Faster than in any
previous season, The Turkey Farm is moving toward meeting the goals it
set out for the year.
Three of the six goals have been met - you are reading one of those
met goals - and pregress
has been made toward meeting all of the other four.
After several false starts, The Turkey Farm is finally on-line and in
touch with its customers electronically. If you want to contact
us by e-mail, you'll find us at
turkeyfarm@gwi.net or
info@theturkeyfarm.com.
In July, we bought a Gateway 700 business series computer, along with
scanner and printer, so we could start publishing The Turkey Times at
our farm and make it available to readers either by email or snail
mail.
And, we can now receive and send e-mail messages and take and confirm
orders electronically. If you would rather receive The Turkey
Times via e-mail, please contact us at
turkeyfarm@gwi.net . We
will move your subscription to the electronic mailing list. We
have contracted with a
web-page designer
in Maine to design a web page for us, and hope to have that page
posted by early October.
You can already order Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys through
e-mail at turkeyfarm@gwi.net
or through our order form on the website.
We have taken our old computer, an Amiga 3000 (Commodore), to the
farmstore, where we can quickly look up such records as CSA status
(see related article) and individual orders. It is hard to
imagine how much extra work has already been avoided by having that
old computer in our plant.
The new computer isn't the only goal of the year 2002 to be met this
season. Less than halfway through the season, we have met two
other goals and are part way to meeting two others.
We expanded our cooler capacity in May when we bought a 1987 Ford
truck with a 22-foot refrigerator box. The truck will let us
store about 400 more turkeys at safe temperatures during the
processing for Thanksgiving, will add to our storage area at The
Fryeburg Fair and will let us store more ice - we use from 11 to 13
tons of ice at Thanksgiving - between the end of the fair and the
beginning of processing for Thanksgiving.
In mid-August, we finished resetting our electric fences. We're
using 1x3 boards, about 300 of them, that we cut from scrap to hold
the insulators through which the live wire is strung. The boards
are attached to the fence posts that hold our stock fences. The
slightly higher elevation of the wires makes them less vulnerable to
weeds, without reducing our security against predators. With the
electric
fence wires no longer suspended from grade stakes, we hope that the
frost heaves of late winter and spring won't cause as much damage to
the system as they did in the past.
We are working at adding new products, including a marinated turkey
breast teriyaki similar to the one we used to sell at summer fairs and
festivals. We are now working out the details of freezing and
thawing the new products so it can go from the customer's refrigerator
right into the skillet for stir-fry.
For the first new product, we began selling boneless turkey thighs,
which are ideal for stuffing or can be grilled. To stuff, simply
use your favorite recipe for a stuffing for port chops or mushrooms.
The thighs can be rolled around the stuffing and baked in a 325-degree
oven.
We have also made long strides toward beautifying our grounds with the
installation of two stockade fences and the spreading of 90 cubic
yards of gravel to expand our paring area and extend the farm roads
that go to our ranges. Those roads were often impassable, even
with our small tractor, during mud season.
We still plan to build a new loading dock this fall, to look at
improving whole-bird packaging and to find a way to reduce some of our
commitments.
An easier way to food security
It
is no surprise that the cowards who attacked America last September
chose huge targets. After all, "The bigger they come, the harder
they fall," as the boxer John L. Sullivan said, likely paraphrasing
the Bible. Now, Americans are examining all of our huge
institutions to find and seal off the points of vulnerability. A
turkey farmer in Massachusetts related to us that his state's
agriculture department told him federal meat and poultry inspectors
will be tied up for months or even years drawing up plans for dealing
with terrorist attacks against the huge packing operations that supply
the vast majority of our nation's meat and poultry. But here in
rural Maine, you need to worry a lot less than people in, say,
California or Maryland, about the safety and availability of your food
supply. Even if you don't grow all your won, you are able to buy
right from the farm almost all of the food you eat. If the great
minds at the control switch of America's economy really wanted to stop
the terrorist
threat, they would take to heart the words of E.F. Schumacher, Small
is Beautiful, and the writings of Wendell Berry, a poet and farmer in
Kentucky who has been making cogent and unchallenged arguments for
decades in favor of small, family farms. What advantage, after
all, would the yell-bellies gain from blowing up a small farm in, say,
West Virginia, that runs a hundred cattle or four times that many
sheep? There would be little publicity value in destroying such
a farm (or a small auto-repair shop, or a dry-cleaners shop or a
neighborhood movie house). Even the "best and the brightest"
ought to be able to understand that 5 million farms, each with its won
packing operation are much more difficult to attack than four or five
huge meat and poultry packing factories. But, unfortunately,
that is not the way our federal and state leaders are thinking.
