Sisters-area farm Rainshadow Organics promotes healthier Thanksgiving as part of year-round program

It's not just a holiday meal, but 'heritage turkeys are 'really a wonderful part of our farm

SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Dozens of turkeys served this Thanksgiving will come from a Central Oregon farm with a focus on eating healthier, organic food. At Rainshadow Organics, a farm northeast of Sisters, they've been selling the turkey and trimmings for several years, as part of an overall diet of locally grown items.

The farm is helping more and more families celebrate an organic Thanksgiving. Their meals are sold to customers who buy and eat organic all-year-round.

"The orders have been the same for us for at least a decade, it seems like," Rainshadow Organics farmer Sarahlee Lawrence said Tuesday. "We've built our little business, and we grow between 75 and 100 turkeys every year. and they're a really wonderful part of our farm." 

The farm harvested about 70 heritage turkeys this year. Their organic offerings go well beyond the birds.

"We have a full diet program here, where the turkeys are included in what people get," she said. " People get all their shopping here at the farm -- all their shopping done here for meat, grains and vegetables year-round. and so we grow turkeys specifically for them."

The full diet program is a community supported agriculture program, letting people pick up products weekly from the farm store. 

Along with turkeys, the farm grows plenty of vegetables, from sweet potatoes to onions, and mills their own flour, for people to make their own dinner rolls. 

This year, the farm also had success with sweet potatoes in the greenhouse -- it's typically grown in warmer climates.

"I think the only thing that we're buying for our farm dinner is cranberries," Lawrence said.

 The national average price for turkey is about $2.30 a pound, so organic does cost more. Lawrence said their turkeys are sold at $12 a pound.