(Above: As the Campaign Email for Masterblendbeef.com said, “No matter whether you’re an Angus, Belgian Blue, Gaur, Wagyu, Wagyner Blue, or something else entirely, we all end up in the box. Let’s make the most of the time we have before then , eh?” )
5/22/2022: Today began in the low 70s and warmed into the mid-80s. Mostly cloudy.
Dawn of 5/22/2022: As mud returns to high-traffic areas, verdure and growth returns to the pastures. 
The Fast Feed Morning: ‘Fast feed mornings’ entail feeding every or almost every herd without stopping to tend to other tasks in the middle. It took about 1.5 hours today, which wasn’t bad considering that a few of the troughs had to be ‘bailed out’ due to the prior evening’s rain. 
A tree-snail (one of many) found during my time helping Padre. By the way, I neglected to include a photo of lunch after this. I’ll blame my ravening appetite. Lunch consisted of leftover beef-shank soup served in baked potato ‘boats’ and accompanied by a Padre-made & Madre-dressed cucumber salad. 
#41 – Week 3. 
Sunflowers during late-day – 5/22/2022. This is one of my favorite natural wonders of the farm. The colors indicate an epitome of life, and the scent, though discernible, is subtle and fresh. 
Dinner of 5/22/2022: Parmesan & black pepper encrusted eggs accompanied by a Padre-wrought and Jacob-dressed salad. Saludable y delicioso. 
Dessert consisted of a few blueberries and a sliced banana sprinkled with cinnamon.
5/23/2022: Today began in the low 70s and warmed into the low 90s. No rain but partially cloudy and quite humid.
Morning of 5/23/2022: Padre, Wag, and I venture out to the south eastern-most pasture to tag a couple newborn calves. 
Mid-morning task: Padre, Wag, and I caught 4 bovines out of this group for pinkeye treatments and a number of others for ear tag replacements. 
A fence installed around a mud puddle in the green / hill lot to prevent bovines from laying in it during the day’s heat. 
Lunch today: The final trip to Lorito’s before Madre’s departure out west to go visit my brother. The salad today was exceptionally fresh. 
A slice of delectably cheesy pizza. 
During my manufacturing the spice-rub for tonight’s short ribs, I used the molcajete to grind black pepper. It was a swift and effective process. 
A panel of privacy fence pulled from the hay barn for future use in the Master Blend freezer room. It will be utilized to hide the storage area at the east side of the room. 
The same panel after having years of cattle-stirred dust swept off onto the ground. 
Dinner preparations for 5/23/2022: A few pieces of Angus short rib seared on a cast iron skillet. 
One of the previously seen short ribs rested atop a bed of Padre-made & Jacob-dressed salad. 
A fine medium-rare, and for short ribs, quite tender. Delicious. 
Dessert: 5 strawberries, 15 grapes, and a banana. All sliced and arranged on a plate for ocular and gustatory enjoyment.
5/24/2022: Today began in the low 70s and proceeded to warm into the low 90s. Mostly sunny, with a few clouds.
Morning of 5/24/2022: Padre and Wag IV’ed an ailing Wagyu calf as I checked heats in the south-easternmost beef pasture. 
Broiler-blackened tomatoes and garden-grown cachucha peppers bound for some homemade salsa later in the day. 
The sheep (5/24/2022). 
Lunch today consisted of migas (mixture of eggs, tortillas, and mozzarella fried & baked in beef tallow) topped with homemade salsa & sour cream. Accompanied by plenty of Romaine lettuce. 
Sunflowers beneath a summer sky (5/24/2022). 
The central pasture during the late-afternoon beef pasture inspection. 
A (successful) hard-baked eggsperiment. I covered a muffin tray with foil, indenting the foil inward ever so slightly into each cup. The eggs rested in these ‘nests’ and thus did not touch the metal of the pan. I cooked them for 25 minutes at 325 F, and afterward, placed them into a bath of ice water. They turned out extremely well and did not have any of the brown spots that usually accompany hard-baked eggs. 
The result: Hard-boiled eggs with moist yolks of livid yellow hue. Perfect for placement atop a Padre-made & Jacob-dressed salad. 
A dessert disasterpiece: My attempts to arrange this dessert into a fine display were marred by the plate’s having been dirtied with banana-and-cinnamon remnants. There were also pieces of grape-stem laying discarded to the side. Fortunately, it tasted much better than it looked.
5/25/2022: Today began in the low 70s and proceeded to warm into the low 90s. Partly cloudy with hazy skies and constant breeze.
Dawn of 5/25/2022 over the sunflowers. 
A pretty day at Salt Springs. Due to cloud cover, the water felt a tad more frigid than usual, but it was still a pleasant swim. I should also note that, while swimming, I spotted a fresh-water flounder next to the central spring. It was a very strange surprise. 
Lunch: A delicious meal at Latinos y Más. I decided to try the ‘giant chicken burrito’ today, and it was excellent. My only complaint is that the guacamole was not quite as good as my own. (Now that I know how to make my own guacamole, though, I can make it as acidic or salty as I want. Restaurants have to take a one-size-fits-all approach). 
One of the recently acquired ‘Shellhammer cattle’ (bovines of terrible behavior) finally decided to eat at the trough today. 
