Now that the bird is safely nestled in it's warm oven, time to fill in the details of my Fed Ex'ed bird.I'm not the biggest fan of big traditional turkeys by themselves. I'm more fond of the whole meal. Turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberries and if you must, something green. That's what I look forward to. I'm a dark meat girl so the typical broad breasted white grocery store turkey doesn't appeal much to me.
I wanted something with a little more flavor, something more traditional. Luckily I didn't have to go very far. Heritage Farms is the marketing and sales arm for small farmers across the country selling heritage turkeys, poultry and pork. 
Thanks to Frank Reese and his Kansas Good Shepherd Ranch heritage turkey breeds like the Standard Bronze, Narragansett, Beltsville Small Whites and Bourbon Red Turkeys are thriving. They are bred to withstand living outdoors and can reproduce naturally (something that's been bred out of the standard domestic broad breasted white turkey).
They are free to range for natural parts of their diets and never are fed antibiotics or animal byproducts. They are also not cheap because they're not bred to be cheap. They take longer to reach marketability and reflect the true cost of small family farming as opposed to giant factory farms. As for the taste? Let you know later on today.
Don't forget to visit our DSSer's taking part in our Dim Sum Sunday Thanksgiving Extravaganza. Moi over at Bite the Apple has started out her day trying to subdue her sweet tooth, either that or totally yank it out of her head and Dani at Gardening Under the Florida Sun is blowing me away by her family making their own cornucopia!! Make sure to visit and check out their blogs and prepared to be amazed and hungry.
