 TURKANA FARMS, LLCGreen E-Market Bulletin August 29, 2024 Orhan and Lale, hanging in the barn photo by Mark ScherzerGetting the MessageHi all, Mark here.From time to time during my office day, I stick my head out of the bathroom window upstairs, which faces toward the working part of the farm, to get a sense of what’s going on. I can see, for example, if the turkeys are wandering too far out toward the woods in the north field, and, if so, go out to round them up.Most of the information I gather is audible. If the sheep are contentedly moving about in the pasture, there’s a kind of concentrated quiet interrupted by an occasional low bleat, as a mother, momentarily lost in grazing the grass, reminds herself to keep track of where her lamb is. If the turkeys are there, there is a kind of constant low murmur punctuated by happy sounding chirps.Equally important, I can hear the panicked call from a turkey trapped somewhere, or a lamb that has gotten on the wrong side of a fence and can’t figure out the route back to mama. There’s something about these calls that tell you to get moving right away to the rescue, a universal message of urgency that I believe transcends the language barriers between species. We have no trouble understanding distress calls.One afternoon this week I stuck my head out and heard something novel: distinctive low, gutteral bleats from Lale (since the death of Nilufer, the senior ewe in the sheep herd), followed by a chorus of gobbles from the entire flock of turkeys. Now a skinny old lady, Lale has the deep, voice of an aged cocktail lounge singer who has smoked too many cigarettes. Think two raspy growls from her before the turkeys’ high soprano response: “buuh buuh… Gobblegobblegobblegobble, buuuh buuuh… Gobblegobble gobblegobble, buuuh buuuh… Gobblegobble gobblegobble.” Repeatedly.What was going on here?Lale is a bit of an oddball. She now enjoys something of a privileged position in the herd, because she needs to take three arthritis pills every day. To get them down her throat, I’ve trained her to a come into a separate pen in advance of the general feeding, where she is happy to devour her pills mixed in with a handful of grain.But Lale has always behaved idiosyncratically, which I attribute to her having been sold to another farm as a lamb and returned here five years later when they decided to go out of the sheep business. She has often wandered off to graze separately from the rest of the herd. Sometimes she lolls in the barn, alone or with our lazy old wether, Orhan, when the others go out in the afternoon. Lately, she has hung out just north of the barn with the turkeys, munching on mugwort, while the rest of the sheep are out eating grass in the more distant pasture. She was there when I heard the exchange.I had to wonder: Was Lale just entertaining herself? We’ve often engaged the turkeys this way ourselves. I don’t quite understand why a high pitched call of “beeeautifulll” from me or a ululation by Eric elicits this response, but the “conversation” is highly entertaining. I find that many guests, particularly those under fifteen years of age, thrill to provoking turkey choruses for as long as 15 or 20 minutes.If it wasn’t just entertainment for Lale, was it somehow a real conversation, in which she conveyed some information to the turkeys and they in turn said something to her? If so, I struggled discern what they were saying.Or was she perhaps calling to the other sheep, only inadvertently provoking the turkeys, who were in turn drowning out the sheep talk and requiring Lale to keep trying to send the message to her herd? Were she and the turkeys talking right past each other, each to its own tribe, like MAGA Republicans and progressive Democrats in the same room?The substance of the Lale/turkey exchange may never become clear, but I know communication can succeed across language boundaries. On our recent trip to Quebec, I felt pleased at having crossed a sort of threshold in my ability to converse in French, sometimes on heavy topics like loss of a spouse, love and death, or politics. For the first time, it was the ideas, rather than the use of the language, that most preoccupied me. It was if I had anticipated the advice of that recent NY Times article (“I Kept Failing to Learn French; This is What Finally Worked”): don’t worry so much about your accent and limited vocabulary, just immerse yourself in conversing. True, particularly if I got tired, I would occasionally go blank, unable to even discern the precise topic of discussion, dependent on Eric or the English of my counterparts to rescue me. But for the most part we communicated.I like a communication challenge. I find myself “baaahing” to the sheep in their own language as I’m filling their grain bowls, never quite sure what I’m saying but thinking they find it reassuring nonetheless. And when I use my own language to yell “hey girls” out to them in the field, they know it’s time for a treat, and they come running.In the same spirit as my message to the sheep, I have one for you. As Labor Day approaches, so does the peak of summer production. The pink brandywine tomatoes are huge and juicy; the taste of dark black krims is as intense as their color. Crisp cucumbers abound, for pickles, raita, gazpacho, and more. The large Oasis turnips and their greens are flavorful when cooked, while the small turnips add just the right crunch and nip to your salad. And if your thoughts are turning to fall, it’s now time to order one of our organically fed heritage breed turkeys that will be slaughtered fresh for Thanksgiving.The message, in short, is “come and get it.” Clockwise from top, Pink Brandywine, Golden Jubilee, Rose de Berne and Black Krim tomatoes, photo by Eric RouleauWHAT’S AVAILABLE THIS WEEKIn 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/lbOther cuts imminently arriving.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, plentifulVeggies:Cucumbers, 50 cents each Sorrel $2/bag Horseradish: $4/lb Mint $1 a bunch Spearmint $1 a bunch Tomatoes $3/lb – all varieties Oasis Turnips, large, $2/lb, small salad size, $2/bunch of six Zucchini or Tromboncino squash: $1.00/lb Okra: $5/lbRESERVE THIS YEAR’S TURKEYBecause you asked for it. A turkey regular reminded me that it’s past time to ask you to reserve your heritage breed turkey for this year’s Thanksgiving. Reservation form below.For those of you who can’t wait for Thanksgiving, we still have 6 birds from last year in the freezer, ranging from 12 to 15 lbs. Fed on organic feed, pastured all day once they got big enough to go out, sale price to clear space $8 lb. Great birds!TURKEY RESERVATION FORM 2024 TURKANA FARMS, LLC 110 Lasher Ave Germantown, NY 12526 farm@turkanafarms.com 917-544-6464 Name__________________________ e-mail__________________________________ Address________________________________________ Phone__________________ Please check here if you would like to receive email offerings in season:______________HERITAGE BREED TURKEYS: This year we are raising Bourbon Reds and Blue Slates, which will range from 7 to 18 lbs. Fed on organic feed, pastured all day once they get big enough to go out, protected on perching bars all night. We have arranged slaughter to be able to deliver fresh, not frozen, in Lower Manhattan, at points along the Taconic Parkway, or at the farm. $12 lb plus $5 off premises pick up fee. Note: These sell out early.Number desired: ___________ Approx. weight ________ Pick up place: ___at the farm; ___Lower Manhattan___a point along the Taconic Parkway Please send a deposit of $40 per bird to hold your reservation to Turkana Farms, 110 Lasher Ave., Germantown, NY, 12526. Make check out to Turkana Farms, LLC.(Yes this luddite farm still uses checks). The balance due will be paid at the time of the pick up.  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/ ©2024 Turkana Farms, LLC | 110 Lasher Avenue, Germantown, NY 12526 |
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