Get your Thanksgiving turkeys at these 9 Western NC farms

These nine farms in western North Carolina offer pasture-raised turkeys ready for Thanksgiving. 

It will be a somber holiday season in western North Carolina this year as residents continue to recover from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene. Thanksgiving will carry new meaning as families, friends, and colleagues take stock of what’s important to them. 

While recovery efforts continue and some towns remain closed to visitors, others are opening up and welcoming visitors to come support local business owners who have missed out on October tourism—usually the busiest time of year. 

Evolved from a group that came together in 1995 to look for community-based solutions to the anticipated loss of Burley tobacco as the dominant cash crop, the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) is a nonprofit based in Asheville that helps local farms thrive, links farmers to markets and supporters, and builds healthy communities through connections to local food. 

In other words, they’re the perfect organization to turn to when you’re looking for how to support Appalachian farmers while shopping for your Thanksgiving dinner. With ASAP’s help, we compiled a list of local farms that are back on their feet after Helene and ready to serve Thanksgiving turkeys. 

While some of these farms also offer other products you can add to your spread, we’ve tacked on a few options at the bottom where you can pick up other locally made pies, sides, and whatever you need to make Thanksgiving complete—and support local businesses while you do it. 

1. 3 Barn Farm, Franklin

Also known as Righteous Rebels Farms, this 30-acre farm offers pastured poultry and vegetables grown using organic methods, adding a plant program earlier this year. They are raising 100 broad-breasted bronze turkeys that they expect to get between 15-20 pounds. 

Due to poultry’s short shelf life and the need to get the birds out before Thanksgiving, they have decided to pre-sell their turkeys at a flat rate of $160. 

Pre-order: You’ll need to fill out a form online, but that won’t reserve you a turkey. You have to pay first by mailing a check to the farm or dropping off cash (1486 Airport Road, Franklin, 28734). You can also call Alex to coordinate: 919-636-1695. 

Pick-up: Pick-up is only available at the farm, with a deadline of Nov. 25. According to the website, options to pick up earlier than that will likely be available but will be dependent on when the processing date is finalized.

2. Good Wheel Farm, Leicester

Good Wheel Farm features a contiguous landscape of wild spaces, orchards, and pastures. Forty acres of grasses, forbs, fruit trees, nuts, and shrubs—some planted, some emergent and wild. The animals pulse through the landscape in rotation as they move their sheep, cows, and poultry to fresh pasture daily.

Turkeys are rotated through pasture and fed certified organic soy-free grains and seeds to supplement their foraging.

Pre-order: Reserve your Thanksgiving turkey with a nonrefundable $40 deposit on the farm’s website. Turkeys are $10 per pound and range from 8 to 20 pounds. 

Pick-up: Turkey pick-up will be first-come, first-serve at the farm (293 Sandy Mush Creek Road, Leicester, 28748) on Sunday, Nov. 24 from 2 to 5 p.m. during a holiday market that will include vendors selling foods and goods from neighbors and other farms to help fill out your Thanksgiving table. 

3. Gray Family Farmstead, Hendersonville

What started as an effort to raise high-quality food to feed their children has turned into a mini-farm where the Gray family raises all types of poultry products. 

In the week following the storm, the farm made an Instagram post stating that “despite multiple trees falling across their pen, all the Thanksgiving turkeys survived.” The turkeys are broad-breasted and raised in a combination of mobile pens or electric fencing with access to grass. The farm is even offering up a few holiday geese if you’re into that.  

Pre-order: Contact the Gray family to put a turkey on hold for $40: email [email protected], text or call 828.275.2109, or stop by their stall at the Hendersonville Farmers Market on any given Saturday. 

Pick-up: You can pick up at the Hendersonville Farmers Market the Saturday before Thanksgiving or, if you (and the turkey) are ready before then, contact the Grays to meet at their house 2 miles from downtown Hendersonville. 

4. Hickory Nut Gap Farm, Fairview

Since 1916, the folks at Hickory Nut Gap have been building community through agriculture, all centered on the belief that the best-tasting and most nutritious meats come from healthy animals that are humanely raised on high-quality pasture. 

Turkeys spend their entire lives rotationally grazing on pasture that is free from antibiotics and added hormones. They’re slaughtered in early August and early November onsite at the farm and flash-frozen, sold for $7.99 per pound with giblets included in the cavity. 

Pre-order: Reserve a turkey on the website with a $20 deposit. 

