The
Volume XXIV, Issue 4 ~ Summer 2014
Published by THE TURKEY FARM, New Sharon, Maine
They’re not as numb as you may have heard
By Bob Neal
Consider the lowly Turkey. Like
Rodney Dangerfield, it gets no respect.
Would that I could count the number
of conversations over the past 29 years
that have included utterances — always by the other party, not by me —
about the stupidity of Turkeys.
True enough, as another Turkey
grower in Maine once told the Bangor
Daily News, no Turkey will ever be a
Rhodes Scholar.
But they’re not as numb as you may
have heard.
Herewith, the case for the lowly Turkey.
The most common myth about Turkeys is that they are so numb that they
stand in the rain, look up at the sky
with their beaks open and drown as the
rain swamps their gullets.
I have raised more than 70,000 Turkeys since 1986, and I have never seen
this happen. And I have spent many an
hour in the rain working with the Turkeys, so I should have seen it if it had
happened.
Still, the myth persists, even advanced
by another Turkey farmer in Maine
who swears it is true. But he raises his
Turkeys indoors, so how could he have
seen this happen?
My explanation to anyone who asks
about this myth is that Turkeys drink
by dipping their beaks into water, then
raising their heads so the water drains
down their throats. That makes it pretty unlikely they would drown.
Maybe they just like clean rainwater.
A similar and related myth is that the
modern Turkey doesn’t know enough
to stop eating, so it grows so fat it cannot stand on its own two drumsticks.
’Course, you don’t have to hang out
around a fast-food joint long before
you see humans who look like that.
This myth, unlike the previous, does
stand on truth, a bit. The modern Turkey has been bred up in size dramatically. Since Turkey breeders — they
are called integrators in the Turkey
business, and only a handful are left —
began crossing Turkeys in 1938 to produce all-white birds with more meat,
the average market weight of tom Turkeys has more than doubled, while the
time taken to grow them to market
weight has been reduced by half.
(We argue the time-to-market part has
been overdone, and that one reason our
Turkeys taste so much better than Turkeys from a warehouse that you buy at
the store is that we ease that growth by
free-ranging our birds. That means
they walk off some of their feed and
that their muscle tissue is firmer because it isn’t all puffed up with antibiotics that hold water in the birds’ bodies.)
This Turkey breeding, by the way,
does not involve genetic engineering.
As with most plant breeding, the best
specimens of each crop have been selected to propagate. Toms have been
selected for size and fast weight gain
and hens have been selected for high
egg laying capacity.
In 76 years of breeding roughly two
generations a year, that has meant a
tremendous increase in size and a tremendous decrease in growing time.
And, as with so many species, including ours, so long as the food is there,
the Turkeys will eat.
(Continued on page two)
The Turkey
Times ~ Summer 2014
Page 2
Published by The Turkey Farm
Some myths that just ain’t so about Turkeys
(Continued from page one)
The burden is on the Turkey grower
not to let the birds get so heavy they
cannot stand. Economics is a wonderful tool to help us keep our birds svelte.
Turkeys eat 10 percent of their body
weight every day. Imagine for a moment if humans could do that.
Anyhow, with grain costing 19 to 29
cents a pound, it doesn’t take a rocket
surgeon to figure out that a Turkey
weighing 40 pounds will eat a dollar’s
worth of feed every day just to maintain his body. If he eats any more than
that, he will gain weight.
That 40-pound bird will dress about
30 pounds.
With those numbers, we make less
profit on a bird that dresses 30 pounds
than we do on a bird that dresses 15
pounds. We have no economic incentive to let birds get that large.
And growers who give a damn about
animal welfare, as we do, won’t let
birds get so large as to endanger their
mobility and ability to live healthily.
We can do that in two ways. We can
schedule slaughters while the birds are
too young to have become that heavy.
Or, we can put birds on a maintenance
diet that reduces the protein and increases the energy in their feed.
