Kelly Bronze USA heritage turkeys (Photo by Stephanie Breijo)
The family’s in town, the smell of your aunt’s green bean casserole drifts from the kitchen, and Grandma’s classic sweet potato pie is making its annual appearance. But what about the centerpiece and main attraction? With the holiday approaching, maybe it’s time to upgrade your turkey.
“There’s no comparison to a turkey from the store to one of these turkeys,” says Mark Lilly, co-founder of Farm to Family, a farm-share program in Mechanicsville that sells Polyface Farm turkeys. Polyface has been selling turkeys since the 500-acre farm was established in 1961 in Augusta County.
“They are raised in these beautiful pastures in the mountains of Virginia,” says Wendy Gray, an 11-year employee of Polyface, where the turkeys are able to roam and follow their natural tendencies.
Polyface’s turkeys sell for approximately $4 per pound at the farm and online at polyfaceyum.com. In addition to Farm to Family they can be purchased at Ellwood Thompson’s and Little House Green Grocery.
Travel to ShireFolk Farm in Palmyra, and you’ll find 350 turkeys wandering the property, a recent addition to their poultry flock. The focus at ShireFolk is on pasture-raised birds that reach the farm as day-old “poults” and forage the farm’s 64 acres. “They mow the grass and are pasture machines,” says ShireFolk’s Emilie Tweardy.
The turkeys are priced at $4.99 per pound and can be purchased at the farm or ordered online at shirefolkfarm.com, with the option to pick up via Manakin Market or The Farmers Market at St. Stephen’s.
A heritage turkey that’s recently made a reappearance in Virginia is the Kelly Bronze.
Judd Culver, farmer and co-owner at Kelly Bronze USA, a 20-acre farm in Crozet, is responsible for the resurgence in the commonwealth. “The [Kelly Bronze] turkey originated in the Americas,” Culver says. “Essentially, the Kelly family in the early ’60s kept that going over in the U.K., and we brought that [back] to America.”
The fully foraging birds eat bugs, worms, nuts and grass, which for the consumer equals more flavor. Heritage turkeys live a more luxurious lifestyle in comparison to their store-bought counterparts, which Tanya Cauthen, owner of Belmont Butchery, believes is the recipe for a more flavorful and nutritious turkey. Cauthen sells Spanish Black heritage turkeys, $8 per pound, and Kelly Bronze turkeys, $12 per pound, at her shop. (Kelly Bronze turkeys can also be ordered online at kellybronze.co.uk/products-us.)
“A heritage breed goes back to an older bloodline where it was more about heartiness and flavor,” Cauthen says. “The character of the meat has had a chance to develop.”
