Gratuitous chicken-blogging: I’m not a turkey edition
By Gina Spadafori
November 28, 2008
Don’t know if they were feeling a little stress yesterday, but my hens laid a lot of eggs yesterday, and posed for pictures after. This is Gladys, who lays dark brown eggs:
Semi-related: This morning I bought an organic heritage turkey, sustainably and humanely raised, to brine for weekend cooking. Prices are better the day AFTER Thanksgiving, and the turkey tastes just as good.
Comment at the check-out aisle, from a person who has a friend who plans to raise her own turkeys. “So then, after growing them up, she’s going to do a Sarah Palin on them. I don’t think I could do that, myself.”
Wow. I don’t think I’d like my name to be a euphemism for “slaughter.” In fact, I’m really sure I wouldn’t like it at all. Wonder what Gov. Palin thinks?
Think? Surely you jest.
Comment by Susan Fox — November 28, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
Frankly, having a turkey “coned” behind Sarah while she yammers on about herself has got to be one of the most perverse and humorous political faux pas I have ever seen!
Here’s to your organic heritage bird, Gina. May it taste divine!!!
Comment by Anne T — November 28, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
Take it from a person who has read just about every book on backyard poultry and small-farm poultry operations ever published. As utterly bizarre as that Gov. Palin interview was (in terms of her bubbling on, Starbucks cup in hand, utterly oblivious) and as shocked and horrified as most everyone was by the turkey killing, the operation itself looked to be a pretty decent one. Aside from the weird leering of the guy behind her killing the turkeys (which could have been about being so close to a “celebrity” or about being on TV), how the turkeys were killed was actually swift and humane. (That “coning” method is what’s generally recommended for people who raise small flocks to fill their own freezers.)
In other words, that was NO factory farm you were watching. That’s pretty much what you’re getting when you buy poultry from an outfit that has signed on to humane slaughter standards.
I watched that and I listened to people telling me how awful it was to see, and I thought: Geez, what on earth would people think if they knew what factory farm slaughter looked like?
I also thought: Maybe people ought to know. Sudden death isn’t pretty, but what was going on behind Gov. Palin was about as humane as food animal slaughter can be. The turkeys didn’t know what hit them.
We are so many of us so far removed from what our great-grandparents knew, aren’t we? I think it would be helpful if we started “owning” what gets done in our name, when it comes to food. I know, and I’m OK with my informed choices for me and for my dogs and cats, which is why I buy local, humane, sustainable and organic. Cheap meat comes at a price, for the animals, the environment and for us.
/rant
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 28, 2008 @ 6:24 pm
I have a feeling that Gov. Palin wouldn’t mind. Why would she? She hunts and eats meat and is proud of it. The video is a media hit job, they framed the shot and they probably arranged for the guy to get to work on camera.
Frankly, this is the dumbest “scandal” of the entire election. I doubt Palin was unaware, I think she didn’t see any reason to think that an entire nation of turkey eating Democrats would be so insulated as to not know where that turkey comes from.
I prefer honesty and integrity over character assassination and “image.” I don’t think pro-hunting people should be scared to be filmed hunting. Meat eaters should not be afraid to be filmed next to an animal being butchered.
Perhaps things like abortion and drug use freedoms sound great simply because you don’t have to see them. Next time, consider what would happen if your favorite pro-choice or pro-legalization candidate was filmed in front of an abortion or someone injecting drugs.
The spin masters would go “super nova” but I would applaud for a little honesty and reality. Stand up (or next to) what you believe in.
Comment by Christopher — November 28, 2008 @ 10:19 pm
I personally don’t think that she intentionally planned on having footage of her taken in front of a turkey getting slaughtered.
Whoever her aides are, they should be fired for allowing this to happen.
In anyone’s book, this is bad publicity.
Comment by Marcy — November 28, 2008 @ 10:34 pm
“an entire nation of turkey eating Democrats would be so insulated”
Comment by Christopher — November 28, 2008
Please refrain from making this partisan. A lot of the people who talked to me about it in horror were self-identified Republicans.
I personally thought the turkey video said more about us and our disconnect with our food than about Gov. Palin, who is a hunter, as you note.
That said, I don’t think everyone should have to see everything. I have seen rather a lot of difficult things, from a puppy mill to a Cesarean section. I almost passed out watching the latter (fortunately I wasn’t in the room, but in an observation area for med students).
But I do think it would be useful in terms of our discussions of food safety, humane treatment of food animals and the environmental impact of agriculture choices to have a passing knowledge of these subjects. That way, we can make informed choices as consumers and as voters.
The fact that almost no one realized that was a model operation and humane slaughter says a lot about how ill-equipped we are to evaluate food issues on a factual, non-emotional level.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 29, 2008 @ 7:11 am
Is that just dirt on Gladys’ beak, or does she have a crack?
Dunno about “scandalous” being filmed in front of the turkey-snuffing. Just, you know, weird. I wasn’t offended, just gobsmacked. “I did not just see that!”
No different from a shot framed so that someone in the background is spanking a child, spanking a monkey, streaking while hirsute — anything that is very distracting that will draw the unwilling eye no matter what. Mrs. Palin knew what she was standing in front of — what was she thinking?
I am amused at the neologism — “do a Sarah Palin.” Hope it catches on. Unlike the colloquial coinage of “santorum” as a common noun, this one will stay or go based on the organic development of language and culture. Sure, Mrs. Palin wasn’t actually offing the birds herself, so it’s not “fair” — but since when does fairness enter into it? If the culture/language was “fair,” then “do a Palin” would come to mean “murder something from an aircraft for jollies” rather than humanely slaughter livestock.
I agree that the slaughter operation appeared to be on an appropriate scale and skillfully done.
I am astounded that you could buy a heritage turkey after Thanksgiving day.
I was late ordering my bird — just a local fresh bird from a nearby farm — and could not get one this year. Demand is too high, and there is no local supply.
So in spring, we’re buying poults to raise and Palin ourselves in fall.
Comment by H. Houlahan — December 1, 2008 @ 8:46 am
It’s actually a blackened bit of vegetable matter, I think. I checked later and there was nothing on her beak. (I checked her sister, too, in case I got the two birds mixed up, since they’re well-nigh identical.)
I ALWAYS buy a heritage bird the day after. So far, four years running, there have been a couple that were ordered but not picked up. I go first thing the day after T-day and snap one up. Whole Foods marks them down, but I ask for a bigger discount and have gotten it three years out of four.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 1, 2008 @ 8:51 am