@ South Mountain Creamery

If you’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, it’s time to pre-order your local turkey! If you read a lot of food magazines (or blogs) to prepare for your Thanksgiving feast, you’ve probably seen a lot of talk about brining the turkey in recent years. Soaking the bird in a saltwater is supposed to add succulence to the meat. But here’s a secret: turkeys are naturally juicy. Conventional turkeys, like conventional chickens and other animals, are raised in confined quarters where they are stuffed full of grain (often genetically-modified, aka GMO) and antibiotics to grow rapidly. Turkeys who eat a natural diet of bugs, grubs and grasses will naturally produce meat that is juicier and more flavorful. And, birds who roam in fresh air lead happier, healthier lives.

What is a Heritage turkey? Today, 99% of all turkeys raised in the U.S. are the “Broadbreasted White” variety, which have been bred specifically to produce unnaturally large breasts. The breasts are so large, in fact, that these turkeys are unable to reproduce naturally! (Source: Sustainable Table/UN Food and Agriculture Organization)

free-ranging @ Fields of Athenry

Sustainable turkey farmers raise various traditional species of turkeys, Heritage breeds such as Narrangassett or Bourbon Red, to protect the genetic diversity and provide tastier options for your Thanksgiving table. Heritage birds take longer to reach market size — 24 to 30 weeks compared to 18 for supermarket turkeys — which is one reason why they more expensive. (Source: Heritage Turkey Foundation) The article on Sustainable Table has a more detailed explanation of the difference between heritage, organic and sustainable birds and questions to ask your farmers.

Wondering how to find a local, organic, free-range bird for your holiday meal? Here in the DC Metro area, organic turkeys are harder to find, but several local farmers and butchers provide heritage and/or free-range turkeys. Organic birds will be the most expensive, but they are fed only organic feed, not treated with antibiotics or hormones, and required to have access to the outdoors. Ask your farmer or butcher what their free-range turkeys are fed. Organic grain feed is less important if they are truly free-range, as turkeys prefer to eat bugs and grasses anyway. Where “all-natural” is used below, it means turkeys are not treated or fed with any antibiotics, steroids or hormones.

EcoFriendly Foods (Moneta, VA)
type: all-natural, free-range, Heritage and hybrid breeds, 12-20lbs.
price: n/a
order: order at Arlington Courthouse or Dupont Circle markets, $40 deposit required.

Fields of Athenry (Purcellville, VA)
type: all-natural, free-range, Heritage, 15-35lbs.
price: $7.25/lb.
order: download order form online and send $40 deposit; pick-up at farm only; likely to sell out early.

Let’s Meat on the Avenue (Alexandria, VA)
type: Amish-raised from Pennsylvania and Minnesota; organic from Fauquier County VA; all free-range, all-natural, fresh
price: $3.95/lb. for Amish turkeys
order: call 703-836-6328 or stop by the shop; orders will be accepted until about a week prior to Thanksgiving (or until sold out)

MOM’s Organic Market (VA and MD)
type: all-natural, free-range from Maple Lawn Farm (Fulton, MD) and Eberly’s Organic
price: $1.99/lb. Maple Lawn, $3.49/lb. Eberly Organic
order: call or visit store (locations in Alexandria, College Park, Columbia, Frederick and Rockville)

Smith Meadows Farm (Purcellville, VA)
type: all-natural, free-range turkeys, 10-12lbs. or 13-14lbs., frozen
price: $4.25/lb.
order: Place a $10 deposit at their markets, pick-up on Saturday 11/21 or Sunday 11/22 at the market where you place your order. Orders will be accepted until about mid-November. You can also call 877-955-4389 to place your order by phone.
markets: Arlington Courthouse, Del Ray, Falls Church and Chevy Chase on Saturdays; Takoma Park and Dupont Circle on Sundays

South Mountain Creamery / Hillside Farm (Thurmont, MD)
type: free-range, fresh
price: about $2.50/lb.
order: existing South Mountain delivery customers must reserve a turkey by Saturday, November 7; they will be delivered with your regular delivery the week prior to Thanksgiving.

If you don’t want to cook, The Butcher’s Block in Alexandria will have ready-to-go Thanksgiving meals available; visit the website for details.

To find a local, Heritage turkey in your area, search the listings at Local Harvest — or ask your favorite meat vendor at the farmers market!

Shared with Real Food Wednesday — visit the round-up @ Cheeseslave for more Real Food inspiration.

Milk was the first step in our transition to organic foods, as I first learned about bovine growth hormones (rBGH) shortly after getting knocked up way back in 2006. As I had given up soda and all but the bare minimum of caffeine (1 small coffee), I was drinking a lot of milk and it didn’t take much to convince me to switch to organic milk. At first, the husband objected to paying twice as much, and challenged me to tell the difference in a blind taste test. When I correctly identified the organic by looks alone, and then by taste, he started to believe there may be a difference.

Soon after the toddler’s first birthday, and transition to cow’s milk, someone sent a message on our neighborhood listserv that a Maryland dairy would consider starting home delivery to our area if 72 families signed up. Apparently I was not the only one to jump at the chance, as they surpassed that number in two days! In October, the milkman made his first delivery to our front porch, and we couldn’t be more in love. Coming from free-ranging, grass-eating cows, bottled on site in real glass bottles, and appearing on our porch every Monday – could we be any luckier? The toddler is addicted to their milk, and checks the cooler nearly every day to see if the new bottles have been delivered. A few weeks ago, we headed up to the dairy for their Spring Cow Caper Festival. The toddler was mesmerized by the “mooo!” cows, talked to and fed the baby calves, and played for hours on the farm. They had barbecue, made from their beef and local pork, milk and cheese samples, and tasty ice cream.

While the farm is not certified organic, they allow their cows to eat grass or a corn/soy feed that is grown on the farm, are antibiotic and growth hormone free, and use no pesticides on their fields. (I inspected some bags of grain seed in the barn and was pleased to see not a Monsanto label in sight!) Watching the cows graze peacefully in the bright green hollows, it was hard to imagine that most dairy cows live very differently.

Perhaps the most exciting part of our experience is seeing my husband converted into a Creamery disciple – frequently pouring glasses of milk for friends and visitors. Almost without fail, their first reaction is “Wow, that tastes like milk.” I also get a kick out of seeing new customers gush over their rediscovery of what milk really tastes like. Here are some other new customers’ reactions:

• Aimee at DCMetroMoms
• Melissa McCart at Counter Intelligence
• Ed at TheSlowCook
• RedWattle, who aptly titled his post “Love in a Glass”
• Corinne at LittlestBird gave herself South Mountain milk as a Valentine’s present (see a theme here?)

Local? South Mountain delivers all over Northern Virginia, DC, Baltimore and Western Maryland. Check it out!

Updated 7.16.08 to add Baltimore, per Mike’s comment below. Thanks, Mike!