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Pullet eggs and other signs of spring Photo by Mark Scherzer
Spring to LifeHi all, Mark here. Happy President’s Day.I don’t know how it happened, but over the last week the quiet time of winter transformed into the busy time of spring. It’s a month before official spring, but I’m already feeling the pressure.I go through premature spring fever around this time every year when the light shifts, and I don’t have to start afternoon chores until 5 p.m. Sensing that the seasonal shift is already underway, worried about being able to keep up with the work of the farm, I tell myself “you shouldn’t have slacked off in the down time.” It’s the same sort of panic that sometimes gets me up at night to check my computer for the due date of legal papers, only to find that what I was sure was tomorrow’s deadline is still a month or so away. Distant warning lights are blinking, but my anxieties tell me the freight train is bearing down on me.But we also live in a new climate reality, one that may justify my worries. When I first moved to the farm, some 24 years ago, it was not unusual to have snow cover the ground well into April. From what I can see from the scant patches of snow in the shade outside, our brief winter has already had its day. By next week, daytime temperatures will near 60; night-time lows will barely go below freezing. March, I hear, will come in like a lamb. Sure we could have a blizzard between now and May, but a prolonged stretch of winter? Very doubtful. Eric and I are looking prescient for planning this year’s winter-extending ski trip at a high altitude in New Mexico.Mindful that the sap will soon be rising in dormant trees, I got to work this weekend pruning the peach trees and the Asian pear. The pruned peach branches, their fuzzy fat buds themselves reminders of the blossoms that are soon to come, make excellent sheep snacks. I’ve also begun trimming the blackberries and gotten some potting soil to start my vegetable seeds in the basement.As if the weather weren’t giving me a strong enough signal, the life of the farm is screaming transition. My chickens are clucking spring. As the hours of daylight lengthen, the old girls are producing eggs at a higher clip. They’ve been joined as of last week by the hens that arrived as day-old chicks last August. For the next month, we will have “pullet eggs,” those small but rich eggs laid at the start of a hen’s productive cycle.In the barn, meanwhile, there has been a different sort of transition. My elderly ewe Nilufer’s time came last week, much sooner than I expected. She had progressed to being unable to stand for very long before being knocked over by her herd mates. Wonderful vet Gillian, the soul of compassion, came to examine her. The doctor confirmed that even if we tried a boost of intramuscular pain drug injections and ongoing arthritis medication, Nilufer would have a rough time and low quality of life going forward.Sixteen years is an exceptionally long life span for a sheep. Even if she could enjoy being hand-fed a grain treat twice a day, the times in between, isolated in the barn while the herd wandered out to graze, would be a misery for her. A comforted (head in my lap) and mercifully quick death was a preferable choice, at least in my view, and we were able to give that to her.Grateful that the ground was not frozen, I dug Nilufer a grave in a copse of trees down the hill on the west side of the pasture. Hand digging a grave is a highly personal and comforting thing to do. Making sure it was the right size and depth for the body to return to the elements in peace felt an act of respect. The couple of hours of solitary digging allowed me to contemplate and appreciate the being I was about to deposit there. The path back to the world of the living was eased for me by the finality of shoveling the dirt over her body and restoring the sod above. Who says atheists got no religion?By this weekend, I was fully preoccupied again with the living. Visiting friend Paul helped me with tagging the new lambs. I’m watchfully waiting for the remaining pregnant ewes to lamb. Full-uddered Sophie, hanging low and lethargic as demanded by the last stage of pregnancy, promises to be next.The irony is not lost on me that many of these adorable lambs are being raised principally to be slaughtered for our sustenance. Another lovely couple of weekend guests, friends of Eric, were charmed to be holding the new lambs and watching them play as the older sheep munched their hay. When one asked whether any of those would be slaughtered, I frankly told her that pretty much all the males would meet that fate. Her look of dismay made me regret having brought our company to the barn just a few hours before our promised farm-raised lamb dinner.But we talked it through. How sheep would not have been created (by human intervention), and would not be raised, were it not for the uses, including as food, that we make of them. How the choice we face is essentially between giving them a brief but comfortable and fulfilling life, or no life at all. My gospel must have been somewhat effective; our guests seem to heartily enjoy my grilled leg of lamb with lemon salsa verde.After winter comes spring. After death there is life.
Nilufer’s grave in process, photo by Mark Scherzer
WHAT’S AVAILABLE THIS WEEKIn 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/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, plentiful
WHAT ELSE IS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK – AN 1878 SQUARE GRAND PIANO FREEThat’s right folks, I have 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, and my permit expires July 26. 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 TURKEY?HERITAGE BREED TURKEYS: This year we raised Holland Whites, Chocolates and Blue Slates. We still have 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.
Pullet eggs and other signs of spring Photo by Mark Scherzer
Nilufer’s grave in process, photo by Mark Scherzer
WHAT ELSE IS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK –
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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