316 animal, vegetable, miracle
Tying my family’s nutritional fortunes to the seasons did not really in-
volve any risk for us, of course. But it did acquaint us in new ways with
what seasons mean, and how they matter. The subtle downward pulse of
temperatures and day lengths created a physical rhythm in our lives, with
beats and rests: long muscles, long light; shorter days, shorter work, and
cold that drew us deeper into thoughts and plans, under plaster ceilings
instead of an open sky. I watched the rank- and-fi le jars in our pantry de-
cline from army to platoon, and fi nally to lonely sentries staggered along
the shelves. We weren’t rationing yet, but I couldn’t help counting the
weeks until our first spring harvests and the happy reopening day of the
farmers’ market. I had a vision of our neighbors saying of us, “Well, they’re
still with us after the winter.”
/In late February, official end of “Hungry Month,” I was ready to be-
lieve we and all our animals had come through the lean times unscathed.
And then one of our turkey hens took to standing around looking droopy.
She let her wings drop to the ground instead of folding them on her back
in normal turkey fashion. Her shoulders hunched and her head jutted
forward, giving her a Nixonesque air—minus the eyebrows and crafty
agenda. This girl just looked dazed.
Oh, no, I thought. Here we go. Farm animals lucky enough to live on
pasture must deal with winter eventually, and health challenges similar to
those faced by people in previous generations: less fresh air, more indoor
congregation and risk of contagion, and the trial of surviving on stored hay
or grain instead of fresh greens and hunted protein. In the realm of conta-
gious maladies, poultry husbandry is notoriously challenging. And turkeys
are even more disease- prone than chickens. “You never see it coming,” a
turkey-experienced friend of mine had warned when we first got our
poults. “One day they’re walking around looking fine. Next thing you
know, drop- dead Fred!” The list of affl ictions that can strike down a tur-
key would excite any hypochondriac: blackhead roundworm, crop bind,
coccidiosis, paratyphoid, pullorum disease, and many more. In one of my
poultry handbooks, the turkey chapter is subtitled, “A Dickens to Raise.”