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Win a turkey for Thanksgiving!

Posted at 11:45 am by Sarah Jackson
Everett Herald blog post

How?

Take the Eat Local Thanksgiving 2007 pledge led by Puget Sound Fresh, an arm of the Cascade Harvest Coalition of Seattle.

It goes like this: "I pledge to include at least one locally grown food on my Thanksgiving table this year."

You fill in your name, phone number, city of residence and e-mail address for a chance to win a free heritage breed turkey from the Thundering Hooves farm in Walla Walla.

Since the challenge went public Friday, more than 1,000 people have made the pledge.

Wendy Dore, a coordinator with Puget Sound Fresh, said people can eat local without changing their Thanksgiving dinner.

You decide what "local" means, whether that's Snohomish County or simply Washington.

"It's very easy," Dore said. "You just have to ask where it's grown and choose to buy the local variety. We have potatoes, squash, pumpkins, salad, veggies, cranberries, anything you would like for your Thanksigiving is grown in Western or the rest of Washington. Every one of us can make a little bit of a difference."

Though it certainly wouldn't be easy to put together an entirely local Thanksgiving feast, you can try. Visit this link for a list of farmers markets, grocery stores and CSAs that offer local food.

Though most of the listed resources aren't in Snohomish County, you will find SPUD, which delivers locally grown produce and household products to urban Snohomish County, as well as QFC, a source for locally produced wines, apples, shellfish and Stone-Buhr's Washington White All-Purpose Flour, which is new and apparently a pretty big deal.

Normally, Northwest-grown wheat is sold and milled abroad, making it virtually impossible to buy locally grown flour. Now, thanks to Stone-Buhr's relationship with a progressive alliance of Northwest family farmers — known as Shepherd's Grain — you can bake Northwest-grown, Spokane-milled flour right into your Thanksgiving pumpkin pie crust.

The Portland-based Food Alliance has certified Stone-Buhr's Washington White All-Purpose Flour as "environmentally and socially responsible" based on the farming methods used by the Shepherd's Grain farmers, including "no-till" or "direct seed" practices that reduce soil erosion and enhance water retention.

Cool.

If you're more excited about buying a local turkey than you are local flour, and you don't want to count on winning a turkey, you can order one directly from Thundering Hooves here. Some varieties are already sold out for the season. Act fast.

Watch this blog for tips on buying sustainably raised turkey — though maybe not locally grown — at local grocery stores for your holiday meals.