According to the National Turkey Federation, Americans gobbled up 46 million turkeys for Thanksgiving last year. Unfortunately, a lot of those turkeys probably spent their lives in warehouses, surrounded by vast fields sagging under the weight and salinity of their manure. And after 10-18 weeks in the warehouse, the turkeys were likely transported, processed and packaged en masse through highly industrial complexes. Not to spoil your appetite.

But last weekend I was lucky enough to experience an alternative to the industrial turkey - a small, organic, truly free-range turkey system. I went to Big Sandy, Montana, to help my friend process the heritage turkeys he had raised on the wheat fields. There were only 24 turkeys – a drop in the Butterball bucket. But these turkeys spent each day under the big sky naturally, stretching their legs and wings, eating bugs and a variety of plants along with grain, producing amounts of manure beneficial to the soil, not toxic. And we were the ones that processed them, by hand, carefully.

My friend's turkeys were spoken for many months ago by eager buyers - so now might not be too early to start thinking about where next year's turkey will come from.

Slate has an article on how to buy a greener turkey, starting of course with buying locally. You can search for local food items, including turkeys, any time of the year on Local Harvest’s helpful and easy-to-use website connecting consumers with regional farmers.

Via Slate

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