Check out the story in the Salisbury Post about our MPU (mobile processing unit):
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Wild Turkey Farms News- December 17, 2010
Wild Turkey Farms News- Dec 17, 2010
Did anyone notice it's been cold? At least we had a nice balmy day on Thursday and looks like today will be a repeat. I know many of you have been looking forward to our last batch of chickens for the year since early December. I've got to confess that even though I've been looking forward to taking them off the payroll, the weather over the last 2 weeks has had me less than enthusiastic about processing them though. We plan to take advantage of this nice weather & process some of them this afternoon. What we don't get to today we'll hopefully finish tomorrow afternoon. Come find us early at the farmer's markets tomorrow for the chickens we do get to or plan to come visit us at the farm over the weekend to pick up a fresh bird.
As many of you know we're really passionate about promoting the many great local foods available from not only us but the many other great small farms in our area. We feel strongly that healthy, local foods can and should be available to everyone regardless of income. We would like to invite you to share the holiday spirit and help make good food available this holiday season to the less fortunate. You can do this by purchasing some extra at the farmers markets and taking it to your local mission. To really make your money go farther visit with the farmers at the end of the market and help them by purchasing some of their leftover vegetables to donate.
Davidson Farmer's Market (9-Noon). We're all tailgating in the lower parking lot on Jackson St this weekend so come find us at our winter spot.
Salisbury Farmer's Market (10-Noon) Domisty will be there so you can stock up for your holiday meals. Best bet is to email us your order today so she can have it ready for you to pick up.
We hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that support us & other local farmers.
Black Mountain Farmers Market- Black Mountain
Chef Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
Hippie Kitchen Bakery- Huntersville / DFM
Know Your Farms Buying Club- Davidson/Charlotte
Customshop Restaurant- Charlotte
Flat Iron Restaurant- Davidson
Bread Riot Coop- Salisbury
From our Family to yours: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thanks for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.
Lee, Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC
Did anyone notice it's been cold? At least we had a nice balmy day on Thursday and looks like today will be a repeat. I know many of you have been looking forward to our last batch of chickens for the year since early December. I've got to confess that even though I've been looking forward to taking them off the payroll, the weather over the last 2 weeks has had me less than enthusiastic about processing them though. We plan to take advantage of this nice weather & process some of them this afternoon. What we don't get to today we'll hopefully finish tomorrow afternoon. Come find us early at the farmer's markets tomorrow for the chickens we do get to or plan to come visit us at the farm over the weekend to pick up a fresh bird.
As many of you know we're really passionate about promoting the many great local foods available from not only us but the many other great small farms in our area. We feel strongly that healthy, local foods can and should be available to everyone regardless of income. We would like to invite you to share the holiday spirit and help make good food available this holiday season to the less fortunate. You can do this by purchasing some extra at the farmers markets and taking it to your local mission. To really make your money go farther visit with the farmers at the end of the market and help them by purchasing some of their leftover vegetables to donate.
Davidson Farmer's Market (9-Noon). We're all tailgating in the lower parking lot on Jackson St this weekend so come find us at our winter spot.
Salisbury Farmer's Market (10-Noon) Domisty will be there so you can stock up for your holiday meals. Best bet is to email us your order today so she can have it ready for you to pick up.
We hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that support us & other local farmers.
Black Mountain Farmers Market- Black Mountain
Chef Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
Hippie Kitchen Bakery- Huntersville / DFM
Know Your Farms Buying Club- Davidson/Charlotte
Customshop Restaurant- Charlotte
Flat Iron Restaurant- Davidson
Bread Riot Coop- Salisbury
From our Family to yours: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thanks for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.
Lee, Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC
Monday, December 6, 2010
Wild Turkey Farms News- December 3, 2010
Wild Turkey Farms News- Dec 3, 2010
Thanksgiving Review- Yet another Thanksgiving has come & gone and the reports are that our turkeys we're loved by all. This year's rough summer resulted in turkeys that were a bit lighter than expected so we hope that didn't inconvenience anyone. This year we processed about 70 Turkeys with lots of help from friends, family, and others. Turkey Day starts with lighting the burner on the scalder before daylight and ends when we get home from deliveries about 10pm so I've got to say we're glad to see that day done. Don't worry though, we've already begun making plans for next year's birds.
Thanks to Mary Jane Leach from DFM for the nice article she wrote on our turkey processing day (click here to see).
