Five months.   That's all it took.   From adorable fuzzy little yellow poult to a whooping 35 pound roast Thanksgiving dinner.   And this year's crop was small compared to the 50-60 pounders we had last year.

One of the newly hatched turkey poults purchased at a local feed store at the end of May.   For the first few weeks of their lives, the poults lived in a very large box in my office.   They were kept warm under a heatlamp and enjoyed frequent attention.

Vegetarians wonder how anyone can possibly eat animals.   Some people wonder how we can possibly eat animals we personally knew and raised ourselves.   Sometimes, I wonder how we all became so conditioned to happily eat meat from animals we didn't know or at least know more about.   Maybe farm life has affected my perspective on this more than I realise...

Meet Tom, Tom, Tom, and Hen at 4 months of age.   A few weeks earlier, the three boys started strutting their stuff and perfecting their gobble calls.   The hen never seemed impressed.

We know exactly what quality of life our turkeys had.   They had free range of the property during the daytime.   Fresh air.   Grass pastures.   Unlimited access to my little corn patch (which they decimated) and my tomato garden (which they also happily consumed and fertilised).   At night, they were kept safe inside the barn, sleeping in large clean box stalls with shavings, food, and water.   And, they met with a very quick humane end.

Cooking the bird overnight, we enjoyed a quiet little Thanksgiving Dinner at 8 am on Thanksgiving Day.   The dishes were done by 9 am and we were able to sit back, rest, and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in peace.   Needless to say, we still have lots of leftovers....

Thanksgiving.   Americans and the turkey.   It's an interesting relationship.   In our household, we just make it a bit more personal.