One of Daddy's oldest and dearest friends is giving us the most incredible gift -- he's offered to raise a heritage breed turkey, of our choice, for our 2012 Thanksgiving table.
Um, let me think abo--- YETH PWEEZ!!!
We were directed to Murray McMurray Hatchery where, together with the kids, we selected our breed, by way of a highly competitive game of drawing breeds, scribbled on Post-it notes, out of a melamine bowl. We were all sitting on the kitchen floor.
And the winner was - Bourbon Red!
I'm excited for the experience, for having the opportunity to visit our friend's hobby farm, and to see our bird grow to full-size in the best of conditions.
Here are some photos from a recent visit to their farm, right before Halloween. Unfortunately, my lens was faulty this day and these pictures are not that great, but our friend's new home and farm is beautiful so I have to share anyway.
Meet three of my all-time favorite people: Mr. Noodle, Miss Frijoles and The 8 year old.
That's great, but the question is, are you all as a family going to be visiting your thanksgiving friend throughout the year? and will the kids grow to love mr. gobble gobble?? and lastly, will they eat him for dinner on turkey day??? lol.
Posted by: Nadia | 01/07/2012 at 06:32 PM
Hi Nadia! We will be visiting the turkey under the understanding that he/she will be our t-day bird. the 7 year old is OK with it and understands. The 5 year old understands but is not OK with it. :) She asked if we will "roast it" and I was truthful. I figure if we lived on a farm this would be a non-issue. But, no, if she doesn't want to eat it, she does not have to. However, I will not be offering to make a different kind of meat when that day rolls around! ;) We have a rule here and that's that you do not have to eat your dinner but you can not complain about the food you are given...and we don't give options. It works well for us as they are used to this now so we don't have dinner time issues very often. :)
Posted by: Suburban Homestead | 01/09/2012 at 02:52 PM
Lol! We have the same issue here at our "farm". We live in WI and were lucky enough to buy an old home with a garage that used to be a "barn". We have 6 chickens and 2 goats in the garage. My husband loves lamb meat and thought it would be cool to buy a goat and slaughter him. The minute he brought the goat home, it became "Gilbert" the goat and no way was EVER going to be dinner according to our 4 children! I told my husband that the only way he would be able to get lamb/goat meat fresh and slaughtered by him would be to buy and slaughter the animal at someone else's farm and just bring the meat home. BTW-the kids felt that Gilbert needed a friend, so we went out and bought "Girlie". Girlie is now pregnant!! The kids have already decided on names too! Have a great week!!!
Posted by: Nadia | 01/17/2012 at 04:00 AM
Nadia - your story had me in stitches. Gilbert?!? Really? That's awesome. :)
Posted by: Suburban Homestead | 01/22/2012 at 08:57 PM
Hi there! I just rediscovered your blog and have been exploring since last night! Did you ever butcher the turkey??
Posted by: Nadia Zaatrah | 12/21/2013 at 08:17 AM