I just got back from picking up my hormone-free, antibiotic-free turkey from the local farmer. I count myself fortunate that there is a diary up the road who sells hormone-free, antibiotic-free milk and ice cream (and oh is their ice cream to DIE FOR!) along with other local products. Not only does this milk taste better (a LOT better) and keeps fresher longer (a LOT longer), I am doing something good for my body, good for the environment, and good for our local farmers.

I come from farming stock. My family, on both sides, has lived in Iowa for over 100 years. My dad’s side (paternal line) came over from Ireland and settled on farmland not far from where I grew up. My great grandfather’s paternal line came cross country by way of then, Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), to Ohio, then Indiana to Iowa (driven by the civil war, it appears from looking at records). While my great-grandfather’s farm is not on that same ancestral property, it is within the same county. And I have fond memories of going with my grandma to visit her parents on the farm. Great grandpa and I would take the milk replacer (looked like chocolate milk to me) and we’d hook the bucket over the fence and feed the calves. If you’ve never had a calf suck on your fingers, well, you’ve never lived. LOL! I learned very quickly not to name the boy calves, because generally a few months later they weren’t there.

So the milk I buy, while it is 2% and not whole, does come with cream on the top and tastes just like the milk that we used to get out of the milkhouse. Run it through a strainer, pour it in a pitcher and take it up to the refrigerator. From the cow to your table. Literally. No processing. YUM!

Which made me happy this Thanksgiving, in a time when money is tight, and our local news has been running stories that people aren’t buying the cheap, mass-produced turkeys in the store due to their finances, that I could write a check for this naturally raised turkey. I’m happy that my turkey got to see the sky at least once before he went to slaughter, and no, it wasn’t just out of the bars of his cage as he was driven away from his home. I’m happy he wasn’t raised with hormones or antibiotics. And I’m very happy that my check went directly to the farmer. Because I know, my purchase of that turkey meant so much more to the farmer than my buying one from the store ever could for that store.

This Thanksgiving, I’m going to be thankful that I live in a part of the country where I meet the people who raise my food. And thankful that by doing what I love, I can help others do what they love, and all by buying local and doing the right thing.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 8:31 pm and is filed under Make A Difference Monday, rambling thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.