Our governor has said that all dairy farms in Maine should milk at
least 800 cows (the average farm milks about a tenth that may).
And the feds have approved the takeover of the largest beef
packing corporation by the largest pork packing corporation, so that
one corporation has control over nearly half the red meat supply of
the nation. Now, if you were a terrorist, who would you blow up?
The virginal headquarters of the pork-beef conglomerate of the Maine
headquarters of a small beef operation? The solution of small,
plentiful and diverse economic units is so simple an d so clear, it is
little wonder that the leaders of the nation haven't stumbled upon it.
The smaller they come, the harder they are to fall. For more
lucid and definitive arguments along these lines than we could ever
make, see Schumacher's little volume. Also, look at almost
anything by Berry, but especially The Unsettling of America:
Culture and Agriculture in America.
Order early
for the holidays
It's never too early to order a
farm-fresh Turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
We expect a plentiful supply in all sizes this year, and we expect to
be especially well supplied between 12 and 16 pounds. You may
pick up your turkey(s) between noon and 6pm on Sunday, Nov. 24 through
Wednesday, Nov. 27 at our farm. We also have drops at Orono,
Brunswick, Augusta and Waterville. We are considering adding
other drops, among them Portland. To reserve a farm-fresh Turkey
for Thanksgiving or Christmas, just fill out the Early Bird Order form
below and we will confirm your order by mail, e-mail or telephone.
The Farm
Orono
Augusta
Brunswick
Waterville
I would like to recommend a future drop location/town:
Name:
Address:
Town:
,
MAINEZip:
Email:
Telephone:
Turning leaves start our busy
season
Along
with Thanksgiving, the Fryeburg Fair is one of our two busiest events
of the season. This year, we will change our operation at the
fair somewhat, to make us even more responsive - we can service six
meals a minute with our existing structure but believe we can improve
on that - and to offer customers more choices. To make these
changes, we are discontinuing the sale of dessert pies. The pies
were never popular enough to justify the space they took in our
refrigerator truck, and to sell them we had to discount them to cost
or below. We will continue offering drinks - coffee, milk, soda,
water, tea, hot chocolate - and we will offer already made cold
sandwiches and soups in a separate line at our middle tent, where
diners have always picked up their drinks and desserts. Everyday
we will prepare a soup different from the day before, four or five
different soups during the 8-day fair. And everyday, we will
offer sliced turkey breast with lettuce and tomato on whole wheat or
white read as well as turkey salad with lettuce on whole wheat or
white. The Fryeburg Fair, the largest agricultural fair in
Northern New England, runs from Sunday, Sept 29, through Sunday, Oct
6. We expect to serve from 10am to 9pm everyday, later on Friday
and Saturday.
Wanted: Sharers for
Community Supported Agriculture
Customers at the Brunswick Farmers'
Market will be able to shop every Saturday at least through Nov 2.
The Turkey Farm is working to extend that season by two more weeks.
The Saturday market at the Crystal Spring Farm has been a great
success for The Turkey Farm, with sales this year running more than 10
percent
ahead of last year, when we sold at both Crystal Spring on Saturdays
and at the town mall on Tuesdays. Twice this year, we have set
one-day market records for sales at any market anywhere, the more
recent being on Saturday, Aug. 31, when we exceeded the previous
record by 14 percent.