We do both, slaughtering birds for
processing early in the season — we
began our 2014 slaughters on June 16
— and some years, when the weather
favors fast weight gain, we have to put
our most senior Turkeys, those hatched
in May, onto a maintenance diet so
they don’t get too heavy for Thanksgiving tables.
The maintenance diet lets them maintain their body weight and health but it
discourages the growth of more meat.
Unfortunately, it creates a bit more fat,
but we can remove much of that when
we slaughter the birds.
We are most likely to agree with
myths about Turkey stupidity when we
consider birds that have escaped their
pens and are difficult to herd back
through the gate.
If ever I mutter about their IQs, that is
the time. But after 28 years of raising
Turkeys that can wriggle through a slight
space to freedom and then rounding them
up for the return trip home, I have concluded that it is memory and eyesight, not
stupidity, that makes them run past an
open gate time and again.
When we humans round up escapers,
we drive them toward a gate we have
opened. But the Turkeys remember
where they found the break in the fence
and they head for that spot to get back
to the free food and water.
That makes the chase between human
and Turkey sometimes comical (to other humans, not to the humans who do
the chasing). The Turkeys, significantly lower to the ground, run along the
fence line looking for the space
through which they had earlier wriggled. Their poor close-up vision means
they sometimes don’t see the hole.
The humans run behind, trying to catch
up and drive them to the gate or pick
them up and toss them over the fence.
Eventually, all return to their fenced
ranges and the humans go home for the
night. But the chase is the thing. The
thing that makes Turkey and human
alike look pretty stupid.
A fourth myth is Turkey eggs. Customers often assume that Turkey eggs
are larger and fattier than chicken eggs.
They assume that we eat Turkey eggs
and that we might offer them for sale.
We don’t, and we don’t.
To begin with, many of our hens do
not reach egg-laying age before they go
to market. Sexual maturity among
poultry comes along at 22 to 24 weeks
of age. We begin dressing hens at 17
weeks of age, toms at 19. Most are
gone before 28 weeks.
(It is a somewhat sad fact that virtually no meat animals reach sexual maturity. Almost all are slaughtered before the hormones of reproduction kick
in. Thus, a whole separate branch of
animal agriculture has grown up
around the development and maintenance of breeding animals so we can
keep the flocks and herds coming.)
Those of our hens that reach sexual
maturity will indeed lay eggs. But since
we don’t provide nests, they will lay
anywhere they can find a little depression in the ground or a little privacy.
When we come upon an egg or three
on range, we have no way of knowing
how long it has lain there. We throw
those eggs into our compost.
We do know that those eggs were not
fertile. Through selective breeding, the
integrators have made Turkeys so large
that the birds cannot mate naturally.
Without getting too graphic, I can tell
you that Turkey mating is difficult at
best. Toms that weigh 40 pounds cannot mount hens that weigh 20.
If you want to get graphic about Turkey mating, look up Animal, Vegetable,
Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Her
chapter on the breeding of her heritage
Turkeys is complete and hilarious.
Just so we’d know what we are talking
about, we have eaten Turkey eggs
when we were sure the eggs were fresh.
The egg is about the size of a chicken
egg and is usually a bit speckled. To
our taste, it is a bit richer but not fattier
than a chicken egg.
No one has developed a market for
Turkey eggs because Turkey hens of
great fertility — the Fertile Fannies of
the Turkey world — will lay about 84
eggs a year. A chicken hen will lay
nearly an egg every 24 hours for eight
to 10 months.
And, Turkey eggs have a very hard
shell, so they don’t open easily. It
seems almost impossible to crack one
without getting shell fragments into the
egg before you cook it.
So, next time you hear someone talk
about the stupidity of Turkeys or about
how they compare with other critters in
one context or another, be skeptical.
Ask about the person’s credibility in
regard to Turkeys.
I think my street (or barnyard) creds
with Turkeys are pretty good, and this is
what I have observed in respect to these
four myths about Turkeys.
