7/16/2020 – Find Walden

7/16/2020

[Above: A ‘Walnut caterpillar’ (Datana integerrima) at dawn.]

Active Summary: Today began with calisthenic exercises, a beef pasture check, and then my return to Jacobhouse where I tended to clothing and kitchen tasks before engaging in a few hours of writing. It was about 11:15 AM when I started potatoes baking for lunch, and at 12:10 PM, I reverse seared some home-grown porkchops* and sautéed a plenitude of mushrooms (though there are never enough). Lunch occurred at about 12:35 PM.

Last night’s dinner of New York Strip and a salad dressed with pan-drippings and balsamic vinegar.
Image of a rainbow captured just before last night’s beef pasture inspection.
A lunch of home-grown pork chop topped with mushrooms, a baked potato, and cucumber salad.

**This evening’s prey**. A fine specimen of the Jubilee watermelon variety.

(5:31 PM Update:) This afternoon I rested and wrote until about 3:00 PM. It was at that point I departed for the outdoors where I helped with a variety of farm-related tasks, including: cow catching, herd inspection, IV’ing a heat-weakened calf, and moving many buckets of hydraulic / motor oil into the garage. After all that was complete, Padre and I took a seltzer break and I returned to Jacobhouse where I am presently putting together today’s entry before cutting up a watermelon.

Final Note: After watermelon slicing, I believe the only tasks remaining to this day will be to perform the day’s final herd inspection with Padre and to consume a dinner of the aforementioned melon.

*Chops which had been dry-brining beneath a rub of sugar & salt for almost 24 hours.