 TURKANA FARMS, LLCGreen E-Market Bulletin June 25, 2024 The sky at dinner at dusk from the porch, Photo by Mark ScherzerStopping at the Porch on a Sultry EveningHi all, Mark here.We need the long tail of the evening these days. The hours of gradually dimming sunlight cool the air enough to encourage a final burst of outdoor work, exertion made all the easier by the shower and dinner that await. The world outside the farm may be churning in relentless, hateful violence, but here peace descends daily in a gradual winding down.The house has been full. Nineteen overnight stays by six different guests, in addition to me and Eric, in the two weeks leading up to the solstice. And yet it has not seemed crowded; other than during the most brutal mid-day hours and at bed time, life has largely moved outdoors, to the porch, the outdoor shower, the grill.This is hardly Club Med. I do not spend my days laying out endless sumptuous buffets and providing drinks at the croquet court. I still do my weekday law work, with farm chores before and after. Whatever additional time Eric and I spend in meal preparation, cleanup, and changing bed linens for the guests, is surely more than compensated for in the time we gain by pressing our company into farm service.Nobody is spared. A Boston cousin, who I see only every few years at bar mitzvahs or funerals, stopped here on his way to and from an event at the other end of the Catskills. He found himself hauling wheelbarrows full of animal feed up to the barn this weekend.Macho Matt, who was here for a week, invited his friend, Brian, to join him. I figured Brian needed to be eased into things, so I assigned him the cool, shady work of snipping a roll of chicken wire to make tomato cages his first day here. The following day, the hottest day of the heat wave, we had sheep shearing. I assigned Brian to write down the tag numbers of the sheep as they were sheared, put the slips of paper into the bags containing their individual fleeces, and tie up the bags.But by his the third day, Brian was out in the garden pulling up mugwort, as he and Matt managed to finish clearing the entire periphery of the garden fence of the weedy invader, hauling hundreds of pounds of it out of the garden. That left nowhere for the remaining little bunny living in the garden to hide, and made it easy for me to chase it out the following day. Turkeys make use of their perches Photo by Mark ScherzerRegulars like Steve and Matt, whom the sheep know well and are comfortable with, do all the routine farm chores and more. This visit, Steve, in addition to making tomato cages, stapled up netting in the upper reaches of the barn to prevent the turkeys from roosting dangerously on the top of the partition wall, allowing me to release them from the chicken tractor where they spent their first weeks. Had Matt, despite the brutal heat wave, done just his mugwort extravaganza in the vegetable garden, “dayenu,” it would have been enough. But he also weeded out and trimmed the blackberry patch, re-installed two gates and fixed fences in the sheep pasture, built a frame for installing netting at the end of the chicken yard where the hawk had been getting in and worked with me to get the netting up, wrestled the sheep during shearing, and re-set the turkey perches he built last year, which will be their sleeping places until they depart. The turkeys made immediate use of them.On the days when we’re best organized, Eric or I will do advance preparation at mid-day of summery dinner meals, using the garden’s bounty: whole-pod young tender fava beans Turkish style, for example, or Eric’s spectacular sour cherry pound cake from the cherries he picked that morning. That frees up the hours from 5 to 8 pm for farm work. By 8, with the sun fading, I can get my turn at a long and invigorating outdoor shower. By 8:30, we are usually able to sit down to dinner. Then I can savor the evening.The screened porch, thanks to its situation on the east side of the house and just to the north of an allée of sugar maples, has been in the shade since early afternoon. With its ceiling fan going, it seems comfortable even on the hottest days. Seated around the large table, despite our different views of the garden or lawns, we share the view of the sky, observing the progressive painting of the dusk, be it in spectacular bright colors of reflected post storm sunbeams or deepening layers of gray of a sky clouded over.Tired and dehydrated, proud of the work accomplished or planning for the following day, assisted by a glass of wine, quiet conversation comes easy. It often focuses not just on our words, but on what we are hearing around us as world quiets down. Speculating about who it is, up at the barn, whose muffled bleats suggest she’s looking for her lamb. Wondering whether the “woo-hoo” echoing from down the road is the barred owl we’ve seen around the farm. Trying to understand the animated monologue the catbird directs at us from his perch on the fence post next to the porch, and occasionally trying to transform it into a dialogue with our response.Eventually, as dusk turns to dark, we may illuminate our little oasis with the strings of lights Eric recently installed around the porch ceiling. Or we may continue in just candlelight. Either way, there is a contented peace enveloping us. Not even a mile until we sleep, not even a mile until we sleep. Eric’s sour cherry pound cake 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/lbLambs went to market April 9, so we will soon have a big supply of many other cuts.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: Rhubarb, $5/lb Sorrel $2/bag Horseradish: $4/lb Mint $1 a bunch Spearmint $1 a bunch Fava beans $4 a lb. Purslane: $10 / bag – luscious large leaves for Turkish semiz otu salad, price based on the pain to pickBerries etc.: Black cap wild raspberries $10/pint (also time consuming to pick) Gooseberries – ready to pick on the tart side this coming weekend $6/pint Elderflower for infusing drinks: $5/bunchRESERVE THIS YEAR’S TURKEYBecause you asked for it. A turkey regular reminded me that it’s past time 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, $12 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 are hoping to slaughter the Sunday or Monday before Thanksgiving and 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. Can’t guarantee the fresh slaughtered part this year, but we’ve got a lead on someone who will do it. Otherwise frozen. 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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