The Turkey
Times ~ Summer 2014
Page 3
Turkey-Quinoa Meatloaf
Recipes
Cranberry Crusted Cutlets
4
2 Tbsp.
3/4 cup
1/4 cup
1/2 cup
breast cutlets
Dijon mustard
breadcrumbs
cranberries, chopped
scallions, chopped
2 Tbsp.
2 Tbsp.
2 tsp.
butter, melted
fresh thyme, (2 tsp. dried), chopped
grated lemon peel
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Season cutlets with salt and pepper. Rub a layer of mustard
over each cutlet. Put onto a greased baking sheet.
In a medium bowl, combine breadcrumbs, cranberries, scallion, melted butter, thyme and lemon peel. Mix well. Season to taste. Spread mixture evenly over cutlets.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until no pink remains at the
center of the cutlets.
Serves four.
Adapted from Zorba Paster on Your Health
Wisconsin Public Radio
Turkey Pumpkin Chili
1 Tbsp.
1 cup
1/2 cup
1/2 cup
1 clove
1 lb.
1 can (20 oz..)
2 cups
1 Tbsp.
1/2 tsp.
1/2 cup
1/2 cup
Published by The Turkey Farm
olive oil
onion, chopped
green sweet pepper, chopped
yellow sweet pepper, chopped
garlic, minced
ground Turkey
diced tomatoes
pumpkin puree
chili powder
ground black pepper
cheddar cheese, shredded
sour cream
dash salt
In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Sauté
the onion, green and yellow peppers and garlic until tender.
Stir in the ground Turkey and cook until evenly browned.
Drain and mix in tomatoes and pumpkin. Season with chili
powder, pepper and salt. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve topped with cheddar cheese and
sour cream.
Serves four.
Adapted from allrecipes.com
1/4 cup
1/2 cup
1 tsp.
1
1
1 1/2 lbs.
1 Tbsp
1/2 Tbsp.
2 Tbsp.
1
1 1/2 tsp.
1 tsp.
2 Tbsp.
2 tsp.
1 tsp.
quinoa, rinsed
water
olive oil
small onion, chopped
large clove garlic, minced
ground Turkey
tomato paste
Tabasco or other hot sauce
Worcestershire sauce
egg
salt
ground black pepper
brown sugar
Worcestershire sauce
Water
salt and pepper to taste
In a sauce pan over high heat, bring the quinoa and water to
a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until
the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed., about
15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the
onion and cook, stirring, until the onion has softened and
turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook
for another minute. Remove from heat to cool.
Stir the Turkey, cooked quinoa, onions, tomato paste, Tabasco or other hot sauce, 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce, egg, salt
and pepper in a large bowl until well combined. The mixture
will be very moist. Shape into a loaf on a foil-lined baking
sheet. Combine the brown sugar, 2 tbsp. Worcestershire
sauce and 1 tsp. water in a small bowl. Rub this paste over
the top of the meatloaf.
Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center,
about 50 minutes. It should read at least 160 degrees. Let the
meatloaf cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Serves four.
Adapted from allrecipes.com
How to get our ‘stuff ’
We like direct marketing. This time of year you can find us
marketing directly at three farmers markets and at the farm.
We sell from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturdays at the Crystal
Spring Farmers Market on Pleasant Hill Road in Brunswick.
We sell from 8:30 until noon on Saturdays at the Bath Farmers Market in Waterfront Park.
We sell from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Saturdays at the Skowhegan
Farmers Market on Court Street beside the Somerset Grist Mill.
Our farmstore is on Route 27 in New Sharon. Hours are 2 to
6 p.m. Wednesday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
The farmstore is also open by chance, and someone is on the
farm every day, so you can almost always stop by for Turkey.
The Turkey
Times ~ Summer 2014
Page 4
Published by The Turkey Farm
Twenty-six years of Community Supported Agriculture
In January 1990, Jill Agnew of Willow Pond Farm told a meeting of farmers in Augusta about her experience with Community
Supported Agriculture.
We get more requests than we have been able to handle
Jill was Maine’s first CSA farmer — she is still at it on Route 9
from people who want to work for a Turkey share. Here
in Sabattus — and, as it happened, The Turkey Farm was second.
may be a bit of a solution.
