Yes! If you live in the Reno/Sparks area, or anywhere within a reasonable driving distance from Gardnerville, there may be local turkey in your future. Shannon, her father, sister, and brother-in-law raise turkeys in Gardnerville and have been for about six years. We learned last year that someone was raising turkeys in Nevada but we couldn’t track them down. Now we know!
These turkeys are organically raised Broad-Breasted Whites, the breed typically found on American Thanksgiving tables. It sounds like the family wanted to raise them range-free but it didn’t work out. Apparently living a range-free turkey life requires a certain level of bird-IQ and this breed doesn’t have it. After numerous tries at creating a set-up that would allow these turkeys to roam free they had to start keeping them enclosed. Even so, I don’t imagine these “enclosures” are anything like the gruesome conditions industrially raised turkeys endure. Shannon’s family raises turkeys for 140 families right now and has capacity for more…. hardly an industrial farm.
It’s about the time of year they start ordering poults to be ready for Thanksgiving. Shannon doesn’t usually require advance notice if a family is going to order one turkey. But if you’ll be putting together a bulk order with your family and friends or every one of the people you tell say they’ll be switching to local turkey this year, email her at shannon@graytv.com to make sure there will be plenty available in November. She orders enough to meet the average demand but my hope is this post will help her exceed the usual demand. Woo hoo!
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