From Your Farmer

We’re in the dog days of summer, so extreme heat is always on our mind as we monitor the weather forecast. Most farmers can likely share a story of a weather disaster on their farm; my first came 30 years ago with a shocking loss on an incredibly hot summer night on range. It made our local newspaper, which is never how we’d want to make news. Knowing we’re in the season, I thought I’d share our hot weather gameplan that we’ve already put to use many times this summer. As a starting point, it’s important to know that heat is a bigger challenge for bigger turkeys. Young poults like it hot, so we worry more as turkeys age. As they grow, it’s the wicked combination of heat and humidity that can be deadly, particularly when we don’t have a good breeze. Ironically, we often have an easier time keeping birds comfortable when they have a barn to return [...]

A couple weeks ago, I got to hear Jason DeRusha speak to a gathering of Minnesota turkey farmers (yes, even turkey farmers have conferences!). If you live in Minnesota, you likely recognize Jason DeRusha’s name from WCCO Radio and Minnesota Monthly, where he’s the Food Editor. He’s a resident Minnesota foodie. As a metro guy, he made great connections between the Twin Cities restaurant scene and the farmers in the room, sharing stories of James Beard award-winning chefs, many of whom came from farms and still deeply value knowing the source of the food on their menus. He also highlighted that many of Minnesota’s recent high-profile chefs are doing something distinctly their own, not trying to copy some prototype for a good restaurant. Think Yia Vang at Vinai, showcasing the Hmong flavors he grew up with, or Karyn Tomlinson at Myriel, and the Midwestern cuisine she learned from her grandmother, or Sean Sherman at Owamni, and the Indigenous food [...]

We’ve had a good run of media attention around our turkey bratwurst lately, including this WCCO-TV segment. Trust me, when I envisioned my role many years ago, I never imagined grilling brats on live TV. Then again, I didn’t envision we’d someday craft a lineup of turkey bratwurst. I’ve seen some funny things behind the curtain as I’ve burned up my 15 minutes of fame. There was the time the meteorologist got oozed with melted Swiss cheese from a healthy bite into our Rachael Bratwurst, or the time when the camera man inadvertently stumbled backward into the garden pond, seconds before going live into our spot. Much like turkey farming, it appears most professions are about bouncing back quickly from surprises. I suspect our turkey brats earn media attention because they’re a distinctive item. There aren’t many good, clean turkey versions on the shelf, which is why some longtime customers encouraged us to make our own. Pair that with [...]

It’s officially spring on the farm! We’ve moved our first flocks to range for the summer, so there’s no turning back now. (Never mind that we had to chip ice out of drinkers due to a late season frost as we herded the birds!) It’s always a sign of the season when we first slide open the barn door to let the birds outside or move our first flock fully to range. By the time the birds are out in the spring, our farm team has already been hard at work: transporting feed, leveling water troughs, closing fence gates, and leak checking endless yards of water hose. As I’ve often shared before, raising turkeys this way requires more people, and it’s not the norm today. We’re fortunate to have the land, team, and equipment to make it happen. You don’t have to look hard to hear about problems plaguing farmers today – labor, markets, diesel fuel, and input costs. [...]

When I returned to my hometown nearly 20 years ago, Cannon Falls had three hardware stores. We’re now down to one, after Althoff Hardware closed after 92 years on Main Street. I don’t pretend to know the hardware business, but it’s always a tough day in a small town when a main street business closes. It probably goes without saying that I felt a strong kinship with a fellow multi-generation family business that always did a great job taking care of their community. Althoff’s was the hardware store we used for a lot of our farm supplies, and we had a charge account there for decades. After the closing, I was able to snag a relic, a handwritten invoice from 20 years ago, cataloging all the turkey farm purchasing that month. Amazingly, we stopped in 22 times that month. Althoff’s was a spot you could stop in and simply charge something to “the turkey farm” and it would show [...]

I’ll own my bias as a turkey farmer but I don’t think turkey’s story as a versatile protein option has been well told. From the vantage point of a turkey guy, we are often the forgotten meat, when stories (and menus) feature beef, pork, and chicken. And, frankly, chicken seems to steal most of the spotlight with consumption growth each year. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy chicken like the rest of us, but turkey farmers everywhere wonder why turkey never found its nugget, wing, or Nashville hot equivalent. Credit where credit is due, the chicken business has done a terrific of expanding into all types of menus, but I think it would surprise most people to know how dramatically chicken consumption has eclipsed all other meats in America. It wasn’t that long ago that beef was America’s meat of choice. Today, we consume 80% more chicken than beef. Even McDonald’s sells more chicken than beef, despite their burger [...]

It’s probably true in business and life that we don’t take enough opportunities to look back and celebrate our accomplishments. I like to keep plowing ahead and tackle the next thing in front of me. That being said, I appreciate the new year as a chance to reflect on all that happened at Ferndale Market in 2025. Here are four things we’re proud of as we look back: Turkey Bratwurst! After many months of planning and tasting, we launched our new lineup of turkey brats in May.  We were intentional about crafting flavors featuring Minnesota collaborations and making them at our local smokehouse, Lorentz Meats.  The brats have been a hit!  Better yet, they represent our commitment to local partnerships and distinctive foods. The Coop! By midsummer, we opened our new grain bin picnic shelter at the market, affectionately known as The Coop. We envision visitors relaxing on the farm and enjoying a local snack while they’re [...]

I spend the quiet days after Thanksgiving filled with gratitude and a bit of amazement that we made it to the finish line of our peak season. I’m struck each year by all the pieces that have to fit together just right to make our model work. In no particular order, here are a few of the things I’m thankful for as I look at Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror: Mother Nature: The poults we started in the heat of summer had a picture-perfect fall. Good turkey growing weather, as my dad would say. Despite the continued bird flu worries around us, we made it through! Truck drivers: I love logistics, so I’m in awe of all the wheels it takes to bring our Thanksgiving turkeys to market. From our own drivers working overtime, to the partners that deliver our birds to retailers and meat markets across the Midwest, everything got to where it needed to be. Partner farms: We can only [...]

Football has the Super Bowl. Accountants have tax day. We have Thanksgiving. It’s our season to shine! Starting early each fall, folks ask me if we’re gearing up for the Thanksgiving season. The answer is yes, of course, but the truth is that we’ve been busy prepping for a year. It’s no stretch to say we spend all year working toward Thanksgiving. In fact, we order our poults a year ahead of time. Our retail partners place their turkey orders beginning in the spring. And we coordinate with local food partners and food trucks by the 4th of July to have all the pieces in place for TurkeyFest. By summertime, the poults have hatched and the daily care begins, both on our farm and partner farms. Now that we’re into the final stretch, we’re busy prepping shipping boxes and launching our online reservations for fresh turkeys at our on-farm market. Yes, all of this is many months in the [...]

I had the opportunity to enjoy a pork chop sandwich and stroll through big farm equipment at Farmfest earlier this summer, to receive the Goodhue County Farm Family of the Year award. We were surprised and honored to be recognized, and it was a joy to hear the stories of all the other Minnesota farm families chosen (87 unique farm stories!). Some of these families made us look like newbies in farming, while others were just getting started themselves. Dairy, crops, pigs, and vegetables – you name it, somebody in that shed grew it. I was struck by one commonality we all shared: farming is still hard work. I spoke to a group of community members at our local senior center earlier this summer and shared a similar message. Our society often times romanticizes farming and rural living, and Ferndale is guilty of contributing to the notion by sharing updates when everything is cooperating on the farm. After all, it’s a lot more [...]