In which we start preparing Thanksgiving dinner with help from our friends

I'm aware that most Americans begin prepping their Thanksgiving turkey

by shopping at the local grocery store.

We do things a little differently

I'd love to say that all the food we eat here on the Farm is sustainably raised by us or by local friends.  But it isn't true.  I'm just as likely to grab lunch at Taco del Mar as the next person.

However, for a few special meals each year we try to provide a table that represents good food raised right by our community and served with love.

Especially Thanksgiving.

Mel raised the turkeys again this year, and she hosted the dispatch party.  If you've never attended something like this, the word "party" may seem like an odd choice, but I think it's perfect:  a yearly gathering of people dressed in special clothes, with music and laughter and food.

Sounds like a party to me!

Holding an outdoor party in November around here is not usually recommended.  It poured buckets of rain all day Saturday, and it has poured more buckets Monday.

But on Sunday while we were setting up equipment for the party

Mel points to the sky so that nobody misses the color

we had blue sky and (relatively) warm temps! 

Jim fills one of the dip tanks from the hose

This kind of operation needs a lot of water.  We start with the large trash can full, heated over a bayou burner up to 140* F.  Later in the day, when we had lots of helpers, we added a second tank for the very large birds who don't fit into a trash can.

A wooden canoe paddle is perfect to help submerge birds in hot water.

Here's the process, beginning to end:


The birds are at the east end of the operation, walking around in their enclosure.  They have been free-ranging all summer, and (hopefully) outrunning the resident coyotes that like to lurk in the blackberry brambles waiting for hapless turkeys to wander by.

August foraging:  blackberries!

A crew of 3 or 4 people take the first stages, which I did not photograph this year.  If you want to see pictures, you can look at my report of this event from 2016.

Each turkey is tranquilized by being held upside down (so that the blood rushes to the teeny tiny brain and the bird passes out) and humanely slaughtered.  

Then, it is transported to the west end of the project, and the cleaning crew takes over.

The turkeys are first hosed down, because they are not tidy birds, and they enjoy taking a nice belly-flop nap in the mud...or in the manure.  The hose gets most of the worst dirt off.

Then they are dipped into warm soapy water to loosen the feathers.

Patty tugs on a wing feather to test

When the feathers are loose, the birds are carried to the plucking table.

The larger birds require a 2-person carry

Three or four people usually pluck a large bird in about 10 minutes.  

wing feathers

As we pluck, we can see that these turkeys did not grow up in a factory:  some have partially-healed wings, which are marks of the birds who survived a coyote raid.

When the feathers are off, it's time to clean out the insides.

Carol, Jim and Deb staff the gutting table

When everything is cleaned out, the bird bodies go into a cooling tank (a large tank filled with ice water) and the giblets go into an ice chest*.

*the birds were not necessarily sent home with their own inner organs.
Since some people didn't want to take any giblets, other birds got extras. 
If your turkey has two hearts, it probably isn't really a Time Lord.

While everything cooled, the crew hosed themselves off and had lunch!  Potluck soups, salads, pastas, and cookies. 

I'm not saying that eating two peanut butter cookies topped with melted Hallowe'en candy was a good idea.  I'm just saying that's what I did.


After the chilled birds have been re-stuffed with giblets, we slither them into the shrink wrap.

Squeezing middle-aged ladies into prom dresses is excellent practice for this

Here's a cool technique:  stuff the turkey into the plastic wrap.  Make a zip tie collar at the top but don't tighten it completely.  Stick a straw into the gap, and then submerge the whole she-bang into hot water.  

The heat pushes the air out of the bag through the straw, and shrinks the packaging around the bird.

At the last moment, tighten the collar and yank out the straw.

The birds are weighed, labeled, and distributed into ice chests--ready for the Thanksgiving Feast.

Before we all head home, we clean up a bit first.

Jenni uses a scrub brush and cleaning solution...and a song

Katie has her own method for cleaning up

A party with food, friends, and even a bit of sunshine? 

It's Good, y'all.