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Another wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday, spent with family and plenty of good food to eat. As I sat and watched my kids play with some of their cousins, I thought about what the past few years have brought and what the next few years might bring. I especially enjoyed listening to our college-age daughter talk to family members about her experiences over the last few months. It has been so fun to watch her stretch and grow and learn more about life and all it has to offer. Yes, there is a lot to be grateful for!
With this late post today (simply because I put it aside and didn’t get to it yet), I have the honor of sharing some thoughts from our now-not-so-new Progressive Forage Grower editor, Lynn Jaynes. She is a talented writer and has such a fun, expressive way of sharing her thoughts that I always enjoy reading her material.
She writes:
I’m thankful for turkeys. I know that seems obvious today of all days, but I have true gratitude. Have you ever raised turkeys? I tried once. I threw them in the coop with the fryers I was raising and just hoped for the best. They didn’t get special treatment or special diets, and they had to fight for feed right alongside the chickens. The turkeys’ lives weren’t easy.
One day I sent my youngest daughter out to fill the waterer with the hose, and when I went out later to see what was taking so long I found her spraying the daylights out of the turkeys and chickens. She hated turkeys and chickens. And I’m pretty sure they hated her. But my daughter wasn’t the only threat; the skunks and foxes terrorized them all spring, and eventually captured a few. They were stressed enough that by the time we finally butchered them, I think we did them a favor.
Three weeks ago this same daughter, now grown, gave birth to her first little girl who was so anxious to come into the world that she arrived five weeks early. And for a few anxious days the baby fought for every breath as her little lungs struggled to develop. It takes fortitude to just be born, and every breath she fought for was precious.
With a little time and help from a medical community prepared for such births, the baby progressed and was able to go home, and my little girl is now caring for her little girl and planning for her future. No doubt they’ll have tea parties together, paint their toenails together, read “Goodnight, Moon” a hundred times, and snuggle in the mornings when the chill is still in the house. Good times. I hope they enjoy every minute of it.
But I also hope someday my daughter buys a turkey and a few chickens for my granddaughter to care for. My granddaughter should learn how to raise an animal, no matter where she lives.
Standing the torment of a little girl with a hose in her hand as she learns those lessons is perhaps one of the most noble things a turkey can do. So every Thanksgiving, for more than the obvious reason, I appreciate turkeys.
Can’t you just see her daughter out there with the hose? Yes, kids that grow up around animals are definitely blessed! And I got to see pictures of that precious new granddaughter, and she is beautiful. I hope both you and your daughter enjoy her, right along with the memory of those turkeys!
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