Turkeys

We decided to venture into small scale meat-farming this year.  

Santa Jim and I have been talking about raising turkeys (and maybe, someday, chickens) for food ever since we moved to Haiku Farm, but for reasons explained HERE, we finally procured some turkey poults 


They are cute...for about a week

destined to become turkey dinners.  

This is the goal


We have never before raised food more complex than, say, carrots.  

But we were pretty sure that we could raise at least a few meals using methods that are more humane than the "normal" food-raising techniques.  

This is how most American Thanksgiving meals are raised.

We don't have the time, the money, or the wherewithal to raise all of the food we eat here.  But we wanted to see if we could do more than raising, say, carrots.

We started out with four turkey poults.  Everything we read warned us that turkey chicks are more delicate than chicken children, and that mortality is much higher.  

Since we wanted to harvest at least two birds, we started with four.  One died early on.

Dandelion fluff is a favorite food.
You can bet those factory turkeys never get served dandelions!

The other three have been named "Thanksgiving,"  "Christmas,"  and "Smoke 'em If Ya Got 'Em."


No, we can't tell which one is Thanksgiving.
To their faces, we mostly just call them "Turkey-birds."

They are not pretty.  

They often look like they've been sleeping under the lawnmower.

They are not clever.

They prefer to sleep with their bums in water.  Weird.

This was their very first perch--complete with water to sleep in.


"Humane" food raising doesn't equal "cheaper."

We've already spent at least $60 on turkey pellets to supplement their diet of dandelion greens and vegetables--and we still have two more months of growth to support.  I would never pay that much money money for a turkey destined to appear at a single meal...but we are also harvesting enjoyment out of our time with these birds.

I think that counts for something.

We spend a lot of time mocking them.




They don't seem to mind.


Growing fast...and still growing!


They aren't smart enough to know that their lives, however short, are vastly better here than they would be in mainstream turkey-raising facilities.

They have figured out where the blueberry bushes are, and where the grape vines are, and where the apple trees are, and they spend a few hours each morning gorging on backyard bounty.

But they aren't smart enough to refuse to leave the food buffet in the yard when I come outside every morning and call them. 






And yes, we really do intend to eat them...with a special stuffing containing blueberries, grapes, apples, and maybe even dandelion greens.

We want to remember that these birds were people, briefly.

Santa Jim is a fabulous chef, and his holiday meals are masterful
The turkeys might not know the difference between their lives and the lives of most American turkeys. 

That's okay.

We know.  

Sometimes, that's enough.

UPDATE: July 2015

Lovely plumage.  photo by M. Bretherton

Turns out that the 2014 turkeys were all female, even the biggest, bossiest of them.  How do we know?  Because the surviving 2015 turkeys are both definitely male birds.

>shrug<

I bet they taste just as good.  

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