NO CHICKENS WILL BE AVAILABLE THIS WEEK- They are not quite ready so we're going to have to wait another week.
Davidson Farmer's Market (9-11am). We'll be leaving early this week since they are closing Main St by noon. Come by & get loaded up on Pork, Beef, & Eggs.
We hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that support us & other local farmers.
Black Mountain Farmers Market- Black Mountain
Chef Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
Hippie Kitchen Bakery- Huntersville / DFM
Know Your Farms Buying Club- Davidson/Charlotte
Customshop Restaurant- Charlotte
Flat Iron Restaurant- Davidson
Thanks for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.
Lee, Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC
Thanksgiving Review- Yet another Thanksgiving has come & gone and the reports are that our turkeys we're loved by all. This year's rough summer resulted in turkeys that were a bit lighter than expected so we hope that didn't inconvenience anyone. This year we processed about 70 Turkeys with lots of help from friends, family, and others. Turkey Day starts with lighting the burner on the scalder before daylight and ends when we get home from deliveries about 10pm so I've got to say we're glad to see that day done. Don't worry though, we've already begun making plans for next year's birds.
Thanks to Mary Jane Leach from DFM for the nice article she wrote on our turkey processing day (click here to see).
NO CHICKENS WILL BE AVAILABLE THIS WEEK- They are not quite ready so we're going to have to wait another week.
Davidson Farmer's Market (9-11am). We'll be leaving early this week since they are closing Main St by noon. Come by & get loaded up on Pork, Beef, & Eggs.
We hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that support us & other local farmers.
Black Mountain Farmers Market- Black Mountain
Chef Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
Hippie Kitchen Bakery- Huntersville / DFM
Know Your Farms Buying Club- Davidson/Charlotte
Customshop Restaurant- Charlotte
Flat Iron Restaurant- Davidson
Thanks for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.
Lee, Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving
To say that November is a busy time of the year for us is an understatement!
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving is a very long day for us.....this year it was a 16.5 hour day. The day started at 6 am (we slept in). Lee headed to the farm & I got the boys to school. By the time I got back to the farm our volunteers were there, the turkeys were caught and we were ready to start processing.
Since some of our volunteers had never processed poultry we ran through the game plan with everyone. It really does work well if everyone has a specific job. We had someone killing the turkeys, then they went to the scalder (this helps to loosen their feathers), next the plucker (where the feathers are removed) and finally to the tables to be eviscerated. Lee & I supervised & helped out as needed but our job was to take the turkeys weigh them, tag them & get them into their ice baths.
The time went by quickly & then customers started arriving at the farm to pick-up their turkeys. I didn't even have time to change clothes....... We learn something every year that we can use to improve upon the next year. This years lesson was to label the coolers & freezers with which turkeys are in them. Then maybe we don't have to look through 5 coolers to find turkey #22.
Then came the task of assigning everyone a turkey. I had about 6 sheets of paper that we had written the turkey number & weight on. I compiled them onto one sheet of paper and then took our spreadsheet of all the customers which included name, phone number, where the turkey would be picked up at, & if they had requested a larger or smaller bird. After assigning everyone their bird it was time to package them up & load the market trailer to start our drop-offs.
Did I mention that by this time it was around 6 o'clock in the evening and we had eaten a slice of pumpkin bread & coffee at about 9 o'clock that morning and a handful of chips for lunch.
Our first drop-off was Davidson Town Hall. Of course no matter what time we say we will be there we are late. This year the traffic was AWFUL!! We had a couple different people call and ask where we were and I told them we would be there soon.... We also had a few customers call us and say there is no way I can get there. This put us late getting to our Salisbury drop-off also but I had called a customer to say what everybody know please.
So once again the Thanksgiving season has ended for Wild Turkey Farms.
We are very thankful for our customers who continue to support us year after year. We are very thankful for the volunteers that we have year after year. I actually had a couple volunteer to help next year with the logistics of the turkeys so maybe we can find them a little easier next year.
I included a few pictures of our day.
There will be more posted on the Facebook page.
Turkeys
Scalder
Monday, November 22, 2010
WTF News- November 19, 2010
Wild Turkey Farms News- November 19, 2010
Where has the year gone? It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week and as I write this Charlie is by my side coaching me on how to sing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer". We've finally traded 90 degree days for frosty mornings and the true sign that the year is about used up is when next years seed catalogs start appearing in the mailbox. As we prepare to gather with family & friends next week it gets me to thinking about a few of the things that I'll be thankful for come next Thursday;
Domisty- she puts up with a lot from Rosty, Charlie, and occasionally myself
That we're done with turkeys for the year- they are off our payroll & on your tables.
