(Above: Sunset through an aging barn and over rampant lantana blossoms.)
11/21/2021: A pleasant day beginning in the low 60s and warming to the low 80s. Partly cloudy throughout.
Morning of 11/21/2021: A pretty morning during which Padre and I fed a majority of the cattle.
Lunch: A repast of spiced cubed steak fajitas accompanied by plenty of salad. Plenty.
Afternoon activity: IV’ing a calf in the central beef pasture. This is the third set of two bottles, but as I write this a day later, I can say that the calf is up, about, and doing very well.
Dusk of 11/22/2021, looking into lands west of central beef pasture.
Dinner: Wagyner Blue cubed steak accompanied by a baked potato and more greens.
11/22/2021: A cool day ranging from the low 60s to the mid 70s. Cloudy throughout with showers in the morning.
Morning of 11/22/2021. One of the day’s early projects included adding this new board to the postern side of the feed trough to fortify the structure and to keep cows from poking their heads through.
Another task included conducting another loader-escort to the east pasture for lime rock placement.
Escort complete.
The result of our efforts.
A brief time later, when conducting a beef herd inspection, I found two bald eagles roosting in a tree at the crest of the central pasture. They flew from their perch as soon as I started taking pictures.
Lunch today occurred at Lorito’s. Through a minor error, we received Greek Salad instead of Italian-dressed Garden Salad. It ended up being a delicious mistake that may be ‘repeated’ again in the future.
Delicious NY style pizza. It was interesting; as I was talking with Padre and Madre about a Devonshire Cream experiment I was working on, the restaurant owner Billy overheard us and stated that he, too, thought that the result was very similar to Mascarpone Cheese. The ways in which Devon Cream and Mascarpone are made are completely different, but the similarity in texture and flavor is remarkable.
Dusk of 11/22/2021.
The same dusk, progressed about twenty-five minutes.
Sunset through an aging barn and over lantana blossoms.
The Devon-cream experiment. The ‘clots’ on the surface are the results which taste so much like mascarpone.
Dinner: Egg & beef tacos accompanied by a Padre-made salad.
11/23/2021: A day beginning briskly in the 40s and warming to the high 60s. Sunny throughout.
Morning of 11/23/2021: Cool and sunny in the central beef pasture.
A half-wild creature (a Gaur & Simental hybrid) peering intently at the crouching cameraman.
On performing a second orbit around the creature, it grew somewhat annoyed.
Lunch today consisted of a couple Wagyner Blue burger-steaks accompanied by plenty of Padre-made & Madre-dressed salad.
Evening of 11/23/2021: Lasagna class at the Fat Tuscan Café. During the ensuing two hours, I reviewed Bolognese-Sauce-Making, learned a new method to make a Béchamel sauce, and…
Constructed a lasagna for Thanksgiving! It contained: noodles (of course), Sun-dried tomato pesto rosso, roasted peppers, mozzarella cheese, and two sauces… Bolognese and Béchamel.
11/24/2021: Today began in the low 40s and proceeded to warm to the low 70s. Sunny throughout.
Ritsabittle #43 – A dip in Salt Springs on a cool autumnal morning. When I went into the spring, the air temperature was lower than the water temperature, rendering it comparatively warm.
Lunch at Off-Duty Tavern with Padre and Madre. A fresh salad dressed in a sweet Balsamic vinaigrette.
The main course: a hearty lamb stew. Perfect for a post-swim meal.
Later on in the day, I visited Eduardo’s hydroponic green house. The plants therein have been enjoying the cool weather.
Dinner: A Wagyner Blue shoulder roast baked at 250 F and then seared on a cast iron skillet (basted with Devonshire cream and fresh rosemary).
Served with plenty of Eduardo-grown greens.
A late night project: tending to and pre-cooking this 8 lb ham.
I started off by simmering it for about 1.5 hours in a large pot. After removing the ham, I was left with this broth which I proceeded to reduce overnight.
The baked ham. It looked downright delectable, but I had already brushed my teeth so I refrained from sampling. (The glaze was made from honey, mustard, coriander, sage, powder mustard, and apple cider vinegar).
The result of my late night cooking.
11/25/2021: A day beginning in the low 50s and proceeding to warm into the mid 70s.
A morning activity of 11/26/2021: IV’ing a Wagyu calf with slight acidosis. The little one is now faring better (#601’s heifer).
This is the lasagna I made at Fat Tuscan a couple days ago. In this picture, it has been baked and is ready for consumption. It made Jacobhouse smell like how my Grandma Cook’s house used to smell when she made pizzas for Superbowl Sunday. In other words, my abode smelled delicious.
Lasagna was accompanied by an 8 lb ham and a plethora of salad.
It made for a truly delectable repast.
After simmering the ham for almost 2 hours last night, I was left with a large pot of broth. This, I simmered down into 1 quart and 1 pint of stock.
Mid-afternoon in the eastern pasture.
In the morning, I found a spool that Art (an old fellow who used to possess craftsmanship ability, short stature, and ample whiskers… akin to a mythical dwarf in many respects) made many years ago. I fortified the invention, and placed a new roll of wire on it.
Dinner: Wagyu shoulder-steak fajitas topped with a relish of collard greens, lime, cinnamon, & coconut oil along with an excellent avocado-pulp salsa verde.
A Thanksgiving Day miracle: Dolores has returned. I actually thought the spider had either died or departed, but that is fortunately not the case.
Eating cow tails… and not the candy type.
11/26/2021: A day beginning in the low 50s and warming to the mid 70s. Late-day clouds reduced the temperature prematurely into the 60s.
Lunch of 11/27/2021: Thanksgiving leftovers. We made ham ‘wraps’ by rolling salad up in thin slices. It was delicious…. as was the lasagna, of course.
Mid-afternoon in the hay barn.
Late afternoon in the south-eastern beef pasture. A cold front can be seen approaching from the north.
Another batch of Zuppa Toscana made for lunch tomorrow.
11/27/2021: A day beginning in the high 30s and proceeding to warm into the low 70s. Frost was on the ground for the first time this season.
Dawn of 11/28/2021: Sun rising over feasting bovines and mi Padre.
A recently repaired rustic fence east of Jacobhouse.
Another repaired fence behind the old hay barn. The lower-most boards were being forced outward by dirt ad mud, so my task was to dig out the ‘offending’ material and refasten the boards to the posts.
Cystorelin. This drug initiates release of a lutenizing hormone which causes an ovarian follicle, the place where an egg was housed and matured, to develop into a corpus luteum. The corpus luteum produces hormones estrogen and progesterone – the latter being especially important because that is the hormone which changes the uterus into a healthy environment for fetal development and growth.
I am beginning to see why people consider reproduction a miraculous process.
A bowl full o’ Zuppa Toscana. Delightful after a long and cool morning on the farm.
Beauty-berries & smilax berries in late autumn.
Dinner tonight consisted of beef fajitas mixed with sautéed peppers, red onion, garlic, green papaya (reminiscent of potato), and spices.
Final Note: “Getting” to do things is better than “having” to do things. It is interesting what one word can change.
1 thought on “Week of 11/21/2021 – Late Autumn in Central Florida”
Padre
Agree, getting, a pleasure… having, a chore… Much appreciated your post, many great pictures and videos
Agree, getting, a pleasure… having, a chore… Much appreciated your post, many great pictures and videos