This Piedmontese cow gave birth to twin Belgian Blue calves yesterday. Between the two of them, she lost over 170 lbs of body weight! It’s fortunate that they were born early. 
The flock (5/25/2022). 
Jacob toting one of the previously shown twins to a place both sandy and shady. 
A new ‘spring’ starting under the impressive oak just south of Jacobhouse. I will be working on it tomorrow. 
Dinner preparations for 5/25/2022. The skillet was quite full. 
Dinner of 5/25/2022: A repast of skillet-seared Wagyu short ribs accompanied by a Padre-wrought & Jacob-dressed salad.
5/26/2022: Today began in the low 70s and proceeded to warm into the low 90s. Clouds kept it from warming much further.
Dawn of 5/26/2022 in the south-easternmost beef pasture. 
Sheep (with the one named Jacob peering directly at his namesake). 
A brief morning project of 5/26/2022: Fixing / strengthening a small section of fence about 60 feet east of Jacobhouse. 
The fixed fence. 
Lunch of 5/26/2022: A delectable lunch salad topped with hard-boiled eggs. 
Dessert: An edible arrangement consisting of 3 strawberries, 1 banana, and a 5 blueberries (one of which should count as 2… it was attempting mitosis). 
An uncooked pie I made using my standard pie-dough and a plenitude of fresh black berries that my cousins picked from the wild bushes growing on their property. 
Another afternoon cooking task: An attempt at making whipped cream with 3 month old heavy cream. Unfortunately, the cream had separated, leaving a few thick clots in the bottom of the container. When I attempted to whisk it all together together, some of the clumps got caught in my whisk and an explosion resulted. The end result was tasty albeit a tad chunky, so I ended up throwing it away. It’s probably for best that I don’t give my cousins ‘aged’ whipped cream to go with their wild-blackberry pie. 
Beef boxes arrived today. There were some vessels, but only 3 were rendered unusable. Mostly unusable. We actually did use them to take a special photo for the Master Blend email campaign (shown later in this slide series). 
After a brief flurry of activity, Padre and I had the beef boxes stacked soundly in the Master Blend freezer room. 
The cooked wild-blackberry pie. 
As the Campaign Email for Masterblendbeef.com said: “No matter whether you’re an Angus, Belgian Blue, Gaur, Wagyu, Wagyner Blue, or something else entirely, we all end up in the box. Let’s make the most of the time we have before then , eh?” 
Dinner of 5/27/2022: A skillet-seared Belgian Blue burger-steak accompanied by cucumber salad and spicy mustard. 
Dessert: A Granny Smith apple generously dusted with cinnamon.
5/27/2022: Today began in the 70s and warmed to the high 80s. Starting at noon, rain fell intermittently.
Morning of 5/27/2022: The first farm task for today was to splice the bottom board back together and tighten the barbed wire. This picture was taken after the job was complete. 
Second fence repair of 5/27/2022: A bovine recently broke out of this pen, so I needed to take down the old, shattered board and replace it with a new one. 
… and fixed. Mostly. The second board from the top could do with a bit of straightening, but it is old and very warped. 
For some reason, this fellow has been given the name ‘Jacob’. Who knows why? 
The midday beef pasture inspection, looking west across the south-easternmost pasture (5/27/2022). 
Lunch consisted of tallow-fried eggs accompanied by a Padre-made & Jacob-dressed salad. 
Padre feeding King Gaur (Elray), a year after that mighty bovine’s birth. 
A sunflower growing from one of the seeds that a bird dropped from the feeder above. 
A photogenic picture of two ground-beef patties (freshly salted) atop a wooden cutting board. 
Dinner for 5/27/2022: A Belgian Blue burger-steak accompanied by Padre-wrought & Jacob-dressed cucumber salad. 
That aforementioned fruit-bowl. 
An especially sizeable strawberry selected for the evening’s fruit bowl. 
The dessert conglomeration of Fage Greek Yogurt, chopped strawberries, and a few blueberries. This, in my opinion (and Padre’s) is far better than ice-cream bedecked with the same berries.
5/28/2022: Today began in the low 70s and warmed into the Mid-80s. Mostly sunny, except for the morning which was quite foggy at the beginning.
Dawn of 5/28/2022: Lanin Kalanchoe and Pink purslane bask in the moisture of the early hours. 
The oak just south of Jacobhouse. 
Shaggy ink-caps at dawn in the central pasture (5/28/2022). 
Those same shaggy inkcaps albeit with a better look at their true coloring. 
Sunflowers beneath the rising sun on a misty morning (5/28/2022). 
A foggy scene in the south-easternmost beef pasture (5/28/2022). 
Lunch: A delectable repast from Sushi Bistro. The sushi was fresh, and seaweed in the Miso soup was exceptional in both texture (tender) and flavor (almost savory). 
Dinner: Roasted farm-raised chicken from my cousin, Dana, along with a salad inundated with chopped boiled eggs from her chickens. 
Plated up – a fine meal of chicken & salad to end the day.
Final Note: Between Madre’s venturing off to Seattle to visit my brother, the accordion & piano experimentation, the faux spring beneath the oak, and the arrival of the Master Blend beef boxes, this was an interesting week. It’s just another example of how change – in spite of the sometimes accompanying discomfort – brings variety and novelty to life.
No doubt another interesting week. As for change, I think it’s definitely good for the brain.