| TURKANA FARMS, LLC |
| Green E-Market Bulletin April 10, 2025 |
 Lisette sticking with 272 and Louisette – photo by Mark Scherzer |
| Lisette Has Two MomsHi all, Mark here. Happy Passover and Good Palm Sunday.The title of this bulletin is “Lisette Has Two Moms.” Despite the title, please don’t even consider removing this story from the library shelves at the U.S. Military Academy, or barring it from the performance calendar at the Kennedy Center. It’s not Woke, even though it’s about an awakening. My new favorite lamb, Lisette, is learning to navigate this complicated world.I introduced you to Lisette a couple of weeks ago. She was born to a very young mother who was somewhat neglectful and didn’t seem to have a great deal of milk. I got concerned that Lisette was failing after the first few days of life. A bottle of lamb formula, most of which she gulped down, seemed to give her the kind of boost she needed to be more insistent about following and nursing from her mom.Her inspiring will to live turned out not to be the end of the story. No matter how consistently she stuck with mom, she still seemed perpetually hungry. When the flock was milling around, she would constantly hunt for another udder to nurse from. She would try virtually anyone, including old barren ewes and castrated males (wethers), usually for no payoff.Lisette remained tiny, her health and energy uneven. I continued to offer her formula, which she sometimes took, other times resisted. When she was six days old, she got diarrhea, which sent me into a bit of panic (diarrhea can be deadly in lambs), and one of her eyes seemed nearly glued shut. Following guidance I found on line, I got Pepto Bismol and sugar-free unflavored Gatorade, the former to calm her stomach and the latter to restore electrolytes and prevent dehydration. They helped.The same day she got diarrhea, one of our older ewes, ear tag number 272, gave birth to a little ewe lamb. Like Lisette, this lamb was all black, and though she was six days younger, was already just as big as Lisette. I would be hard pressed to tell them apart. Out of devilment, Eric named the newer lamb Louisette.At this point I was keeping pretty close track of Lisette, and the next day I noticed her approaching 272 and starting to nurse. The ewe did not kick her away, as most ewes would when a strange lamb approaches. A few seconds later, when Louisette came around the other side, they continued nursing as if they were twins.By the time two days had gone by, while diarrhea had resolved, Lisette was still not quite the picture of health. Eric’s friend Susan, visiting for the weekend, noticed right away that she seemed to be shivering and standing with a weird posture. I gave her more Gatorade, followed by a little formula, and left the barn for Saturday evening not entirely confident of her fate.But by Sunday, Lisette had bounced back big time. Susan, again accompanying me at chore time, exclaimed “She’s positively gamboling;” it brought to mind the line from Psalm 114 in the Passover Haggadah: “the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like young sheep.” I believe her recovery and robust playfulness was thanks to 272’s regular and ample milk supply.At first I thought 272 allowed Lisette to nurse because she was confused, as I had been, over which lamb was which. But I’m now convinced that this is one of those occasional cases of lamb adoption. It became evident a few days later, when coming up for evening chores I found 272 alone with Louisette near the compost pile, baaa-ing in the frantic plaintive way ewes do if their lamb is lost. Even though her own lamb was with her, she didn’t stop crying until I led her back to the barn, where she found Lisette.I once read a highly entertaining book about how hormones shape animal behavior. It resonated; I felt it explained well the sway hormones had over my own life at the time. I was particularly intrigued by the description of how farmers could induce a lactating ewe to adopt an orphan lamb by sexually exciting the ewe, stimulating a flow of oxytocin, and simultaneously putting the orphan in front of her. As to how farmers discovered this trick, the book pointed out, you shouldn’t ask.I’ve since been unable to find the book again, but searching for it I found an impressive body of scientific literature about this adoption strategy, in such articles as “Vaginocervical stimulation of Ewes induces the rapid formation of a new bond with an alien young without interfering with a previous bond.” in the journal Developmental Psychobiology. You can find it in the National Library of Medicine’s Pubmed data base, if you act before the DOGE science-wrecking ball erases it.How did Lisette’s adoption come about? I swear, I had nothing to do with it. But it’s been fascinating to watch its evolution, because Lisette and her real mom, 376, never fully abandoned each other. They still sleep together every night, but Lisette divides her time. |