Pick-up: At the Big Barn, 57 Sugar Hollow Road, Fairview, from Fri.-Sun., Nov. 22-24, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

5. Pink Boot Farms, Burnsville

With a mission to “embrace the food revolution by bringing the community together through healthy clean food in support of the local farmer,” the team at Pink Boot Farms grows apples, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, a variety of peppers, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, and sunflowers. Their chickens and bees produce eggs and honey, while the humans produce gluten-free baked goods, jams, and jelly. 

Turkeys are broad-breasted whites that are all organic, and their feed contains no antibiotics or additives. They have access to their pasture 10 hours per day and were treated humanely, with great care taken for their well-being. Birds are fresh and never frozen.

Pre-order: Call 828-536-0999 to arrange a $30 deposit, with the full balance due upon pick-up.

Pick-up: Pick up at the farm (476 Sharp Top Road, Burnsville, 28714) on Sunday, Nov. 17 or Monday, Nov. 18. 

6. Sheraton Park Farms, Wilkes County

This 70-acre, regenerative farm is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It raises beef cattle, chickens, turkeys, and pigs. 

The farm’s pasture-raised turkeys are raised outdoors in a 5,600-square-foot, portable, electrified netting area and moved weekly onto fresh pasture. They are offered locally sourced supplemental feed and never receive antibiotics, artificial growth hormones, or steroids.

Pre-order: Reserve online with a $40 deposit. At $7.99 per pound, the estimated final price is between $119.85 and $175.78 for a final weight between 15 and 22 pounds. 

Pick-up: By appointment at the farm (8378 Sparta Road, McGrady, 28649). 

7. Sow the Land, Rutherford County

This family-run farm and homestead sells pastured chickens and turkeys, but it also leads in-person workshops about processing animals and building infrastructures for your own homestead.

Their turkeys are raised outside and moved regularly on fresh grass, allowing them to scratch, peck, eat grass, seeds and bugs in fresh air and sunshine like nature intended. The birds, which average around 17 pounds, go for a flat rate of $153. 

Pre-order & pick-up: Order online, at which time they’ll email you to schedule your pick-up. 

8. Wild East Farm, Marion

Focused on producing pastured livestock and perennial foods while providing high-quality immersive educational experiences, Wild East Farm grows no-till vegetables and raises organic-fed chicken, turkey, and pork in an emerging silvopasture system of several hundred fruit and nut trees, including persimmons, mulberries, paw paws, pecans, hazelnuts, and more.

Their turkeys enjoy life on the pastures, moving regularly to fresh grass and grazing between fruit and nut tree plantings. They are fed 100% organic, soy-free feed in addition to what they forage in the pasture. Sold fresh, never frozen. And as they pointed out on Instagram, “This year’s hardy bunch survived a hurricane, ain’t that somethin?” It certainly is. 

Pre-order: Reserve online for $50. 

Pick-up: On the farm (370 Wilkerson Way, Marion, 28752) on Nov. 24, 3-6 p.m.

9. Woven Roots Farmstead, Black Mountain

Woven Roots Farmstead specializes in pastured meats. Every animal, from egg layers and broiler chickens to turkeys, pigs, and grass-fed beef, is raised on the pasture, where they enjoy an endless supply of pure mountain spring water, fresh grass, fresh air, and warm sunshine every day. 

Their non-GMO-fed broad-breasted whites are sold in ranges of 12-15 pounds, 15-18 pounds, and 18+ pounds for $9.25 per pound. 

Pre-order: Contact the farm for a $20 deposit: call or text 828-231-9336, email [email protected], send a message on Facebook or Instagram, or visit the Black Mountain Tailgate Market.

Pick-up: Pick up on Saturdays at Black Mountain Tailgate Market, but if you want a fresh turkey, let them know when you make your deposit. It will be 18lbs+, and pick-up will be at the farm on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.

Markets for More Shopping

ASAP operates the Asheville City Market (ACM), which takes place in that city’s downtown every Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. While much of Asheville is still in the recovery process with no running water, ACM is the perfect opportunity to support a number of local vendors without having to call around to see who’s open. 

Asheville City Market is a producer-only market, meaning that all farm vendors grow or raise the products they are selling themselves. For non-farm vendors selling prepared food, seafood, coffee, etc., preference is given to products and foods prepared or processed locally or made with locally sourced ingredients.

Another way to support western NC farmers, vendors, and small-business owners is through the High Country Food Hub, a year-round online farmers’ market that offers fresh produce, meat, dairy, bread, artisan foods, cut flowers, body care products, and plants. 

A quick search through the Hub turned up collards from Honey Tree Farm, pumpkin pie from Mountain Roots Farm, and any number of ingredients you can use while preparing your meal.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.