3/19/2020
(Above: I made 10 more bags just before noon today – all are bound for Jacobhouse tomorrow morning.)
Active Summary: After the early morning regimen, I wrote for about 1.25 hours, and then worked on macroeconomics until 10 AM. At that point, I ventured outdoors and tended to a variety of tasks: filling 10 more bags with compost for the bag/bucket garden (more in final note), making a Master Blend beef sale, putting the Frensel lens into a frame, and performing a second beef pasture check with Padre. This was ensued by a visit to the studio and then by my preparing lunch at Jacobhouse. Today it was grilled roundsteak served with homemade grilled-tomato/rapini/kale/arugula/garlic/butter noodles.
(5:33 PM Update:) This afternoon consisted of working on some Master Blend signage and helping Padre tend to farm activities (cow feeding / catching / feed-forking). We are presently taking a break while the outdoors and cows both have time to cool down, so I’m presently writing the remainder of this entry before working a tad more on the signs I started earlier.
TIL: After discovering tomato-grilling to be a messy (albeit delicious) affair which left my grill grates in need of a scraping, I decided to look online to see if there was a neater way of cooking them. Apparently, I did almost everything correctly; I cut them and placed the slices in a soak of olive oil, salt, and pepper. However, I did err when it came to the slicing. Apparently, grilled tomatoes stay together much better if they are sliced horizontally in half rather than vertically.
Commentary: A bit of an interesting phenomenon has occurred due to the influx of this so-named Corona virus, and that is a revival and/or drastic pickup in the beef selling business. Two (three* as of 3:03 PM) of the people I have spoken with thus far have told me of how the stores in this area aren’t selling beef let alone hardly any other meat, and one of the haulers that bring feed to our farm told Padre the same. I am uncertain why meat is allowed to run so low in stores while potato chips – an ‘essential service’ – are not, but I will happily take the additional business.
Final Note: Tomorrow I hope to find a place for and to plant the two types of tomatoes I received from Southern Exposure. As previously stated, I cannot place them near the other bag/bucket garden because they will cross-pollinate with the bell pepper plants. So, I think I may end up placing them directly to the west of garden #1 outside of the fence and next to the arugula. They can get watered there, and simultaneously, they can use the fence as a trellis.
As for additional activities, tomorrow I intend to perform the weekly Jacobhouse cleaning and to continue work on the sign I mentioned above. I plan on it stating ‘USDA Inspected Beef Sold Here!’ or something along those lines. Then on the left side, I think I’ll have smaller signs which state: ‘Open – Call (352)807-5709 for assisstance’ or ‘Closed – Call (352)807-5709 for info/hours’. If this virus shenanigan lasts for as long as I think it will (a few more months yet), I reckon a few inexpensive signs will more than pay for themselves.
*Shae, a friend of mine who manages a Winn Dixie nearby, contacted me today to say that ‘most places are about out of [all] meat and that everyone is 100% out of ground beef’.