Rare Bird Soap Shop
Wende Fugate specializes in small-batch vegan soaps and skincare products free from sulfates, parabens, and preservatives.
Cedar Rapids, IA
Type: Farm
Produces: Turkey
Location: Cannon Falls, MN
Miles from Coop: 208
Fern and Dale started their farm in 1939, selecting the land for its perfect turkey raising qualities: sandy soil, in a river valley abutting Little Cannon River, which provides excellent drainage for healthy outdoor animal-raising conditions: “I gain more appreciation for it every year,” John gives a nod to his grandparents.
“My grandfather was a bit of a visionary for his time, a pioneer in wanting to grow turkeys for a living. Before that, everyone would just grow a few backyard turkeys for themselves.”
While the farm was initially on-trend by specializing (amid the great transition in agriculture from self-sufficiency family farming to specialization and commodity farming), they bucked the trend when animal-raising turned to confinements: “We were the holdouts after everyone else had quit raising them outside.”
Free-range, naturally:
“This is the only way my grandfather would have known how to raise turkeys – and everyone used to,” John notes.
The old fashioned methods have come back into vogue in the post-Omnivore’s Dilemma era, when people once again want to know where their food comes from. While Ferndale’s free-range turkeys are “perceived as being niche or specialty market,” John points out, “it makes me chuckle because, really, we’ve changed very little.”
It’s music to a conscientious omnivore’s ears:
“We keep [the turkeys] rotating onto fresh pasture. It’s a true free-range program, outdoors from early spring.”
Managing their two fifteen- and twenty-acre turkey ranges is labor intensive, but “We take pride in managing the land well, and we never have to use pesticides or herbicides. When you do it right, it’s a closed-loop, with the turkeys fertilizing the grass,” – not to mention eating the bugs (all of which makes the turkey taste good).
Also unlike conventional turkeys, Ferndale has a no antibiotics nor growth promotants policy: “There’s the most pride for us in not using treatment antibiotics, as it’s a testament that we’re doing it right.”
You’ll have a tasty turkey with any cooking method if you buy a good turkey and don’t overcook it.
THE RULE: It’s done when it hits 165°F (taken with a meat thermometer).
Let it rest 15 minutes for the juices to stabilize, and you should have a good bird.
Checkout these great products from Ferndale Market
Be sure to check out these others great local producers!
Wende Fugate specializes in small-batch vegan soaps and skincare products free from sulfates, parabens, and preservatives.
Cedar Rapids, IA
Katie's handmade soaps are made from scratch in small batches using high quality ingredients like aloe vera, cocoa butter, and mango butter.
Cedar Rapids, IA
You realize what you’re taking care of right now is going to provide a year’s worth of produce.
Coggon, IA
“We keep [the turkeys] rotating onto fresh pasture. It’s a true free-range program, outdoors from early spring.”
Cannon Falls, MN
The best part of what I do is that I enjoy every bit of what I do. I like to work in the soil, seeding, taking care of plants, harvesting...but the best part is enjoying a fresh healthy meal
Fairfield, IA
Dave and Susie Differding know their apples and love sharing the fruits of their education with you in the form of each shiny, delicious fruit.
Winthrop, IA
The Musser family – Rufus, Jane, and sons Junior and head cheesemaker Galen – make artisanal cheese the old fashioned way, and source their added growth hormone-free milk from less than 30 miles away.
Milton, IA
Iowa grown herbs and lettuce, grown hydroponically by this family owned business near West Union, IA.
West Union, Iowa