What Most People Don't Realize is Behind Their Thanksgiving Dinner

From USDA:

Posted by Carolyn Miller, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Connecticut, on November 24, 2014 at 2:00 PM

After composting, the leftover animal materials and waste are no longer recognizable. Instead, they become healthy, organic fertilizer. NRCS photo courtesy Analia Bertucci.

You can picture it now, can’t you? The familiar sounds of a parade or football game playing on the TV while little ones chase each other through the house. More friends and family members than you can ever remember in one place at the same time. And the aroma … those delightful smells that let you know it’s a holiday.

You see the table surrounded by mismatched chairs, dinnerware and cutlery. And on that table, neatly decorated with the rich colors of the season, sit bowls filled with traditional fare and in the center of it all, the pièce de résistance – the golden brown bird around which the entire meal is built. Turkey. The year’s most prestigious meal!

Chances are, as you sit down to that mouthwatering Thanksgiving dinner, the last thing on your mind is a compost facility, or prescribed grazing, or any other conservation practice. In fact, unless you’re either a farmer or employed by USDA, you’ve probably never even heard of them. But these conservation practices all have a lot to do with the food products you consume.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) works with farmers and ranchers all across the country to keep the nation’s soil, water, animals, plants and air healthy, in turn, helping keep all of us healthy.

How does it work? Let’s use the example of Ekonk Turkey Farm, in Moosup – Connecticut’s largest pasture-raised turkey producer. Each year, this family-run business produces 3,000 turkeys and more than 2,000 chickens, along with geese and capons.

Farm owners Rick and Elena Hermonot have been working with NRCS since 2010. Through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, they have been able to implement a nutrient management plan, and install an efficient composting system that allows them to combine all the leftover animal materials and waste and have it break down naturally, leaving them with clean, healthy compost that they use to fertilize their fields.

This type of system also ensures that waste doesn’t get washed off the fields into groundwater or local waterways, keeping your water clean.

The Hermonot’s have also worked with NRCS to implement a prescribed grazing system that allows the fowl to roam free and eat a healthy diet from the pasture.

So whether you’re a vegetarian or a carnivore, you benefit because the programs that NRCS offers and that producer’s voluntarily implement help to keep our food supply safe and healthy, and that is something for which to give thanks!

Turkeys at the Ekonk Turkey Farm, in Moosup, Connecticut, roam free. The family-run business annually produces 3,000 turkeys. NRCS photo courtesy Analia Bertucci.

Thanksgiving Is a Great Time to Start Reducing Food Waste with Friends & Family

From USDA:

Posted by Dr. Elise Golan, USDA Food Waste Challenge Team, on November 24, 2014 at 1:00 PM

On average, these polts will take 4 to 5 months to make weight. It takes a lot of natural resources, energy, labor, and love to raise the estimated 46 million turkeys that will be consumed this Thanksgiving. Show your appreciation by making sure you waste as little food as possible. Photo courtesy of USDA.

Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate all that is good in our lives and to spend it in the company of friends and family while enjoying great food.  It is also a time to reflect on the bounty of our food supply.  Each year, as I put away the leftovers from my Thanksgiving dinner, I marvel at the abundance.

I also can’t avoid pausing to consider how much food is wasted in this country.

USDA estimates that on average, American consumers waste about one-fifth of food that is available to them, equivalent to about $371 per person annually.  That’s enough money to buy about 21 whole turkeys for each person in the country.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could make reducing food waste one of our Thanksgiving traditions?  A tradition we practice throughout the year?

Reducing food waste starts with meal planning.

Before you start shopping, take stock of what you have in your refrigerator and cupboards so that you don’t end up tossing extras.  A friend of mine uses an “Eat Me First” bin, so that the most perishable items are not lost at the back of the refrigerator. On Thanksgiving, using up the food currently in your refrigerator is particularly important to clear room for all of those Thanksgiving ingredients and post-Thanksgiving leftovers.  Careful menu planning and portion control helps to minimize waste.  When buying a turkey, USDA recommends allowing for one pound of turkey per person.

Thanksgiving leftovers can be substantial, particularly when the gatherings are large.  Take time to make sure leftovers are refrigerated within two hours from when they are hot and have guests leave with something tasty to take home and eat later.  Leftovers can be delicious and the reason for gathering once more with friends and family.

Many of my friends host Leftover Parties the day after Thanksgiving, which can sometimes spark debate among the partygoers as to whose pecan pie was better.  “The Friday after Thanksgiving is like a de facto National Leftovers Day – it’s the one day of the year where almost everyone enjoys leftovers,” says Jonathan Bloom, a food-waste author and blogger.  Of course, if you don’t have time to party with leftovers, you can simply store them.  Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for three to four days or safely frozen for up to a year.

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to begin food waste reduction strategies in your household that can gradually become habit for every day of the year.  No one wants to throw delicious Thanksgiving food into the trash or compost bin, but shouldn’t we treat all food that we eat with the same amount of respect year-round?

So here’s a toast to a Happy and Food Waste Free Thanksgiving.

Wild Turkey

Burr Oak Woods Nature Center, Jackson County, Missouri. March 26, 2014.