11/15/19
(Above: An image of Jacobhouse from afar, made blurry by the day’s prevalent mist.)
Active Summary: Today began with my rising from bed, checking on the pot of bone-and-heart broth that I had simmering overnight (more in TIL), executing some calisthenic exercises, and then performing the weekly Jacobhouse cleaning. This was followed by a pleasant beef pasture checkup, some cattle feeding / working activities, and then by my returning home where I wrote for about an hour before heading up to Oldhouse.
(6:12 PM Update:) Afternoon tasks included venturing outdoors to help with the bovines, feeding a calf some colostrum replacer, and checking up on the beef pasture while a rather dense mist ‘fell’*. On returning to Jacobhouse, I tended to the accumulation of fat / skimmings that I had removed from the broth over the past 20 hours.
TIL: Last night, I learned that a great way to simmer broth overnight was to place the entire stockpot in the oven. The stove in Jacobhouse has a digital display, therefore I was able to set it to 210 F. The slight variances of temperature (of 1 – 2 degrees) allowed for the barest of simmers to be maintained throughout the evening hours while simultaneously allowing for much less humidity to escape into Jacobhouse. Also, I didn’t have to leave the range burner on all night, which was also a plus.
Today I also learned that I should not operate the oven hood exhaust vent without opening a window first. As has been found before, operating the vent in such a manner creates a large amount of negative pressure. This, in turn, affects mechanisms that are pressure-sensitive. Jacobhouse does not have many pressure sensitive mechanisms, but I am fairly certain that those who have been reading the blog will readily recall a bit of trouble I have recently experienced with such apparatuses. Perhaps, the entire Surevent shenanigan was caused by my wanting to utilize the ovenhood without siphoning in a whole bunch of cold air from the outdoors. I’m not sure if that was the case with the 3″ vent, but it most certainly was the case last night when I accidentally left the hood running for a few hours with all the windows closed (whereupon I whiffed a fragant waft of Jacobhouse gas). I remedied the resultant odor by turning on the bathroom fan and opening the front window, and by the time I woke up in the morning, only pleasant smells remained (more in commentary).
Commentary: The weather outside today started out as cool-and-rainy and has since progressed to cold-and-damp. I was fairly certain this was going to happen, so last night I began a cooking project: beef bone-and-heart broth. This consisted of my starting two gallons of water boiling at 9:30 PM last night and then tossing in the mentioned beef along with some salt. Since then – excluding the minor lesson mentioned in TIL – Jacobhouse has been kept warm by the oven, and it smells downright delicious. The combination of inclement weather and simmering broth has since transformed my abode into a cozy haven. I suppose this is one of those times where cooking a meal is just as enjoyable as eating it.
Arugula. 
Broccoli. 
Kale. 
Sweet peas. 
Salsify and spinach.
Final Note: Tomorrow is Farmer’s Market day, and I’m fairly certain that a small portion of the morning will be devoted to making noodles for the beef broth. Aside from those two activities along with some writing, I’m not certain what shall transpire. A decision in regard to yesterday’s list has yet to be reached.
*Padre and I decided that instead of falling, the mist was ‘hanging’ in the air. The result was that I could drive my old Segway without getting the machinery too wet, but at the same time, the front of my clothes and my face were coated with moisture. If the temperature was 30 Fahrenheit or so cooler, it probably would have been snowing.