A Tale of Two Turkey Farms

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and although no one, least of all us here at Edible Alaska, would dare rob you of the quintessential bathtub bird defrosting situation (the Butterball is entirely in your court), you may be surprised to learn that there are local poultry farms in the area that can help you serve your family a fresh, Alaska-raised bird for the holiday. We got to know two commercial poultry farms selling fresh turkeys this season.

Luke’s Poultry Ranch is owned by the Saucier/Reinhart families. The ranch itself is located almost out to Big Lake/ Point MacKenzie and is run by Judy Reinhart and her daughter and son-in-law Jamie and Drake Loest of Wasilla. Judy named the farm “Luke’s Poultry Ranch” after her son, Jamie’s older brother, who passed away in an accident when he was only 13. “The boys used to talk about owning a ranch together,” Jamie Loest says. “So it’s been a nice way to honor his memory.”

They have been raising and selling poultry and eggs for the past five years. It started, as perhaps many licensed poultry farms do, out of natural demand for local, free-range eggs and meat. “After incubating chicks for friends, word got out and next thing you know, Mom was filling all of these orders for chicks and eggs, and now we sell to retailers as well.”

In addition to chicks, processed chickens, and eggs, Luke’s now orders around 40 turkeys each year. Five to ten are sold as poults for buyers to raise themselves; the other 30 or so are raised and processed at the farm. The turkeys range freely there in a space that is separate from the chickens. They are also given feed from Alaska Mill and Feed.

Frosty Meadow Farm is owned and operated by Chandra McCain-Finch and Michael Finch. He is a Fairbanks native, and she is originally from Oregon. Their “frosty meadow” sits amongst the rolling, marshy flats of Meadow Lakes between Wasilla and Houston. In addition to filling egg orders for local stores, they have recently signed a contract with Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge and will be providing all of their fresh, local poultry for the upcoming year.

Similar to the Loest family, they have been expanding their operation for the past four to five years, and have young children (including foster children) who get to participate in farm activities. They host a 4-H exchange student from Japan every summer as well. “It’s great for the student to raise their own turkey, actually. It’s not a bird they are used to,” McCain-Finch says. Frosty Meadow Farm feeds their turkeys milk straight from their dairy cows and also Delta barley. “We are able to provide the turkeys at such a great price because of our Holsteins, and because we’re often able to source spent grain from the Denali Brewing Company,” she says. “The flavor of the meat is out of this world, and it’s a great partnership we have with the brewery.”

From feed to flavor, this local-is-best spirit does beg the question: Why not just hatch the baby turkeys on site each year? “The cost of heating a barn for 40–100 turkeys just isn’t feasible for a small business in Alaska. So ordering the poults each year from farms we know and trust is a great option for us and our customers,” McCain-Finch says.

It’s important to note that the cooking time and method for a fresh or recently frozen bird is slightly different than a store-bought bird. Unlike grocery turkeys that are injected with water and saline, breaking the meat down as the bird sits in the freezer, farm birds are chilled and rested freshly after harvesting for only two to three days. For peak flavor and tenderness, McCain-Finch recommends cooking until the birds reach 165° F, which takes about three hours in a 275° oven for a fresh bird. “Slow and low is the way to go,” she says, “but we always recommend a few days of brining. Adding liquid smoke or a butter injection are always good flavoring options as well.”

Ordering

Both places sell turkey poults in the spring and summer (typically midto late May), giving buyers the option to raise a turkey themselves. When the birds are grown, those buyers, or anyone with a homegrown turkey, can then bring them back to the farms for processing for only $10–20, or process their birds themselves.

If you prefer to buy a grown, processed, fresh, or frozen bird ready to go in the oven (similar to picking up at a grocery store), you’ll need to order and put your deposit down early in the summer because they sell out quickly. At Frosty Meadow they charge $5 per pound total, and keep the turkeys at roughly 12–20 pounds. They also sell some of their processed birds to Linden’s Meats of Wasilla, which will smoke them for customers.

At Luke’s, the price is $60 per bird. “We don’t go by weight since some of our birds have gotten upwards to 35 pounds!” Loest says. “We try to keep them smaller, less than 25 pounds or so for small families, but sometimes, especially with the males, it just happens!” She adds, “We like to treat our turkeys well. For one thing, I firmly believe when you treat animals well, their products taste much better.”

Find both farms on Facebook (where they process most of their orders) and remember to mark your calendars. Once they announce they’re open for orders (both usually announce on their Facebook pages in early June), they often sell out by August. “I always undersell, just in case,” says McCain-Finch with a smile. “...but we never have leftovers.”