“Local” includes the accountability and responsiveness of local ownership, most of whom live in Butler County. Earlier this month, MOON Co-op gained member-owner 1,000.
Local includes the availability of healthy nutritious products from trusted local sources. MOON provides a retail outlet for several dozen Oxford-area growers and producers of everything from chicken to soap.
Speaking of local, it’s time to order turkeys for Thanksgiving meals. Again this year, fresh pasture-raised turkeys at MOON Co-op come from Bowman & Landes farm, which is located in Miami County near New Carlisle, about an hour northeast of Oxford.
David Bowman started farming in 1913, and his son Orville (guess which famous Dayton resident he was named after) started raising turkeys in 1938. Dennis Landes was hired to work on the farm in 1943 and became a partner a year later.
Orville moved to California in 1948 and sold his share of the farm to his brother Kenneth. The fourth generation of the Bowman and Landes families are now involved in running the farm.
I offer three reasons to consider local turkeys: They are treated better, they are healthier for you and they taste better.
Bowman & Landes turkeys are treated well by living outdoors as much as they wish. Difficulty in keeping away predators is one reason that few turkeys are raised free range. If a predator gets through the fencing, it can kill enough turkeys to erase the year’s profit. Bowman & Landes uses heavy-duty fencing, and dogs and donkeys roam the farm.
Turkeys from Bowman & Landes taste good, because they are fed a mixture of non-GMO wheat, corn, and soybeans grown on the farm, using no-till, turkey manure, and other sustainable field practices. They are free of antiobiotic injections and unhealthy feed.
Bowman & Landes has been certified by the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to offer rigorous product verification. The organization’s label appears on a number of products at MOON Co-op Grocery.
Even when the turkeys are inside, the Bowman & Landes farm is eco-friendly. Three solar arrays provide 350,000 kWh of power for the farm. (The average home uses around 10,000 kWh annually.)
Figure one pound per person when buying a whole turkey, and 1/2 pound per person for a boneless roast. You will want to buy more than that in order to have leftovers — more about that in a couple of weeks.
Fresh local free-range turkeys can be ordered by November 8 at MOON Co-op, Oxford’s consumer-owned full-service grocery, featuring natural, local, organic, sustainable, and Earth-friendly products. The store, located at 516 S. Locust St. in Oxford, is open to the public every day. www.mooncoop.coop.
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