Springfield Farm

For Thanksgiving it was decide to get a local grown bird. Springfield Farm was a bit of a drive but after hearing of them from some of our favorite restaurants in Baltimore, we went to look. A friend and I went to the farm in the summer and fell in love. The animals are well kept and there is no mistreatment. The families running this farm were wonderful and gave us a brief tour and explained their process for raising the animals. We immediately reserved birds each for both our families. The weekend before Thanksgiving was the arrival date and we went there to get our birds. The farm and the store were very busy which made me glad that we reserved ahead of time. (I later found out that you can only get birds via reservation in advance unless they have cancellations.) When we got to the line my bird was first. I went with a Bronze Turkey, this is a mix of the traditional and heritage (what I call wild) turkey. It looked wonderful. My friend was a little more difficult. It happened that 2010 was a bad year for the weight of turkey he originally wanted. The heat kept them from getting to particular weights. So the farm worked with him, and true to their word they had a turkey for him. This turkey looked good also. When paying for the turkey I looked around their store and found many other things that I could add to any dinner. This place was amazing for a small farm-stand. When I left there was a little kid willing to help me get my things back to our car with his red wagon. I will definitely be a repeat customer of theirs. Points to consider: Price: It is higher than grocery stores. I can appreciate this since I had learned all that went into caring for the animals. I did get many suggestions that I should have paid $0.47 per pound for a frozen turkey, but after tasting the Springfield Farm turkey all were happy with the choice. The price spent there is also including items from the store and not the sole reflection of the price of the turkey. Vegetables: I would be amiss if I did not mention the co-op I joined at Springfield Farm. They have a group called Simmer Rock. They had some amazing veggies that we added to our dinner. They grow the food on Springfield Farm and have stands at some local Farmer?s Markets.