 TURKANA FARMS, LLCGreen E-Market Bulletin February 4, 2024 Nilufer waits for a lift Photo by Mark ScherzerFor Those Who Need a Little Extra HelpHi all, Mark here.I have a bothersome earworm. In my case, it’s not a song, but a radio advertisement that keeps running in my head whenever I go to the barn. It pitches a chain of “senior living centers” for people who enjoy socializing with other active seniors, but with enhanced facilities for those “who need a little extra help.”The ad annoys me because of that euphemism of “a little extra help.” It strikes me that if you need to be in one of these “enhanced” facilities you probably need more than just an occasional hand. Why can’t we acknowledge the need plainly?It pops into my mind because my oldest ewe, Nilufer, is getting to where she needs that “little extra help”. For many months she and her next oldest age mate, Lale, have been very slow to stand up in the morning. They don’t rise until I am on the verge of putting their grain treat in their bowls. But for several days last week, Nilufer wasn’t just delaying. When the time came, no matter how hard she pushed, she simply didn’t seem to have the strength to get up.The first time it happened, Eric was with me. Together we lifted her to a standing position, from which she was able to walk quite well and unassisted. The next morning, doing chores alone, I observed that Nilufer was sleeping up against the wall, which she used to lean on for support as she tried to thrust herself to standing. But it turned out she still needed a little lift from me. Thankfully, because Eric had to go back to the City, I ultimately figured how to get her up myself without the wall’s support by lifting her hips. Lately, when we check in by phone, Eric’s first question is often “Was Nilufer standing this morning?”Nilufer did bounce back after several days, and she was again standing with the others most recent mornings when I got to the barn. But at feeding time, because she’s no longer as strong as the other sheep, they often push her out of the way to get to the grain bowls. She has trouble getting an equitable portion of that special treat. She has taken to coming to me to be fed directly from the grain bucket. More extra help.Friday, when I filled their bowls and opened the barn doors, leading to the usual charge in for the grain, I looked for Nilufer, expecting her to come to me for the grain in the bucket. There was no sign of her as I surveyed the barn. As I began to head out to see if she was still in the pasture, I found her on her side on the floor, feet still running, trying to get up. She had apparently slipped during the charge for the food, and couldn’t right herself.This being a farm, the question of course arises whether it is time to cull Nilufer. It has been at least three years since she last produced a lamb. We didn’t shear her this fall. Her fleece was scraggly and felted from her rubbing herself against the barn walls, and it grows back so slowly now that she would not have been warm enough this winter if she had been shorn in November. She is no longer of economic value.But culling is out of the question. Born on a cold January morning in 2008, Nilufer was the only lamb ever delivered by a veterinarian here. Her mother had preeclampsia and did not survive the birth. As a result, Nilufer was bottle fed. She did not detach herself from the herd in the way that Sultana, the other bottle-fed ewe of her era, did; she was never tempted to abandon the herd to consort with us humans. But she nevertheless always greeted us and showed us great affection, which we returned. She also handed on the genes for blond and tawny brown wool that give our herd delightful color variation. No way am I killing her before the time when it will be a mercy to do so.I ask myself, if there were assisted living facilities for sheep, would I put her in one? Again, the answer is no. Certainly one could imagine a facility where frail sheep could sit together all day in pens and be fed without competition and without having to get up. The way we warehouse people who need a whole lot of extra help.But as part of an intergenerational herd, Nilufer craves to do what the group is doing. When they go out to graze, as they do whenever the snow melts off the pasture this mild winter, she goes with them. All the walking benefits her physically, while moving as a member of the troupe, as sheep do on pasture through a mysterious choreography that we humans can’t quite comprehend, is good for her mental health. This has been her life for 16 years and she has not yet tired of it.Nilufer is not the only critter needing a little extra help. As I predicted, our annual lambalanche of births began in earnest this Saturday, when three ewes lambed. The new mothers, protecting their lambs, tend to stay behind in the barn when I shoo everyone else out to fill the grain bowls. These new lambs also need a little extra help, and they keep Nilufer company.Giving Nilufer that little extra boost is simply giving her the chance I want others to give me when I’m at her stage of life. Let me stay part of an intergenerational herd, in my usual environment, even if I need a little extra help. I hope my keepers will cooperate. Saturday’s lamb needs some extra help too photo by Mark ScherzerAttention Christmas Tree DismantlersYour unsprayed Christmas trees, once denuded of decorations, become a welcome snack for the sheep. Feel free to drop yours by.WHAT’S AVAILABLE THIS WEEKEggs are plentiful and about to get more so, as the new chickens I started in August will start laying soon.In the red meat department, frozen lamb:Butterflied legs of lamb $16/lbRib or Loin chops (packs of 2) $14/lb Small racks of lamb $14/lb Riblets (breast of lamb) $8/lb Lamb shanks (packs of 2) $12/lbI am about to schedule lambs to go to market, so you can also order a whole or half lamb, cut to your specifications, for $7/lb hanging weight.In the not so red meat department, frozen heritage breed turkeys, raised on organic grain, see below, $12/lbIn the yellow and white palette: Eggs: $6/dozen  WHAT ELSE IS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK –AN 1878 SQUARE GRAND PIANO FREEThat’s right folks, I have finally as of July 27 received a Department of Environmental Conservation permit to transfer this antique piano, with its ivory keys. It has a venerable history and I want to find it a good home. You’d just need to come get it. Please email me at markscherzer@gmail.com or call at 917-544-6464 if you’d like to make it yours.HOW ABOUT A NEW YEAR’S TURKEY?HERITAGE BREED TURKEYS: This year we raised Holland Whites, Chocolates and Blue Slates. We still have frozen a couple in the 8 to 9 lb range, and about 6 birds ranging from 11 to 15 lbs. They were delicious for Thanksgiving. Fed on organic feed, pastured all day once they got big enough to go out, $12 lb  FARM PICKUPS:Email us your order at farm@turkanafarms.com, and let us know when you’d like to pick up your order. It will be put out for you on the side screened porch of the farmhouse (110 Lasher Ave., Germantown) in a bag. You can leave cash or a check in the now famous pineapple on the porch table. Because I’m now here full time, we’re abandoning regular pick-up times. Let us know when you want your order any day between 10 and 5, and unless there are unusual circumstances we’ll be able to ready it to your convenience. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to call or text at 917-544-6464 or email. HEAR OUR SHOWIf you’d enjoy hearing these bulletins out loud instead of reading them, we broadcast them on Robin Hood Radio, the nation’s smallest NPR station. You can find it on FM 91.9, AM 1020, WBSL-FM 91.7 “The Voice of Berkshire School” or streaming on the web at www.robinhoodradio.com, where podcasts of past broadcasts are also available under the title AgriCulture in the “On Demand” section. FM 91.7 “The Voice of Berkshire School”can be heard from just south of Pittsfield to the CT border. You can hear the station on WHDD FM 91.9 from Ashley Falls, MA down through the Cornwalls and in NY from just south of Hillsdale down to Dover Plains. You can hear the station on AM1020 from Stockbridge, MA to Kent and from Poughkeepsie to Pawling to Kent, Goshen, Torrington, Norfolk, and Ashley. Recently added for those in the Route 22 corridor from Ancram down to Pawling is FM frequency 97.5 And of course you can listen in our own neighborhood of Southwestern Columbia and Northwestern Dutchess County, where it is being broadcast from Annandale on Hudson, 88.1 FM. FOLLOW USThe bulletins may also now be found in written form on line as well, at the Germantown, NY, portal ofhttp://imby.com/germantown/userblogs/agriculture-turkana-farms/ |
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