For everyone that has helped make our markets, open houses, farm tours, etc a great success this year.
Everyone that has made this a wonderful year for us. We are really honored that you chose to support us and feed our products to your friends & families.
Bacon. Who wouldn't be thankful for bacon???? Especially when we just picked up a batch this week and will have it at the markets Saturday to make everyone happy. We'll also have our suburban ham slices too.
Davidson Farmer's Market (9am-noon). We're in the Town Hall parking lot as usual so come stock up.
Domisty will be at the Salisbury Farmers Winter Market tomorrow so come find us under the big green tent 10am-noon so come on out and load up. Email your order in by Friday afternoon to make sure you get what you need for Thanksgiving week.
We hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that support us & other local farmers.
Black Mountain Farmers Market- Black Mountain
Chef Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
Hippie Kitchen Bakery- Huntersville / DFM
Know Your Farms Buying Club- Davidson/Charlotte
Customshop Restaurant- Charlotte
Flat Iron Grill- Davidson
Thanks for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.
Lee, Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC
Where has the year gone? It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week and as I write this Charlie is by my side coaching me on how to sing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer". We've finally traded 90 degree days for frosty mornings and the true sign that the year is about used up is when next years seed catalogs start appearing in the mailbox. As we prepare to gather with family & friends next week it gets me to thinking about a few of the things that I'll be thankful for come next Thursday;
Domisty- she puts up with a lot from Rosty, Charlie, and occasionally myself
That we're done with turkeys for the year- they are off our payroll & on your tables.
For everyone that has helped make our markets, open houses, farm tours, etc a great success this year.
Everyone that has made this a wonderful year for us. We are really honored that you chose to support us and feed our products to your friends & families.
Bacon. Who wouldn't be thankful for bacon???? Especially when we just picked up a batch this week and will have it at the markets Saturday to make everyone happy. We'll also have our suburban ham slices too.
Davidson Farmer's Market (9am-noon). We're in the Town Hall parking lot as usual so come stock up.
Domisty will be at the Salisbury Farmers Winter Market tomorrow so come find us under the big green tent 10am-noon so come on out and load up. Email your order in by Friday afternoon to make sure you get what you need for Thanksgiving week.
We hope that you'll support some of the chefs & businesses that support us & other local farmers.
Black Mountain Farmers Market- Black Mountain
Chef Charles Catering - Charlotte/ DFM
Hippie Kitchen Bakery- Huntersville / DFM
Know Your Farms Buying Club- Davidson/Charlotte
Customshop Restaurant- Charlotte
Flat Iron Grill- Davidson
Thanks for your support, have a great weekend, and we'll see you at the market.
Lee, Domisty, Rosty, & Charlie
Wild Turkey Farms
China Grove, NC
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Wild Turkey Farms- October 29, 2010
Wild Turkey Farms News- Oct 29, 2010
Turkeys Are Sold Out For This Year Thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm for our turkeys this year. We set a record (for us anyway) by selling out in just 5 hours. We've been busy contacting everyone we know to help locate turkeys for those that missed out but I'm sorry to report that everyone around the state I know is also out of birds. Hopefully next year will be better.
Farm story of the week- Amado the gypsy.
Amado is our 2400lb black Angus bull, or to be perfectly truthful, partly our bull- we're still making payments on him. The other afternoon about 4pm our neighbor stopped by for a visit. Now for those of you that have been on our email long enough you'll remember him from the the great pig round up a couple months back. Our conversation started as usual:
him- "staying busy?"
me-" plenty busy so far. You?"
him- Not too bad. You missing a _____(fill in the blank w/ bull, pigs, goats, llama, etc)
me- "Guess so since your here. I'll go round em up shortly, thanks for the warning."
him- "Call if you need any help."
