And while national brands may have a reputation for excellent birds, there are still some good reasons to consider buying a turkey that was raised here in Michigan.

David Finet, general manager of the East Lansing Food Co-Op, says buying local turkeys ensures the bird is never frozen, which makes for a fresher meal. They're also less likely to have been tampered with. For example, Finet says turkeys labeled “self-basting,” are pumped full of salt water.

“In any oven, that water comes out,” Finet says. “… You lose a lot of flavor, and as a consumer, if you're paying per pound, you're paying for water that'll just evaporate. [With local turkeys] there's no doctoring. You buy a turkey from Tom Otto, you buy a turkey; and that's what makes it a better product.”

Otto, who has owned his Middleville turkey farm for more than 20 years, modestly downplays the differences between his birds and national brands.

“The turkeys are pretty much raised similar everywhere,” Otto says. “They're in open barns, stuff like that. …We're just small, and we raise them as naturally as we can.”

Otto's farm raises about 25,000 turkeys each year, selling to about 150 businesses, including the East Lansing Food Co-Op.

Finet says buying local also means you get to know who is growing your food.
“We know [Otto], we know how he produces his stuff," Finet says. "We can visit the farm if we want to.”

Steve Kingsley, part-owner of Kingsley Farms in Fowlerville, says visiting the farm is also useful in reserving a bird. Kingsley says to look for farms that give their turkeys a mixture of commercial feed and grass. “They're healthier birds in general, compared to the commercial farmer with a million turkeys in a barn,” he says.

Although he'd like his customers to reserve their birds by Nov. 1, Kingsley says many procrastinate.

“I call people around the middle of October, and tell them to reserve one by early November,” Kingsley says. “But in this business, nobody calls you until about a week before.”

For more information on where to find local turkeys, visit www.localharvest.org.