What Are You Lookin' At, Turkey?

That's right: As if my little place didn't have enough livestock, I have added a couple of turkeys to the mix. They are a heritage breed called Midget White. "Heritage" doesn't mean that they were here when the Pilgrims landed (those guys were pretty much wild), but it refers to any breed of animal that (1) was bred for farming, (2) was really popular for a while and (3) has now fallen out of favor and is in danger of not sticking around in the farm catalogs. Midget White turkeys were primarily developed by the University of Wisconsin to meet the smaller sized table needs of most American families. These little lovelies grow to be about 10 pounds at most, and being white in color have a very appetite-pleasing appearance when cooked. They also happen to be the ONLY domesticated turkey developed solely for meat that can "do it" all on their own. Any other turkey, including those massive ones that come shrink-wrapped from Jenny-O or Butterball, need to be artificially inseminated in order to reproduce. Just think of the heights we have come on the food chain, everybody: We have made our meat supply so dependent on us that the poor creatures can't even screw like normal animals should. Wow, what a long way we've come!

(Sorry to sound preachy. Just watched Food, Inc. last weekend and I am completely grossed out by American food production. Ewwww, nasty.)

In any case, I am hoping that these two little poults survive the next few days and grow into luscious birds. They should be ready in time for the holiday season, and I will honor them with all the trimmings. Right now, they sure are cute and gawky. I don't think I have ever seen a little creature fall over their own feet so much! Of course, I've never been a turkey--I suppose those giant stalk-like feet are hard to coordinate. In addition to the poults, I came home with two mystery chicks. They were in a pen labeled "assorted pullets: $3.50 each" and were irresistable. Well, irresistable to me, that is. What's a couple more chickens, in any case?