Archive | May 2016

While we were away…

May26

We traveled last week…

For this big day…

…but, wait…impossible – she is only 10 years old – she could not be graduating from high school. Well – ok – maybe.

However…

while we were away…

this happened…

…and this…

…and there was also a development with our chickens.

The hens were busy while we were away and laid about 15 eggs. We only collected 5 when we got home.

The reason?

Can you see these two ladies?

Maybe you need a close up view.

Our other ten eggs are under these gals, who have decided to go broody. This means that they want to hatch their eggs and raise chicks. Each hen has about five eggs upon which she is setting. This has happened before and we have discouraged it by removing the hen from the nest and extracting the eggs. This time, Mr. Fifty Shades thinks it will be fun to let them hatch out some chicks. Mr. Fifty Shades is channeling his inner Scarlet O’Hara and thinking…I shall never go eggless again!

Until next time,

Fifty Shades of Green Acres Team

Wishin’ and Hopin’

May14

This is our fourth year planting a garden and each year I’ve found it incredible that from these packets…

….something like this happens…

Today, we’re planting tomato and cucumber plants that we started in our basement from seeds. Once the seeds start growing and begin to show leaves, we bring them to our porch for a few weeks where they harden off in preparation to go into the ground.

And, even though our annual gardens have produced some wonderful vegetables and fruit, every year as we’re planting them into the soil I think – this could never result in an actual tomato, cucumber, corn stalk…So, I find myself wishin’ and a hopin’ this year that our luck will continue!

We’re already seeing signs that it might…

The mesclun mix and arugula show promise…

We harvested our first strawberries of the year yesterday…

And if you get out your magnifying glass… you’ll see that a tiny little sprig of parsley is emerging…

In other news…

Mr. Fifty Shades is determined that we will be able to have a picnic whenever the mood strikes. In the new fenced in area for Sage and Scout (we now call it “the playpen”), we have a new picnic table that he built in his spare time. When we’re working in the garden this year, we’ll have a place to come in and take a break or have a pic-a-nic. 🙂

Hope you’re having a happy spring!

Fifty Shades of Green Acres

En Garde!

May4

Mr. Fifty Shades Takes Up Fencing!

It’s true. Mr. Fifty Shades has been busy this spring planning, laying out, and building a new fenced in area for Scout and Sage.

First – he drilled holes for the fence posts…this unwieldy post hole digger needs to be positioned just right in order for the hole to be straight and to be deep enough. The dimensions of the fence are 160′ by 60′ and there are about 50 post holes.

Next, the posts are set into the holes and then positioned so they are plumb and aligned with all the other posts. Then, mix up a batch of concrete and pour in the hole so the post is stable.

Repeat this process a million times…well…maybe 50 times.

Once a line of posts are in place, plumb and lined up, 48 inch high 2′ x 4′ welded wire stock fence is stretched and staples are nailed in to hold it in place. The stock fence can’t be run continuously in the 100 foot rolls that we purchased it. Instead, because of all the changes in elevation most sections of wire have to be cut in order to make the changes in grade. Then cut all the 4×4 posts to the same 50 inch height and –

…get started with the boards…this trailer has 125 boards on it, each one an inch thick and 6 inches wide, rough-sawn, pressure treated poplar. Honest.

Three boards from post to post…the boards are 16 feet in length…and heavy! Again, because of the changes in elevation, each board had to be cut twice…once on each end to make them plumb and fit against the next or previous board.

While all of this was going on, Mr. Fifty shades constructed three gates. Two are about 3 1/2 feet wide and one is a double- 7 feet wide so we can get the mower, tractor and other equipment into the fenced area.