Talking Turkey: Order Yours Now

I know it's only Halloween, but it's time to start thinking about your Thanksgiving turkey. I know, I know, many "green" people are vegetarian and vegan, but I'm not. I try to eat meat consciously and less frequently, acknowledging its greater burden on the planet, but at Thanksgiving, we like to have turkey. Organic, free-range, antibiotic-free, pastured, happy-go-lucky local turkey.

Happy Turkeys at Sunnyside Farm

I'm in Central PA, as most of my readers seem also to be, so here are some local resources to call to reserve your bird now.

Breakaway Farms, Manheim, PA. Offering broiler chickens and turkeys that "roam free in a special protected pasture from the time they’re a few weeks old, and enjoy a varied diet combining grasses, alfalfa, clovers and bugs from the pasture in combination with locally grown organic feed mix."

Sunnyside Farm, Dover, PA. Conveniently located off the I-83 corridor, Sunnyside offers pasture-based, intensive grazed grass-fed beef, chickens, farm fresh eggs, turkeys and raw honey. Now accepting orders for Thanksgiving 2010 heritage breed turkeys. A $40 deposit will hold your bird on the farm, with delivery right before Thanksgiving. Only $5 per pound for heritage breed, moved to fresh pasture daily, hormone-, antibiotic- and worming-medication-free birds.

Eberly Poultry, Stevens, PA. Looking for something more exotic, like a goose, capon or pheasant? Eberly is a larger-scale, organic and free-range type outfit that sells to Carr's at Lancaster's Central Market and to Keener's Poultry in Lebanon, among other retailers. Eberly also sells direct (at great prices) if you can make it to their outlet store not too far from Lancaster.

Jubilee Farms, Myerstown, PA.  Grass-fed turkeys and lots of other certified organic meats, dairy, prepared foods and produce (seasonally).

Are you ordering one? I'd love to hear of other places to try and reports on your experiences with turkeys or other fowl from any of the local farms!