Vaughnshire Farm

…for a young entrepreneur

Mrs. C. brought this ad to us last weekend.  Apparently we were not the only one’s who had a Monster Turkey for Thanksgiving! - Great ad!..

However, in our case, the turkey was not fighting for space in the freezer - he was too busy taking up oven space.  It was the cow and the pig fighing over the freezer space.  Eventually though they both learned to share the space available and get along like old field friends… at least when the light is on.  Who knows what they do when the door is closed?

We had a very eventful day full of remembering and giving thanks for the Providential hand of God in our lives.  Daddy read the historical account of how the Gospel was spread westward and laid out God’s Providential guiding hand in the lives of the Separatists who fled their homeland for Holland and then 12 years later fled Holland for America.  It is a mighty story of God’s faithfulness even amidst trials and tribulations.   It is a story that we tell our children so that they will remember where they came from and hopefully to instill in them the commitment and courage to take similar stands our forefathers took for the sake of the Gospel.  In the middle of our history lesson, we were interrupted by a herd of deer grazing in our yard.  One of the children saw the deer out of the living room window and we all jumped up and enjoyed watching them. 

We, of course, feasted on the bounty that the Lord has provided and gave many thanks in speech, action and by index card.  Index Card?  We started a tradition several years ago where we leave a container on the table where we can put handwritten “I am thankful for….” index cards in the jar to be read Thanksgiving night as we gather around the table again for supper.  Daddy reads the cards and we all enjoy hearing what everyone has written down.  The younger children who are unable to write yet, draw pictures of things they are thankful for or they can enlist an older buddy helper to write what they say.  It is a wonderful time of reflection, remembrance and thanks! 

One thanks we all gave was for the beautiful turkey our family was blessed to raise here on the farm this year.  The turkey meant all the more to us knowing that the work and care paid off in,  not only a wonderful learning experience for us, especially the boys, but also the provision of meat for our family. 

We had one small problem at about midnight last night.  That 40 lb turkey doesn’t fit in a 22 quart roasting pan.  However, that was the only pan we had that came even close to housing that massive turkey.

After a little bit of prodding and shoving….We fit the turkey in the pan.  It was a snug fit, but it would have to do. 

 Thankfully, it did fit in the oven and about 8 hours later it was ready.  We overestimated the cooking time and even though it was a little more done than ideal, the meat was absolutely wonderful!  We will be definitely raising our Thanksgiving turkey in the years to come (and hopefully additional turkey to sell)!

We also took a  ”Turkey Trivia” quiz during the day that my husband found online and set up for us all to take.  The winner of the trivia quiz was our 10 year old…  He beat out mom and dad even!  The winner of the quiz was privileged with being able to pull the turkey wishbone with the one who raised the turkey.  Here, the boys pose for a picture with the massive wishbone. 

Tomorrow we will be picking up our farm raised pork (folks around here call it a hawg) from the butcher and will have some interesting stories to tell about that experience.  As you might imagine, pigs don’t just jump in the trailer and asked to be taken to the butcher.  More to come…

Looking forward to a day of Thanksgiving tomorrow, we started the preparation back in May of this year.  On one of our first trips to the feed store after we closed on the farm we picked up this fellow.

He was admittedly an afterthought, but one we are glad we had.  He was the last turkey of the season for the feed store, but our first turkey at Vaughnshire.  Our oldest son quickly took on the responsibility of feeding and caring for this Broad Breasted Bronze.  Although, in my opinion there was not much to this.  This has to be the least problematic animal at Vaughnshire.  But even with such a stellar track record, his day was appointed… at last the day every turkey dreads the day of preparation for Thanksgiving.

Here is how the event unfolded.

“Children run out to the barn and bring the turkey up to the carport. 
Hurry, it looks like it might rain.”

Let’s Go Tom - Your Chariot Awaits

Into the Wagon - uhm I mean your chariot

We are Having a Parade in Your Honor

End of the Parade

The Beginning of a Thanksgiving Feast

The Unofficial Rough Weight 39.5 Pounds!

“…and they bore it between two upon a staff…” Numbers 13:23

OK, Let’s Get Those Pin Feathers

The Official Kitchen Weight 41.5 Pounds!

Now the real question is how do we cook this monster?  Stayed tuned for tomorrow’s exciting conclusion to The Monster Turkey - How big is our oven?

Some husbands bring their wives cut roses and chocolate, my husband brings me wild turkey.

After years of marriage and many children, he still impresses me. A flock of about 40 turkey were in our side yard garden area. A few minutes later he walks in with a present for me.

He actually spared me the dirty work and when I returned from running some errands, he had a turkey ready for me in the refrigerator. When we returned, I put the kids to cleaning it up a bit.

After several good scrubs and rinses, it was ready to go.

My daughter made stuffing and stuffed the bird.

After several hours in the oven wafting smells of Thanksgiving were in the air.

After supper, I thought, “Maybe we wouldn’t starve after all…..“

Our version of a Where’s Waldo Thanksgiving picture?

A flock of turkey spotted in our yard as we were eating lunch — The boys immediately scramble from the table telling everyone to BE QUIET BECAUSE WE BETTER NOT SCARE THEM AWAY!

The turkey wander around for a while eating and gobbling. Excitement in the house is now uncontrollable. Thanksgiving is next week…..Lots of turkey in our back yard.

Within minutes the boys look like this: slingshot, bag of rocks, bow and arrow and a turkey call. They spent the next 4 hours in the woods trying to get a turkey for Thanksgiving. The entire flock of turkey unfortunately flew away after they tried to outflank them. One boy went sneaking up behind them with the bow, while the other boy army crawled across the field with a sling shot. Even though they came back empty handed, they were completely happy with their afternoon of hunting.