Do You Know Where Your Thanksgiving Turkey Came From?
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| Bourbon Red Turkeys |
I ordered our turkey for this Thanksgiving last March. I'm serious. I really did. I ordered it from the same place we get our grassfed beef, 4 Arrows Ranch, in Citra, Florida, the closest ranch I've been able to find that provides free-range, organically-managed, heritage breed turkeys. And I can't wait to pick them up (we're getting 2; one for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas) next week. Lee, from 4 Arrows emailed me about a month ago to let me know that they would each weigh in excess of 25 pounds. I was flabbergasted. I had to order a new turkey roaster to be sure I had a pan big enough to handle them.
Where are you getting your Thanksgiving turkey this year? Were you able to find a local bird? Did you raise your own? How will you cook it?
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3 comments:
OMG 25 lbs of awesomness. 26 lbs of turkey would feed us for MONTHS.
I get my turkey at the Turkey place commonly calls the Grocery Store. I know I KNOW I am hanging my head in shame BUT there are no fresh eating turkey farms near us while we do have a bunch of rich old buzzards. RAISE our OWN? LOL we are not allowed to park a truck in our driveway (if a delivery truck is gonna take longer than 20 minutes you have to get a permit), a clothsline or a compost pile, I can guarantee you we can not raise a turkey. Good Golly they fined Donald Trump $1250.00 a day because they did not like the size of his Flag Pole. I could not imagine what the fine would be for turkey raising.
Since you have to pick up your turkeys I am guessing you are fairly close to where you bought them which is awesome. I am pretty sure when we do finally move to North Florida that they have places to buy fresh turkeys. We have a lot of chicken farms in that area.
Tricia,
We got our turkeys from 4 Arrows Ranch which is in Citra/Ocala. There is a link to them under Local Food Sources in the lower right corner of the blog. They bring them down to Wellington for me, so we share the driving. It's a husband and wife team, Lee and Jim. We also get our beef from them and I believe they are now carrying pork, too.
If I remember correctly, you're in Palm Beach County, so they are entirely doable for you. Give Lee a buzz. She will even invite you up to visit the ranch.
2 years ago we raised the industry standard double breasted birds. We had a 37lb dressed bird for Thanksgiving and a 28lb Christmas bird. They were too big to clean in the sink so had to clean them (post-slaughter) in the bath tub. The big one fit sideways in the roaster but we had no idea how long to cook it. Cook books just don't go up that high. We ended up putting it in the oven at 5am and it was over done by dinner time. :( Live and learn. This year we have heritage birds... and no time to slaughter before Thanksgiving! Oh well... we'll have a yummy CHristmas though!
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