From what I've been told, it's always been pretty precarious to raise turkeys because the demand is so strongly seasonal. I'm sure it's more uncertain now, though

I saw the article about the turkey farmers (didn't read it through, but got the gist). Perhaps if they could sell smaller/younger turkeys there would be a market, what with smaller groups. I imagine that there is a limit to how long/how much turkey any person or family could eat.

Well, if your whole year has been geared towards producing 20+ lb birds for Thanksgiving you can't really change that in October. Selling more pieces separately, maybe, and more ground turkey? Or hoping to, anyway.

Yeah, it was interesting. They have to order their baby turkeys in Jan., and if they kill them when they're too small, they're bony. The male turkeys are bigger, so they need to make a guess about how many males v. females they should get. There's a lot of prognostication! And who would have predicted all this in Jan., right?

AND they don't have a good way to sell the turkeys other than whole. It is fascinating (and brutal). This is like the dairy stories from the beginning of the pandemic -- farmers who were set up to sell milk etc. in industrial sizes had no relationship with smaller packagers, so no easy way to shift their market to consumers.

AND they don't have a good way to sell the turkeys other than whole

??? Most of the meat I buy weekly is ground turkey. It must come from somewhere....

The farmer in the article, whose business is based on selling whole fresh turkeys, doesn't have a good way to break the turkeys down. Not that there isn't also an industry for parts, ground, etc.!

Right, different distribution. Like the toilet paper debacle.

Man, the invisible hand of the market is really fucking things up this year.

We have an ancient family story about how my great grandmother Della, living on a remote farm in North Dakota, desperately wanted a nice China cabinet from the Sears Roebuck catalogue. She already had six children, chickens and a garden to manage and she undertook the job of raising turkeys on top of all that and got herself the money. The part I never really understood was why everyone thought it was such an awful job and now it's too late for me to ask anyone.

The China cabinet is still at my Dad's house in the care of my stepmother and I won't inherit it because I have no children to pass it on to. We're going to give it to one of the nieces when they marry because Grandma was adamant about one thing: that cabinet must stay with the family and never be sold or given away.

Mom is coming down tomorrow so we can chat. Outside, masked , apart. I realise that soon the weather won't be good for that and I don't know how we will get together. I wish I had done more social distance outside visiting when it was summ r and spring but I just...was in denial about how long this would all be I guess.

I keep thinking maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I hugged mom once or at least we visited inside.... but I know that isn't new practices.