We encourage our customers to think about stocking up during the first
three Saturdays in September because we will miss the market on Sept
28 and Oct 5 so we can take our concession stand to the Fryeburg Fair
(see related article). We plan to return to the market on
Saturday, October 12, and to continue selling there as long as
business warrants but at least through Nov 2. We are now
offering our freezer packages to help you get through the winter after
the market has closed. Each freezer pack sells for about 18
percent lower than the cost of the same items bought individually.
regress
has been made toward meeting all of the other four. 
fence wires no longer suspended from grade stakes, we hope that the
frost heaves of late winter and spring won't cause as much damage to
the system as they did in the past. 
It
is no surprise that the cowards who attacked America last September
chose huge targets. After all, "The bigger they come, the harder
they fall," as the boxer John L. Sullivan said, likely paraphrasing
the Bible. Now, Americans are examining all of our huge
institutions to find and seal off the points of vulnerability. A
turkey farmer in Massachusetts related to us that his state's
agriculture department told him federal meat and poultry inspectors
will be tied up for months or even years drawing up plans for dealing
with terrorist attacks against the huge packing operations that supply
the vast majority of our nation's meat and poultry. But here in
rural Maine, you need to worry a lot less than people in, say,
California or Maryland, about the safety and availability of your food
supply. Even if you don't grow all your won, you are able to buy
right from the farm almost all of the food you eat. If the great
minds at the control switch of America's economy really wanted to stop
the terro
rist
threat, they would take to heart the words of E.F. Schumacher, Small
is Beautiful, and the writings of Wendell Berry, a poet and farmer in
Kentucky who has been making cogent and unchallenged arguments for
decades in favor of small, family farms. What advantage, after
all, would the yell-bellies gain from blowing up a small farm in, say,
West Virginia, that runs a hundred cattle or four times that many
sheep? There would be little publicity value in destroying such
a farm (or a small auto-repair shop, or a dry-cleaners shop or a
neighborhood movie house). Even the "best and the brightest"
ought to be able to understand that 5 million farms, each with its won
packing operation are much more difficult to attack than four or five
huge meat and poultry packing factories. But, unfortunately,
that is not the way our federal and state leaders are thinking.
Our governor has said that all dairy farms in Maine should milk at
least 800 cows (the average farm milks about a tenth that may).
And the feds have approved the takeover of the largest b
eef
packing corporation by the largest pork packing corporation, so that
one corporation has control over nearly half the red meat supply of
the nation. Now, if you were a terrorist, who would you blow up?
The virginal headquarters of the pork-beef conglomerate of the Maine
headquarters of a small beef operation? The solution of small,
plentiful and diverse economic units is so simple an d so clear, it is
little wonder that the leaders of the nation haven't stumbled upon it.
The smaller they come, the harder they are to fall. For more
lucid and definitive arguments along these lines than we could ever
make, see Schumacher's little volume. Also, look at almost
anything by Berry, but especially The Unsettling of America:
Culture and Agriculture in America.
We expect a plentiful supply in all sizes this year, and we expect to
be especially well supplied between 12 and 16 pounds. You may
pick up your turkey(s) between noon and 6pm on Sunday, Nov. 24 through
Wednesday, Nov. 27 at our farm. We also have drops at Orono,
Brunswick, Augusta and Waterville. We are considering adding
other drops, among them Portland. To reserve a farm-fresh Turkey
for Thanksgiving or Christmas, just fill out the Early Bird Order form
below and we will confirm your order by mail, e-mail or telephone.
nt
ahead of last year, when we sold at both Crystal Spring on Saturdays
and at the town mall on Tuesdays. Twice this year, we have set
one-day market records for sales at any market anywhere, the more
recent being on Saturday, Aug. 31, when we exceeded the previous
record by 14 percent.