Turkey time!

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching: have you made plans to secure your turkey yet?? Well, if you are into local, organic turkey, I have just the place for you.

In Del Valle, a small family farm is located right down the street from yours truly. The Alexander Family Farm is raising two types of turkey this year: Broad Breasted White and Bourbon Red Turkeys. The Bourbons are heritage turkeys and primarily brown meat while the Broad Breasted Whites are...well, white! The price is a premium of $3.75/lb for the white and $5.00/lb for the red but sizes range from 10-20 lbs for the white and 6-14 lbs for the reds. Lest you think that these turkeys are not worth it, just look at them:

Happy, healthy, cage-free, only eating stuff from the ground, and very loud. They also think I have food or something else of turkey interest when I pass by them. If you are interested in reserving a turkey, drop me a line and I will forward the email that they sent me. It's worth it, I think. We ordered two turkeys last year and they were quite good. They come dressed and fresh (no feathers and cleaned/gutted) in a plastic bag from a big vat of bloody ice water.

If you are interested in the Alexander Family Farm, local foods, small farms, or just about anything about where your food comes from, you might enjoy this short documentary on the farm. We get most of our meat from them and pretty much all of our eggs. Their prices for eggs is about $.50 cheaper than buying the organic eggs at HEB. It really works out for us but I can see where, if you don't live down the road from them, it wouldn't work out for you. However, check out Local Harvest to locate your nearest local food source!

Pic of the day: my little turkey

My Thanksgiving Dinner

This year I bought an organic, cage-free 11 lb turkey for our annual meal of thanks. It was delicious! I'd not had such turkey before --- it was light and flavorful and juicy. I didn't miss the salt that comes with the frozen rocks from the grocery store. Nor do I think I'll go back to eating them next year. I am not a huge turkey fan, but this year was different. I think eating an animal that was treated humanely while it lived and killed quickly with dignity for my table is not only ethical, but more flavorful. I can honestly say I was thankful for that bird.

We had the usual sides, sweet potatoes with marshmallow, creamed corn, green beans, and pork sausage stuffing. Of course, we had pumpkin pie for dessert. Oh, and red wine...lots of red wine.