me- "thanks"
So this time it appeared that Amado had become smitten with a couple of his cows and thought he'd go visit. The neighbor's bull didn't take quite so kindly to a stranger trying to steal his gals. Lucky for everyone involved we keep a good electric fence between us which means they just paw at the ground, bellow, and snort at each other. Even though he got out, Amado had jumped the fence into another pasture & was still separated from the other bull. After reviewing our fence line & determining that he must have sprouted wings & cleared the fence since there were no holes, I hooked the truck up to the trailer & set off to evaluate the setup at the neighbors house. Did I mention I had Rosty & Charlie in tow & I'd plowed my cell phone into the garden on Sunday so I'm without communication too. After developing a game plan, the boys and I made a couple attempts at driving Amado up to the corral! without any luck because he wouldn't go anywhere that his 25 new girlfriends and their grumpy boyfriend weren't (and just for the record before anyone forwards this to DSS, I didn't actually have the boys in the pasture with the bull- they we're 2 fences over & way out of the way). About dark our neighbor showed up with his tractor & a bale of hay to lead all of the cows up to the corral. He told Rosty & Charlie to come ride with him in his tractor which has features that they've never knew existed such as an enclosed cab, AC, a radio, and Charlie's favorite, a horn- beep beep. Long story short-we got them to the barn in the dark, the lights in the barn didn't work but we still managed to sort through 40 solid black cows & calves in a dark barn to separate Amado out & get him loaded on the trailer for the ride home. I'm happy to report that Amado is safe & sound a home, or at least he was this afternoon. ! ; The boys and I are busy being really good and hoping that Santa Clause will bring us a cab tractor with AC, a radio, and a horn for Christmas. Domisty keeps telling us that it wouldn't fit in his sleigh and besides, the three of us haven't been THAT GOOD this year anyway. Oh well, maybe next year.
Have a Safe & Happy Halloween Everyone!!!
Turkeys Are Sold Out For This Year Thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm for our turkeys this year. We set a record (for us anyway) by selling out in just 5 hours. We've been busy contacting everyone we know to help locate turkeys for those that missed out but I'm sorry to report that everyone around the state I know is also out of birds. Hopefully next year will be better.
Farm story of the week- Amado the gypsy.
Amado is our 2400lb black Angus bull, or to be perfectly truthful, partly our bull- we're still making payments on him. The other afternoon about 4pm our neighbor stopped by for a visit. Now for those of you that have been on our email long enough you'll remember him from the the great pig round up a couple months back. Our conversation started as usual:
him- "staying busy?"
me-" plenty busy so far. You?"
him- Not too bad. You missing a _____(fill in the blank w/ bull, pigs, goats, llama, etc)
me- "Guess so since your here. I'll go round em up shortly, thanks for the warning."
him- "Call if you need any help."
me- "thanks"
So this time it appeared that Amado had become smitten with a couple of his cows and thought he'd go visit. The neighbor's bull didn't take quite so kindly to a stranger trying to steal his gals. Lucky for everyone involved we keep a good electric fence between us which means they just paw at the ground, bellow, and snort at each other. Even though he got out, Amado had jumped the fence into another pasture & was still separated from the other bull. After reviewing our fence line & determining that he must have sprouted wings & cleared the fence since there were no holes, I hooked the truck up to the trailer & set off to evaluate the setup at the neighbors house. Did I mention I had Rosty & Charlie in tow & I'd plowed my cell phone into the garden on Sunday so I'm without communication too. After developing a game plan, the boys and I made a couple attempts at driving Amado up to the corral! without any luck because he wouldn't go anywhere that his 25 new girlfriends and their grumpy boyfriend weren't (and just for the record before anyone forwards this to DSS, I didn't actually have the boys in the pasture with the bull- they we're 2 fences over & way out of the way). About dark our neighbor showed up with his tractor & a bale of hay to lead all of the cows up to the corral. He told Rosty & Charlie to come ride with him in his tractor which has features that they've never knew existed such as an enclosed cab, AC, a radio, and Charlie's favorite, a horn- beep beep. Long story short-we got them to the barn in the dark, the lights in the barn didn't work but we still managed to sort through 40 solid black cows & calves in a dark barn to separate Amado out & get him loaded on the trailer for the ride home. I'm happy to report that Amado is safe & sound a home, or at least he was this afternoon. ! ; The boys and I are busy being really good and hoping that Santa Clause will bring us a cab tractor with AC, a radio, and a horn for Christmas. Domisty keeps telling us that it wouldn't fit in his sleigh and besides, the three of us haven't been THAT GOOD this year anyway. Oh well, maybe next year.
Have a Safe & Happy Halloween Everyone!!!
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