Jill had learned about CSA from Robyn Van En and thought it a
We are going to have a Workfest Day on Sunday, July
terrific model for her farm. Robyn, who died in 1997 of a severe
13, for all who want to begin earning a work share. The
asthma attack — she was 49 — brought CSA to this country from
second workday will be set shortly thereafter, most likely
Japan and Europe.
on Sunday, July 27.
Like many young farmers, Jill (and we) wrangled often with
We are going to use the workfest days to repair and reset
how to work hard to grow great crops and then find the time and
fences. Fencing is one of the annual maintenance proenergy to get them into the hands of people who eat food.
jects that we have had to let go for the past four years
CSA seemed to answer all Jill’s questions. It answered many of
because of the escalating price of feed. There was no
ours, and it fit right in with some ideas with which we had been
money to pay crew and to buy fencing and staples for the
toying about involving customers more in the farm and encouragwork.
ing more contact between farmer and eater.
But our fences and gates have deteriorated so badly that
CSA solves a food eater’s problem of a
we
have to move their repair to the front burner.
The payouts
steady supply of one or more kinds of
We
will work from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on those days,
Share Interest Yield
high
quality
food
(veggies,
protein,
etc.)
with
half
an hour for lunch. The work will be light car$100 4 % $104
pentry to repair gates, removing old fencing and fence
150 5 %
157.50 and it levels some seasonal price variations. It solves a farmer’s problem of
posts, drilling fence post holes and setting new fence
200 6 %
212
250 7 %
267.50 who will eat the food she grows and it
posts and stapling fencing to the fence posts.
300 8 %
324
solves her problem of finding capital at
We provide all tools. But if you prefer to work with
the start of the season.
your own tools, bring hammer, pliers, fencing tools, etc..
Of the two CSA models, we have opted for the drawdown or
To sign on for the first Workfest Day, fill out and send
debit CSA. In our CSA, you buy a share to which we add interin the form below or call us at 778-2889. Or you can
est. The sharer then takes what she wants when she wants it, unemail us at turkeyfarm@myfairpoint.net or stop at our
til the share is used up or expires. (In the other model, the box
farmstore or at any of our farmers market stands to let us
CSA, a sharer takes what the farmer harvests each week. We
know you are interested.
began with this model but shifted as a convenience to our sharWork sharers receive a $150 share, which has a value of
ers.) The drawdown model gives you the choice of what to take
$157.50, for two days of work on the farm. Work sharers
and when.
may begin drawing on the share after a day of work. The
Vegetable farmers usually sell shares only before the season.
interest of $7.50 is added after the second day of work.
We offer shares year-round because we process Turkeys yearround, so you can buy in at any time. Our
share is good for a year but the overwhelmCSA Order Form
244
ing majority are used up long before the
year is used up. Sharers who use up their Fill out and send to The Turkey Farm, 219 Mile Hill Road, New Sharon, Maine 04955.
shares usually renew quickly
We also offer work shares in which the Circle as appropriate:
sharer works for Turkey. See the adjacent
Please sign me up for the following share in Community Supported Agriculture:
article about workdays coming up soon.
(circle) $100
$150
$200
$250
$300
It is easy to collect the proceeds of your
share. We are at farmers markets in South- Sign me up for a work share on July 13 and one other day (to be determined).
ern Maine every week of the year. We are
at the Skowhegan market, too, and our Name ______________________________________________________________
farmstore is open regularly. Our market
and store schedules are published at the foot Address ____________________________________________________________
of page three.
Sign on by filling out the form next to this Town ______________________________ State ________ Zip _______________
article and sending or bringing it to us with
Telephone ___________________ E-mail _______________________________
your check.
Workfest Days
The Turkey
Times ~ Summer 2014
Page 5
More Recipes
Versatile Turkey Burritos
2 tsp.
1 cup
1
2 cups
1/2 lb.
1/2 tsp.
