More News

Myron Horst of Jehovah-Jireh Farm stood next to his gregarious, gobbling flock of nearly 300 turkeys. The electric fenced-lined pasture was strewn with white feathers, and the grassy field adjacent to their pen was nearly brown from the birds' grazing.

The organic family farm has raised turkeys for the last eight years and has seen demand for the birds steadily grow. Increased interest in organic and locally grown food and more people eating in due to the economy have played a role, but there's also something less tangible at play, Horst said last week.

"People like to come to the farm. It's like going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting their own tree," he said at his 35-acre Dickerson farm, located just over the county line in Frederick. "They come and pick out a turkey, and it adds a special element to the holiday."

For some, an important part of the Thanksgiving tradition is heading to a farm to pick up a fresh turkey. The Horst family started with about 50 turkeys in 2000 and raised 280 this year.

Nick Maravell of Nick's Organic Farm in Potomac grew 25 turkeys at his 155-acre Buckeystown location last year, his first foray, and expanded to 41 this year.

The turkeys' journey from the farm to the dinner table begins in the summer, these farmers said, when the turkey chicks arrive by mail. The chicks spend much of their time indoors to keep warm and away from predators. The hens and toms eat organic feed and graze on grass, an important part of their diet.

"It's much better for you than factory farmed eggs and meat and it's much more humane," Horst said.

The turkeys rapidly grow until November, when they are about four months old. Both farms raise males and females so they can offer a variety of sizes.

"Right now they're eating us out of house and home," Myron Horst's wife Cathy said. "The bigger they get, the more they eat."

The birds were scheduled to be slaughtered early this week and processed in-house at the farms. The birds are plucked, cleaned, chilled, weighed and packaged, a process that will take one day at Nick's Organic Farm and two mornings at Jehovah-Jireh Farm. The turkeys are then picked up by customers, most of whom reserve their dinners weeks in advance. Some buy multiple turkeys to last through the holiday season, Horst and Maravell said.

"I've just been so pleased with the way the meat tastes," said Cindy Lawrence, 62, of Potomac, an organic food aficionado who reserved three of Maravell's turkeys. "You are what you eat, and unless what you eat is fed a healthy diet, you're not going to be healthy."

The turkey is a unique addition to any farm, Horst and Maravell said.

"We like the turkeys. It's different," Horst said. "Turkeys are a very curious bird."

Maravell is just as fond of his turkeys, though he said chickens tend to have more personality.

"Turkeys are a little oblivious. They live in the present and in the now," he said.

Many customers enjoy bringing their children to the farm so they can see where their food comes from, Maravell said. Lawrence said she has toured the farm and the processing area of Nick's Organic Farm.

"I feel like I've gone the whole route with them," she said.

Gobble Gobble:
For more information about Jehovah-Jireh Farm, 7033 Ed Sears Road in Dickerson, visit www.jehovahjireh.com. For more information about Nick's Organic Farm, 8565 Horseshoe Lane in Potomac, contact nickmaravell@comcast.net.

Locally grown turkeys are also sold at Heyser Farms, 14526 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, 301-384-7859; and the Montgomery Farm Women's Cooperative Market, 7155 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, 301-652-2291. Turkeys may no longer be available.

By the numbers:
$4.3 billion: Estimated money to be made by farmers on turkey sales in 2008

271 million: Estimated turkeys raised in the U.S. in 2008

99.3: Percentage of U.S. turkey imports that come from Canada

13.3: Pounds of turkey eaten by the average American in 2006

3: U.S. towns named after turkeys (Turkey, Texas; Turkey Creek, La.; and Turkey, N.C.)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau