time of year…

Mr. Fifty Shades tilling in the garden we’ll be planting in a few weeks.

 

Strawberries will soon be ready to pick!

Strawberry Fields Forever!

…plus we’ve added a few more…

This is not what I had in mind when I thought about doing something creative.

I

Cooking and Baking – Yes! Mr. Fifty Shades learned to make English Muffins – Delicious!

 

Bird Watching!

 

Taking Naps – Yay!

 

Jumping High (or Pursuing a Pesky Squirrel)

We’re also taking in the springtime blooms and natural beauty that surrounds us – hope you enjoy them, too!

Dogwood Blossoms

Pear Blossoms

 

Peach Blossoms

 

 

Daffodils

Forsythia

We hope that everyone out there in the Fifty Shades of Green Acres audience (hello, Person 1 and Person 2, this is for you!) is doing well and not going too stir crazy.

Stay safe!

Fifty Shades of Green Acres Team

Squashed!

While I was away for a couple weeks, our garden exploded with a harvest of cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, okra, and corn.  Mr. Fifty Shades worked hard to keep up with it all.  He canned 38 pints of sweet pickles,

dehydrated seven pounds cucumbers, zucchini, and yellow squash to make “chips,”

blanched zucchini and packed it in the freezer for later use,

 

…and created a recipe with zucchini, tomatoes, and onions…we think we’ll call it tomacchini sauce!

If you look to the right and below the blanched zucchini you’ll see part of the 75 pounds of peaches that we froze.

 

Plus, he kept up with

and

When I returned, the garden was still producing at full peak.

We felt like Forest Gump with his beloved shrimp trying to devise more ways to use the zucchini..

Zucchini Salad

Chocolate Zucchini Cake – SOOOO Good!

Zucchini Lasagna

Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips

In addition, we blanched corn and froze it for later use

… and made dill pickles

These don’t need to be processed so we use old peanut butter jars!

This year, we had enough blackberries to make a batch of jam.

The tomatoes are just starting to ripen and we will be busy making tomato sauce and canning tomatoes soon (we hope)!

This year has been our best year from the garden and we still can’t believe it!  We love being able to eat all of these vegetable fresh but now we’ll have some to last us through winter.

Until next time,

Fifty Shades of Green Acres Team

 

Bonne Journee! (Have a Good Day!)

Mr. Fifty Shades and I just returned from a few wonderful days in Montreal.  Montreal entertained us with all sorts of weather and beautiful sights…

The Jean Talon Market was bustling with people buying local fruits and vegetables.

During an afternoon rain we decided to find the Underground City where there are lots of shops and some familiar establishments…

No, we did not eat here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked to the Old Port on the St. Lawrence River.  The ferris wheel-like structure in the picture below is called La Grande Roue de Montreal (the Montreal Observation Wheel).  It was built for the 375th anniversary of Montreal and there are 42 climate controlled compartments where riders enjoy panoramic views of the city.

 

Near our hotel was a lovely park in a residential district where we took frequent walks, enjoying the sights and the different architecture…

Breakfast was here two days…these butter filled pastries were amazing…

We also were fortunate to be able to meet up with some of my cousins for lunch one day.

Before we left, I worried that our cucumbers were looking kind of puny.  When we returned…well, let’s just say, I worried for nothing…these things are insane!

We’ll be pickling soon!!

Until next time – Bonne Journee!

Fifty Shades of Green Acres Team!

 

What’s Been Happenin’

When the hay bales dot the field near our house, it’s a sign for us that spring is here and summer is fast approaching.

 

We’ve been busy, working on our garden:

This little guy supervised me as I was working in the garden. I think he has his eye out for an upcoming tasty morsel or two.

 

We planted 75 strawberry plants!

Lettuce in containers

Cucumbers

 

Future Tomatoes! We are optimists.

Baby corn stalks.

 

Peaches!

 

And, we’ve also been busy with other activities.

A few months ago, Mr. Fifty Shades picked up a special delivery – a new item for his shop:

Exciting new projects await this new table saw and its owner:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shop Fox – do they mean the saw or its owner?

 

If you didn’t think things could get any better – well, they could because Mr. Fifty Shades installed an aerator in our pond.  If you live in the big city, a pond can also be referred to as a water feature. 🙂 This was needed to reduce algae, provide more oxygen for the fish (bass and blue gill) and in general create a healthier pond:

 

First, he laid out and constructed a deck near the spring.

Next, he built a chest to house the motor and wired up the electrical system.

The chest sits on top of the newly constructed deck.

Finally, time to paddle out…

…and gently place the aerator in the water…

The aerator runs on a timer and we have it on a schedule of about 12 hours overnight and once for about 15 minutes during the day.  You can see the surface of the pond bubbling away.  So far, it’s made a big difference in the way the pond looks and the fish have given it a two fins up approval rating!!

That’s it for now, but more to come soon.

Until next time,