Emma's Family Farm in Maine

November 1 and the countdown to Thanksgiving begins. We have raised heritage and broad breasted white turkeys for sale commercially since 2004. Each year we gather ourselves to deal with each facet of completing the "turkey process" and the stresses that go with each segment of completion. Step 1. Prices will have been determined all ready and the factors of pricing include many variables. The least controllable variables are potential wildlife damage, weather events and diseases. As November arrives we worry about each one and do everything we can to prevent damage and mortality; these are issues that determine what our season looks like in the profit or loss column. 2. Our personal health and physical fitness are important factors as well. Various fall maladies are always around now and we must take care to keep ourselves healthy so that our flocks can be well maintained, watched, picked up at the appropriate time, loaded and processed, and finally, distributed to our customers. Poor health of any farm member makes more work for the others. 3. Processing on Time. It is a certainty that our customers want their turkeys on a specific date, usually Thanksgiving. If there is some hitch in the system and things don't get done on time, we stand a chance of not having turkeys ready. 4. The customers want their needs met. Although we work to get our customers to order early (as mentioned here previously) there is always a crush of calls and e-mails, needing the "perfect" turkey for Thanksgiving. It seems hard to make potential customers understand that there are only so many turkeys available, that others have ordered earlier and planned ahead, and that we can't manufacture a turkey to their exact required weight. In years past, we have worked to smooth out the wrinkles in our operation so that things can go more smoothly but the stresses still remain, the factors listed above will always make this a stressful month for us as long as we raise turkeys. Some time between the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving and dinner on Thursday, we must unwind enough so we can enjoy our own Thanksgiving dinner --- yes, of course we eat turkey! Each year, we look forward to Thanksgiving day with the hope that we can give thanks for making it through another turkey season and knowing that our customers have enjoyed a premium quality bird for their dinner. Later, as we evaluate profit and loss, measure effects of the stress and think about what we enjoy as farmers, we plan for the year to come and decide whether there are more turkeys in our future. Our decision is often based on what happens during November, the month that Thanksgiving occurs.