As I drove east on M-88 the car filled with an eyewatering aroma. Cowboy! I growled, casting a steely eye at the spaniel in the rearview mirror. He looked confused. We emerged from the reeking cloud. Ah. Now I remembered. This is the time of year when Antrim County farmers apply Organic Enrichment to their fields. The fragrance of the day was turkey poop. (The well-rotted and dried poop of domesticated turkeys. I’ll have you know there’s a market for the stuff Around Here.) Here is a puzzle for you. Why does the turkey cross the meadow?
To get away from the stench on the fields. You should be very glad that WordPress does not provide a Smell-O-Vision widget.
That is, of course, a wild turkey trying to distance himself from the situation. Perhaps he thinks he smells better than the domesticated variety. Even the Cowboy smells better than that, so the turkey is probably correct in his assessment. I would like to show you a better photo, but wild turkeys are wily, and they are a lot faster than you think they are when you are trying to catch them. Here is something that stayed still for awhile.
It is another puzzle, a piece of ingenious do-it-yourself Antrim County farm equipment, enhanced with a little digital painting just because I wanted to play with the software.
When I took those pictures I knew what the piece of equipment was, but not what it was being used for. The next day I came back and found out. Here you have classic Antrim County farm ingenuity applied to the problem at hand.
Here it the equipment sitting quietly once more.
Yes, it is a rusty bedspring. Dragged around the paddock at the end of a good stout rope it crumbles the dried horse manure and straw and spreads it out evenly. The rains come. The soil is enriched. That is what I am told, anyway. I can be a credulous person, and there is quite a good game of Let’s See What We Can Get Gerry To Believe making the rounds. Still, I am inclined to think this particular explanation is the unvarnished truth. We’ll see how well the theory works as the summer progresses. I don’t mind going back to investigate. Horse manure is positively fragrant next to turkey poop.
And that is your authoritative farm report for this week.
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Torch Lake Views 
lifepotentials
April 17, 2012
Gerry, your posts are just wonderful and so full of information! The kind that is so helpful and the kind that, well, the kind that just reminds us of how lucky we are to have you writing this blog! Have you ever thought of collecting some of these and putting them into a book? I for one would buy it!
Gerry
April 17, 2012
Diantha, you warm the cockles of my heart. One day we will go through the accumulated posts together and pick a good number and take the whole mess over to Jack Bodis to make into a book. He will complain about the number of snow pictures of course, but he will do a good job of it, and we can persuade Chris and Sonny to sell copies at the Torch Lake Market.
Heather
April 17, 2012
I agree with you about the horse manure vs. turkey manure. Or presume I do. My father was a hog farmer, and I always thought that particular variety of organic enrichment smelled foul. Until I moved to chicken country Georgia, and believe me, the fowl variety is, ahem, fouler.
Also, a neighbor uses a similar bed-spring set-up to refresh his lawn after the winter.
Gerry
April 17, 2012
I am a firm believer that different animals make different – and recognizable – aromas. I have a soft spot for a well-maintained hen house, as my grandma kept chickens–but she was raising them the old-fashioned way. I do not like CAFOs, a/k/a factory farms.
shoreacres
April 17, 2012
How ingenious – a pull toy for farmers! And didn’t I laugh at your mention of that aroma! No eau de turkey around here that I know of, but it is the time of year when people walk around sniffing the air and then figure it out – the garden crews have been busy applying their own enrichment to the flower beds and trees.
I’ve had my own little experience with that game called “What can we get her to believe?” When I moved to rural south Texas, I constantly was walking around saying, “Really??? Most of the time, it wasn’t, really, but they had a lot of fun baiting me. 😉
Gerry
April 17, 2012
Nah – a pull-toy for farmers is a shiny new ridiculously tricked-out 4WD vehicle of the suburban sort stuck out in the middle of back of beyond. They bid on the pleasure of pulling it out with the tractor and parading it slowly up the hill and down the hill all the way to the road. Now the bedsprings on a rope – that’s an example of farming ingenuity at its best. Waste not want not.
It is fun to tell people wildly unbelievable things and then wait for the penny to drop. My favorite, though, was when I wrote an April Fool’s blog post that was a gentle send-up of the Planning Commission and the Commission chair about had a heart attack until his wife pointed to the date on it. (Township will Rock).
Jan
April 18, 2012
I have two bedsprings that need a farm to work on if anyone wants them. They don’t make such a good impression on my neighbors. Get in touch if you do need them.
Gerry
April 18, 2012
I suspect that all the farms in Antrim County have spare bedsprings. However, you might wish to contact the volunteer trail grooming groups – see Bruce’s comment below.
tootlepedal
April 18, 2012
A local farmer here covered his fields with human manure and that stank so badly that the whole town was up in arms and he has promised not to do it again. It really was foul.
Gerry
April 18, 2012
Each animal has its own signature fragrance then.
Bruce
April 18, 2012
That set of box springs looks just like what I once used for grooming Barnes Park crosscountry ski trails. The problem was that once it started bouncing, I had to stop and let the springs settle down.
Gerry
April 18, 2012
Dragging a bedspring definitely calls for a light touch on the gas. It all reminds me of the sagging bedstead in my gramma’s extra bedroom. I was allowed to use it as a trampoline. It was fun.
Dawn
April 19, 2012
See? This is why I visit. I come away with a whole new knowledge base!
Gerry
April 19, 2012
Thank you Dawn. I aim to provide a full-service Real Person blog. One is never sure when one might need a handy-dandy solution for a manure problem. Imagine – bedsprings might become popular once more, sort of like corded phones and landlines after an extended power outage.
Sybil
April 24, 2012
Ha ! I immediately thought it was a mattress, and then you said it was farm equipment. And we’re both right ! I love the photo you “messed” with.
When are you coming over for a visit ? I’ve put the kettle on.
Gerry
April 24, 2012
Right after I drive Miss Betty Jo to Elk Rapids. I’ll bring excellent treats.
Nye
April 26, 2012
Gerry, the rusty bedspring is a great idea and seems to get the job done. My mother in law uses chicken poop as fertilizer and her vegetables look healthy. I think the smell is not so bad.
Gerry
April 26, 2012
My grandma kept chickens and my sister keeps chickens. I think they are excellent providers of Organic Enhancement. Let us just say that turkeys are something else again.