11/21/19
(Above: The thinned row of arugula appearing quite healthy beneath the sunset’s luminance.)
Active Summary: After this morning’s beef pasture check, I tended to quite a variety of activities including: bringing IV bottles up to a temperature of 103 F, carrying freezer bins to the grain room and sorting out PVC pieces into them, helping IV a calf (the same calf we have been bottle feeding the past few mornings), sawing / chopping up some red oak wood-chips for the smoker, putting together a Master Blend order, and thinning Arugula in the garden.
(6:25 PM Update:) This afternoon, I made bread dough for the evening meal, helped tend to the cattle, applied hinges to and installed a gate on the new barn-entrance-post from yesterday, and thinned a little bit more of the arugula row. Now, I’m writing this entry while the French bread bakes.
TIL: Today I learned about collecting woodchips for the electric smoker. They must be taken from wood that has been dried – purposefully* or otherwise – for quite some time, and if possible, that wood should not have bark on it. Bark harbors mold and insects. Neither of these are harmful, but they do supposedly add a bitter taste to the meat. It should also be noted that wood chips do not need to be soaked in water pre-smoking. A lot of people think that wet wood produces more smoke, but it does not. The initial white vapor is actually just steam. Thus, the only time it is worth soaking woodchips is if one marinates them in coffee, juice, alcohol, or etc.
Commentary: It was a pleasant day. Temperatures, though quite frigid at the start (41 F), rose to a high of 73 F. I was consequently able to write this morning with the sliding screen door being the only true separator between me and the garden.
Red Oak chips for the smoker. Earlier, they smelled slightly earthy, but after leaving them to dry in the sun they now possess a strong ‘oakey’ fragrance. I look forward to seeing how they taste… as smoke, of course. 
Another image of the smoker just before nightfall. One day, I shall procure a picture in full daylight. 
Loaves of fresh French Bread destined to be made into Prosciutto sandwiches this evening.
Final Note: Tomorrow, I intend to continue thinning seedlings in the garden. I’m almost done with the arugula row, so the next plants to tend will be the snap-peas across the lot. I will also be working more on the Master Blend freezer room before returning to Jacobhouse and performing the weekly cleaning.
*When wood is purposefully dried, it is called ‘seasoned’ wood.