1/4 cup
4
1/4 cup
1
4
4
olive oil
red onion, diced
red pepper, diced
fresh spinach, chopped
Turkey chorizo
red pepper flakes, crushed
pepper jack cheese, shredded
tortillas, whole wheat or white
salsa
avocado, pitted and cubed
eggs
egg whites
To use this recipe for breakfast burritos, follow these steps.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add
the onion and peppers and cook, stirring, until softened,
about 5 minutes. Add the spinach, chorizo and red pepper
flakes and cook, stirring occasionally, another 3 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and transfer the mixture to a
bowl.
Whisk the eggs and eggs whites together in a mediumsized bowl and add the cheese. Oil the skillet and reheat it
over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, add the eggs
and scramble until cooked through, about 3 minutes.
Spread each tortilla with 1 Tablespoon of salsa, then layer
with 1/4 of the chorizo mixture, 1/4 of the scrambled eggs,
and 1/4 of the avocado. Season to taste with hot pepper
sauce. Roll into burrito shape and serve with additional
salsa.
Serves four.
To make this recipe for lunch or supper, eliminate the
eggs. In their place use another half pound of Turkey chorizo or a mixture of 1/2 lb. of Turkey chorizo and 1 cup of
black or pinto beans. Then, disregard the third paragraph of
the instructions above.
Adapted from Zorba Paster on Your Health,
Wisconsin Public Radio
How to contact us
Our farm is at 209 Mile Hill Road, which is Route 27, in
New Sharon. The postal address — don’t ask — is 219
Mile Hill Road, New Sharon 04955.
Phone numbers are 778-2889 (farm) and 897-8294 (cell).
Email is turkeyfarm@myfairpoint.net.
Our website is theturkeyfarm.com
Published by The Turkey Farm
Cherry-topped Turkey Breast
1 lb.
1/4 cup
1 tsp.
1/2 cup
1 tsp.
breast cutlets, steaks or tenderloin
low-sodium soy sauce
olive oil
onion, chopped
garlic, minced
1 tsp.
2 Tbsp.
1 cup
thyme, chopped, or 1 Tbsp. fresh
balsamic vinegar
sweet cherries, fresh or canned,
pitted and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Dust the Turkey lightly with pepper. Dredge the Turkey
cuts through the soy sauce, coating the meat. Cover the dish
and chill the Turkey for an hour.
In a small skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion,
garlic and thyme. Saute until onion is almost tender. Add
vinegar and sauté a minute or two more to coat.
Add cherries. Keep cooking until tender, about 10 minutes
total. Remove skillet from heat and season mix with salt.
Grill the marinated breast about 4 minutes per side until
cooked through. Transfer to plates and top with cherry mixture.
Serves four.
Adapted from Zorba Paster on Your Health,
Wisconsin Public Radio
Stuffed Steak or Tenderloin
1 cup
1/2 cup
3/4 cup
1/2 cup
1 Tbsp.
4
2 cloves
spinach, fresh, shredded
onions, diced
parmesan cheese
sun-dried tomatoes, drained of oil
and chopped
basil, dried
5-oz. Turkey steaks or tenderloins*
garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
Combine spinach, onions, cheese, tomatoes and basil in a
mixing bowl. Set aside. Slice a 2-inch pocket into the side
of each steak or tenderloin. Stuff each with an equal amount
of the spinach mixture and pinch the edges together. Top
each steak with minced garlic and season with salt and pepper. Excess spinach mixture can be used to make a bed for
the steaks in the baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes and serve.
Serves four.
* Dark-meat lovers can use boneless thighs, cut into four
pieces.
Adapted from Zorba Paster on Your Health
Wisconsin Public Radio
The Turkey
Times ~ Summer 2014
Yet another
unique season
for farming
in Maine
Page 6
Published by The Turkey Farm
On a macro level, every year is the same for
farmers. Some good weather, some crappy
weather. Some success, some failure. Some
smiles, some curses.
On a micro level, no two years are the same.
In fact one of the joys of farming is that no
two days are even the same.
