Heritage Turkeys for Thanksgiving

Always in November

Just before December

Comes Thanksgiving Day with turkey . . .

. . . and Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner! This year consider branching out from super market turkey by looking up local farmers who raise heritage turkeys. The vast majority of turkeys raised in the United States are a breed called Broad Breasted Whites. They achieve gargantuan size and if left to live much past slaughter day will develop mobility problems due to their over-laden frames. Generally these turkeys are raised indoors, much like meat chickens never seeing the light of day. Most curious of all is their inability to reproduce naturally. The next question begs an answer: How do they reproduce? Artificial insemination. For details, I send you to watch the episode of ‘Dirty Jobs’ where the host receives a tutorial on this most discomfiting practice. And that, in a nutshell, is the state of modern turkey production (and reproduction) in the United States.

Enter, well, re-enter the heritage turkey. Heritage turkeys by definition are breeds of turkeys which can reproduce naturally, without any human intervention. A most noble concept. In fact, they’re so successful at this that they’ve been around for centuries. Thanks to dedicated breeders, the vast array of breeds within the group are still around today. Heritage turkeys haven’t been selected for tremendous growth so are somewhat smaller than the beasts we’re accustomed to seeing on Thanksgiving Day tables. What might be missing in size will be more than compensated for in taste. In fact, Slow Food USA lists eight heritage turkey breeds on its Ark of Taste – a specialty list recognizing foods which are especially tasty. Heritage turkeys are usually raised outside and benefit from sunlight, scratching in the dirt, eating bugs, grass, seeds and anything else they can get into their crops. At the moment, my turkeys are finishing off the last of the crabapples hanging on the trees. Should they not find any crabapples on the ground, they fly, en-masse into the air only to alight seconds later onto the tree limbs to satisfy their craving. I smile as I consider how much tastier my crabapple finished turkeys will be. If you haven’t raised your own, Local Harvest can help you in your search for area farmers offering heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving. To avoid disappointment it’s best to order early and follow the farmer’s directions for roasting. Pasture-raised fowl should always be brined in order to tenderize the meat. After all, they have been building up their muscles by flying up into the crabapple trees!

Heritage turkeys get rave reviews on the table but visitors to your farm will not be able to take their eyes off of them. Some of the varieties are stunning.

Terravita Farms Yarn!

We're so excited to share our full line of yarn with everyone.  We raise two breeds of sheep at the farm, Shetlands and Jacobs. Shetlands are generally (not always) solid and come in 11 natural colors. The colors are shades from white to black and from the lightest champagne to the darkest brown. Jacobs on the other hand are always spotted, black/white or 'lilac/white'('lilac' in Jacobs is considered a light gray color). People usually mix the two colors during processing and the resulting yarn comes in a variety of shades, all with a distinctly heathered appearance.

We've recently launched our full line of yarn and have it all available for sale on Local Harvest for online ordering, or, if you're in the Granville, OH area you can purchase it at The Going Green Store. The colors are completely natural--never dyed. In addition to the 100% pure Shetland and Jacob yarns, we added two luxurious blends: Jacob /Angora and Jacob / Silk. 

All the yarns are 3-ply worsted weight with the exception of the 100% Jacob which is 3-ply bulky weight. The skeins weigh 4 ounces each. We shear sheep each spring and send the raw fiber to Ohio Valley Natural Fibers in Sardinia, Ohio to be scoured, carded, spun and plied into beautiful yarn. I think you'll agree that the colors are simply irresistible!

A selection of Terravita Farms' yarns.

100% Pure Shetland Sheep yarn --brown heather

100% Pure Shetland Sheep yarn --dark brown heather

100% Pure Shetland Sheep yarn --white

Jacob Sheep / Mulberry Silk blend (85% / 15%)

Jacob Sheep / Rabbit Angora blend (95% / 5%)

100% Pure Jacob Sheep yarn, bulky weight

Photographing the yarn and creating as true-to-life an image of each skein as possible was undertaken by David Patrick of David Patrick Photography. He used the white-box product photography method and we think achieved beguiling results. Thanks David!

2013 CSA Sign-up Begins!

Happy New Year! This is, of course, the time for resolutions. A resolution I heard all too often at my farmers' market stand this past season was "I wish I had signed-up for a CSA sooner--by the time I got around to it they were all full."

January officially kicks-off the CSA sign-up season at Terravita Farms. Send in your contracts and come June, you'll be awash in fresh veggies from Terravita Farms. Head over to our website (www.terravitafarms.com), click on the 'CSA' tab and print the form. This year we're cutting back a little so we can take more time with our little guy who just turned 3. As such, we'll only be servicing the Granville Farmers' Market, so spots will be especially tight.

Best wishes to everyone in 2013!