For some, harvesting turkeys for Thanksgiving is a very serious business; but with good intentions.
Mary’s Turkeys is a free-range turkey, chicken and duck farm in San Joaquin, Calif. Mary Pitman, co-owner of Mary’s Turkeys, wants to get the word out about the benefits of eating free-range turkeys.
Pitman said the turkeys at her farm have about four times the space to roam as other turkeys raised for Thanksgiving. Many other turkeys are also given antibiotics to counteract the unsanitary and cramped conditions in which they are raised.
“The other thing that makes us different is that we don’t have any antibiotics in the feed,” Pitman said. “We have three types of turkey. All of them are free-range. So we have the Mary’s Free-Range and the Mary’s Free-Range Organic, and the Mary’s Free-Range Heritage, which is the kind of turkey our forefathers knew.”
The organic free-range chickens and turkeys are raised on organic feed, Pitman said.
“They’re fed a vegetarian diet,” she said. “It’s just corn, soybean mil, soybean oil, calcium, phosphorus and a vitamin and mineral pack.”
The heritage turkeys are different from organic and white-breasted turkeys because they can still fly and breed naturally, Pitman said.
“The heritage turkeys — the reason they’re more expensive is it takes them about seven to eight months to grow out, so you’re feeding them twice as long,” she said.
Steve Hammond, an employee at La Montanita Co-op, said the co-op also offers free-range heritage turkeys from Talus Wind Ranch (in Mountaineer, NM) for $3.99 per pound. He said this is an affordable option for people who want to keep their Thanksgiving food local.
“It seems like the most popular is the cheaper one, the Grateful Harvest free-range, which is $1.89 per pound,” he said.
Mary’s Organic Turkeys at the Montanita Co-op are $2.59 per pound and the free-range turkeys are $1.89 per pound.
Natural Grocers reported only having three more Mary’s Free-Range Turkeys at $1.79 per pound.
Kemper Isley, co-president of Natural Grocers, said that if college students can’t afford a turkey by themselves, Thanksgiving offers a good excuse to get some friends together to buy one.
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“In my opinion the heritage turkey is really worth the money,” he said. “Buying a whole turkey can definitely feed — depending on the size — a collection of people for several days actually.”
Aside from feeling good about eating a well-treated and well-fed turkey, Isley said there are other reasons to buy a healthy turkey.
“The other important difference between these turkeys is these are more freshly harvested,” he said. “These were harvested in the last month, whereas most turkeys that are sold for Thanksgiving have been harvested up to eight or nine months ago, so they’ve been frozen for a long time.”
Pitman said her interest in eating free-range and organic turkeys came from being health conscious.
“They’re all named after me because I have been reading labels for over 30 years in an effort to get well, and I want a pure product,” she said. “So our chickens, turkeys and ducks have nothing added to them. All those food preservatives and additives make me very sick.”
Pitman said if anyone wants information about how to cook their turkey, they can go online to marysturkeys.com.
*Mary’s Turkeys are available at
La Montanita Co-op
3500 Central Ave. S.E.
and
Natural Grocers in Vitamin Cottage.
4420 Wyoming Blvd. N.E.*