This year is the micro level in spades.
We haven’t had a wetter spring since 2009.
We haven’t had a cooler May and June in a
long time. We haven’t had so much ground
water, following a wet winter, since 1998.
Upshot: A lot hasn’t got done. The Turkeys,
who thrive in cool weather, even though their
ancestors were native to Mexico and not to
Maine, have done very well.
But we have had a devil of a time getting
forage planted for them. The pumpkins and
corn went in, as did the second planting on
some hills that failed to sprout. But no grasses
— we plant oats, barley and rye — have been
planted and likely won’t be. We couldn’t
mow under the electric fence until late June
because of the wet ground. We can’t work on
some fences because the ground near the gates
remains muddy or just plain all puddled up.
Feeding has sometimes been by hand when
our tractor couldn’t negotiate the mud on the
ranges.
Yup, just another farming season in Maine.
A 3.5-mile shift coming for Thanksgiving Turkeys
Maybe we’re slow learners, but after
bad weather for three of our last four
Thanksgiving pickups in Brunswick,
we are changing the drill.
We are moving the Thanksgiving
pickup to the Topsham Fairgrounds.
That is three-and-a-half miles from
Crystal Spring Farm, where we have
held the pickup for 14 years.
The hours don’t change. The pickup
will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on
Wednesday, Nov. 26, at the exhibition
hall of the Topsham Fairgrounds.
That is the site of the Topsham winter
farmers market, and the market will
operate that day, so you can pick up
not only your Turkey but fixings for
Thanksgiving dinner.
Those of you who joined us last year
at Crystal Spring don’t need to be told
why we are moving. In the four hours
of the pickup, we received more than
1.5 inches of rain (2.5 inches for the
day), and a sailing friend said the wind
was blowing 40 miles an hour at his
house in Freeport.
It was one miserable day, the worst
ever.
It seems that the weather gods want to
churn things up just before Thanksgiving. In 2010, the wind was so strong at
Crystal Spring that we had to park
trucks on the windward side to help
keep the tent staked down. In 2011, we
were greeted with eight inches of snow
and had to plow in order to set up.
What makes us believe that the
weather gods are after us (or after
Brunswick) is that the weather the day
before for our pickups in Portland has
ranged from benign to gorgeous.
This year, it won’t matter. The fairgrounds is easy to get to from anywhere in Southern Maine.
The Christmas pickup will from 9
a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 23, at
the Topsham Fairgrounds. Again the
full market will operate that day so you
can pick up other items for Christmas
dinner and for last-minute gifts, as
well.
We know of no changes planned for
the Bath Thanksgiving pickup, which
is 9 a.m. to noon on Nov. 26, at the
Freight Shed on Commercial Street.
Some change may be in the offing for
the Portland/South Portland pickup, but
nothing has been settled.
We will have full details on all of our
pickups in the Thanksgiving (autumn)
issue of The Turkey Times.
Shifting to Topsham was the suggestion of Dick Hull of Brunswick, a
weekly customer at the Crystal Spring
and Topsham markets. Thanks, Dick.
To get in early, fill out the form below
and send it to us at 219 Mile Hill Road,
New Sharon, 04955. Or bring it to our
farmstore or any of our farmers market
stands (see page three).
No, we don’t yet know the price, but
we doubt it can be lower than the $3.79
a pound of last year. Feed prices,
which dropped briefly last winter, have
begun climbing again, with no halt in
sight until nearly the end of our season.
We’ll let you know the price as soon as
we know it.
Holiday Order Form
201
Please reserve for me the following Turkey(s):
THANKSGIVING
Number
Pounds
Farm-fresh
______
Smoked
______
CHRISTMAS
Number
Pounds
______
______
______
______
______
______
I will pick up at (Check one): _____The Farm
_____Topsham
____ Orono
_____ Bath
____ Portland/South Portland
Name_______________________________________________________________
Address (postal)______________________________________________________
Town ________________________________________ Zip _________________
E-mail address _______________________________________________________