 Both yesterday and today when I arrived for morning chores I found Lisette with Louisette and 272 all together out on pasture near the majority of the flock. Both days the three of them came into the barn when I arrived (picture above), leaving real mom (376) out in the east pasture. When I kicked those in the barn out to the south pasture to prepare the feed bowls, Lisette realized she was the opposite side of the fence from real mom, and they tried desperately to reunite, nosing each other through the fence (pic at right). Yesterday, I lifted her over the fence, and she proceeded to nurse from real mom (pic below). Today, I decided not to intervene in her balancing act. |
| How will Lisette keep both her cherished connection with her real mom and her absolutely essential tie to a step-mother who seems equally devoted to her? It’s hard to predict, but I expect, in making this family structure work for her, that Lisette will develop into one of the more complex ewe personalities on the farm. |
 Lisette nurses from real mom Photo by Mark Scherzer |
| À Nos Lecteurs Canadien |
 At Hands Off Kingston Photo by Mark Scherzer |
 Un drapeau a Bas les Pattes photo pris par Mark ScherzerJe vous apporte un message de la manifestation “Hands Off” (“Bas les Pattes”) du 5 avril dernier à Kingston, New York. J’y ai rencontré ces gentilles femmes, et leur ai demandé si je pouvais les prendre en photo afin de partager avec vous leurs efforts de contestation. Il y avait plusieurs autres manifestants portants de grands drapeaux canadiens.Mon message est le suivant : vous nous manquez beaucoup, mais comprenons parfaitement pourquoi vous ne venez plus ici. Nous souhaitons que votre boycottage soit une part importante au succes de la résistance à ce régime qui ne respecte ni loi ni l’amitié entre nos nations. Ensemble, “venceremos.” |
| Want to see the movie “Bergers”?I’ve written about both the excellent Canadian movie, Bergers (Shepherds), directed by Sophie Deraspe, and the novel on which it was based, by Mathyas LeFebure. Now you can see the movie. It is being screened at the beautiful Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, Connecticut, this Sunday, April 13, at 2 p.m. A $10 ticket also buys you admission to a pre-show reception at 1:30 p.m., where Québécois beer and cheese will be served. It is sponsored by the Québéc delegation to Boston. |
| TURKEYOur turkeys (this year we raised Blue Slates and Bourbon Reds, heritage breeds preserved for their exceptional flavor) were processed the week before Thanksgiving.We have a good number in the 7 to 9 lb. range and some in the 14 to 15 lb range, with one big 18 lb tom as well in the freezer. .These birds are far slower growing than broad breasted turkeys, able to develop fat that insures richer flavor. These have been fed on organic grain from Stone House Farm, supplemented by what they find in nature from flying, roaming and grazing by day (not the sedentary lives of supermarket turkeys). If you care about how the bird who’s been sacrificed for your table has lived, you should check out Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer’s essay, “Let’s End this Turkey Pardoning Nonsense,” in the November 22 New York Times.$12/lb |
| WHAT’S AVAILABLE THIS WEEKEGGS ARE BACK STILL WITH US! DESPITE THE CARNAGE, THE REMAINING HENS ARE STILL DOING THEIR THING, PRODUCING ENOUGH FOR OUR REGULARS. $6 a dozenIn the red meat department, frozen lamb:Butterflied legs of lamb $16/lb Rib or Loin chops (packs of 2) $14/lb Small racks of lamb $14/lb Riblets (breast of lamb) $8/lbCOMING SOON: Sorrel is up, will be big enough to pick in a week or so. |
 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/ |
| ©2025 Turkana Farms, LLC | 110 Lasher Avenue, Germantown, NY 12526 |
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