Some holidays are more special than others in America.  One of those special holidays has to be Thanksgiving.  At a young age we were taught that America is a bountiful land and we have much to be thankful for.  Thanksgiving celebrates the precious natural resources we have, soil and water, that year after year yields more food than we can consume here at home in the good ole U.S.A.

Many U.S. citizens reside here today because there was a famine in their family’s native homeland that forced their forefathers to move the family or starve.  There has been more than one potato famine in Ireland over the past two centuries.

There have been many articles written that most Americans are “spoiled” because they have never been faced with starvation.  As a result people seem not interested in preserving prime farmland or appreciating what American Farmers bring to the table everyday:  the most abundant, safest food supply in the world.

Thanksgiving is synonymous with harvest.  In Clark County, Thanksgiving Day is a target to have the corn and soybean harvest completed and the combine “put away.”  In Brown County, Thanksgiving is centered around “tobacco stripping.”  The number one cash crop in Brown County has been Burley tobacco for over a century.  Every farm had a tobacco base and that was their main source of income.  Tobacco is harvested around Labor Day but requires two to three months curing until harvest is completed by stripping the leaves off the stalk and bundling leaves together to go to market generally between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

Growing up in Brown County, Thanksgiving centered around one great meal featuring turkey.  My Mother was an excellent cook.  However, she worked full time in the flower shop with my Dad.  Thus, she seldom had time to go “all out” fixing a fabulous meal.  However, it was always a feast on Thanksgiving Day and still is today with my sister, Pam, as the featured chef.

The main dish that day had to be perfect every time.  That required a journey out Oak Grove Road to Howser Turkey Farm to purchase one great turkey.  Laura May Howser was a farm wife that raised and processed turkeys.  We never considered buying one anywhere else.  Laura May passed way last month, so the Haubner clan will have a new supplier for the first time since I was born.

U.S. farms raise many different commodities.  However, turkey farms seem to have the most loyal customers.  There seems to be this indescribable bond between turkey producers and customers.  When I moved to Clark County, people talked about always buying their turkey from Neumann Turkey Farm.  You can still see the old turkey houses on Laybourne Road today.

Turkey farms today are few and far between.  Many local people venture to Bowman and Landes Turkey Farm on Ross Road in Miami County to purchase their turkey.  Carl Bowman and Stan Landes are the second generation to operate this farm and they do an outstanding job of marketing their product.

They may have the largest free range turkey farm in America.  The farm raises 60,000 turkeys a year and they roam the 1200 acre farm from Route 40 to Ross Road.  They use no growth hormones so they have a nationwide customer base who wants these attributes.  This farm has exclusively raised turkeys since 1948 and has a real nice farm market which operates year round.

There is another place you can get your turkey for next year.  It’s called your backyard.  Many people are raising their own turkeys today.  Turkeys are an interesting creature.  Many people live on a few acres today in the country, perfect place to raise your own turkey.  Turkey 4-H projects have exploded in the past few years.  In three years they have outgrown the building the Fair board gave them.  Some of the projects had to be put in a tent this year.

At this point you are probably thinking, Mike, there’s a big difference between raising them and butchering “poor Tom.”  Enter Leighty Brothers Poultry near New Carlisle who process chickens and turkeys.  This Innovative Farm Enterprise was the “brain-child” of Dad, Jamie, who was looking for a business his three sons could earn college money.  Leighty Brothers process thousands of chickens each year from small producers, but it has seen rapid growth in turkeys.  In 2001 they processed 154 turkeys but will process 450 this year.

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful.  We are very, very fortunate to live in a land where food is bountiful and safe.

I can’t wait to tackle that turkey on Thanksgiving Day.