Montpelier chooses livestock using guidance from The Livestock Conservancy, primary sources documenting southern culture and culinary gems. Sometimes all three parts intersect and the choice becomes a trifecta of perfection. So it is with our Bourbon Red turkeys. A southern staple for decades until commercial producers introduced broad breasted varieties in the 1940's, Bourbons graced most Thanksgiving tables for the same reason today's epicurious seek them out: size and meat structure. What does that mean? Well, size is obvious. A Bourbon can be large but reaching a commercially bred size requires four to six weeks longer to achieve than a broad breasted variety. The difference here reflects genetic closeness to their wild cousins which creates a leaner bird with a structural balance between dark and white meat. Commercially produced turkey represents a genetically modified version designed to produce large breasts making the ratio of dark to white meat disproportionate. A Bourbon can also fly, run and forage while the commercially produced turkey cannot. This is not only because genetically modified broad breasts anchor the bird to the ground, but also because commercial breeders keep birds in containment. Perhaps the most important difference between the heritage and commercially produced turkey rests in the nature of heritage. Natural, untampered and tied to history and culture of place. With that comes a unique and rich flavor grown from the past, from our field to your table.

Pick up Preferably at the farm. 1549 Laurel Springs Road, Spring Grove. Sunday before Thanksgiving from 12-4 and Monday from 10-4. If you cannot come to the farm to collect your package, then I can deliver it to River Street Market for a packing fee of five dollars. In this case you must arrive at the market by nine to collect your bird. Otherwise, call me if you have a conflict and we certainly can work that out. Care Instructions Turkeys will be slaughtered on Thursday one week before Thanksgiving. Each bird will be weighed, shrink wrapped and packed in another bag which will contain a large zip lock bag of ice. We will label your turkey with your name once you have selected the weight. Fresh poultry remains safe for ten days from the slaughter date. However, there are methods to ensure freshness. Montpelier has a commercial refrigerator set just above freezing. Commercial refrigerators maintain a uniform coldness that residential refrigerators cannot. Consequently, we recommend placing your turkey in a cooler packed with ice until you’re ready to prepare it. Leaving the cooler outside this time of year will help maintain coolness as it’s colder outside than in your house. The zip lock bag full of ice found inside the bag we give you acts as a thermometer of sorts. Check this bag daily. If the ice is melting, then the storage temperature is too warm. Replace the ice in the bag with fresh ice. The ice from your freezer is fine. Thank you for your business! Please feel free to offer advice about your experience with Montpelier. We are a new farm and have much to learn. Happy Thanksgiving! Leigh Ann Bacevich

Montpelier offers ducklings, chicks and turkey poults to customers who directly request purchase. We do not sell hatching eggs. Please keep in mind that not all poultry require the same feed or housing. It's best to understand what you're getting and how to organize space to accommodate needs. Silver Appleyard Ducklings Ducklings require added niacin to prevent leg splaying. Although commercial feed milled specifically for ducklings is available, it tends to be hard to find as well as expensive. You can make your own by purchasing regular chick feed and adding brewer's yeast. Duckling grow much faster than chicks or poults. If you plan to keep a mixed flock and put ducklings in with chicks and poults please be aware that a two week old duckling can trample to death a chick or poult of the same age. Ducks, by nature, make mess. They love water and need more water to process food than a chick or a poult. Any sort of waterer that a duck can access will be fouled by food and poo within the hour. This challenge requires a trial and error process to help decide which water vessel will work best at your farm. At Montpelier ducks are known as the poo machines. And it is liquid, prolific and very messy. Consequently, bedding fouls quickly, eggs absolutely need a scrub brush and ducklings quickly outgrow the mixed poultry nursery. American Bresse, Rock Barred or Mixed Chicks Chicks need chick feed, clean water and a warm brooder box. They tend to stand in their food to scratch which makes a mess. They will also defecate in the food which, for obvious reasons, should be avoided. Several varieties of feeders and waterers prevent mess and make maintenance easy. A typical chick reaches maturity at about sixteen weeks which is when they transition to adult crumble. Although Montpelier raises mixed flocks on pasture together, we do not feed American Bresse meat bird feed as chicks. If we house chicks with poults then Turkey starter is mixed with chick starter and fed together. This works well here and we have never had a negative response caused from too much protein for Rock Barred chicks. Bourbon Red Poults Heritage turkey poults reach maturity at about a year to a year and a half. Maturity here is defined by the ability to reproduce. In the meantime, purchase a nice turkey starter and supplement with treats like mealworms and fruit. Bourbons forage well which will offset the feed bill. If you are raising for slaughter then desired weight is achieved at about six months. Once turned out to pasture, broiler and layer crumble mix meets growing poult requirements.

This depends on product. Wool will ship differently than garlic. We will package using the best and most economical supplies and determine weight. Then we will send you and email with the final cost. Until the Grove Street shop opens we cannot ship food products outside of Virginia because the farm does not have a commercial kitchen. After the shop opens then everything can be shipped anywhere in the US.

Montpelier produces hard neck and soft neck garlic. From a growth perspective, the primary difference rests in the flower production of the plant. Hard neck varieties produce a flower which grows from a vertical stem. This initially produces a scape, which is the beginning stage of the flower. Harvested before flowering, scapes serve two purposes. First, scapes become culinary treasures snipped, pureed or dried. Second, snipped scapes force the garlic bulb to focus on bulb growth and not flower reproduction. Hard neck varieties tend to be bolder in flavor than soft neck varieties. Specific varieties often represent a geographic region, defining a culinary heritage. Rose de Lautrec famously illustrates the tie between geographic location and culinary prowess. It is the je ne sais quois of national dishes which fall flat when one cooks Canard with forty cloves of garlic or Ukrainian garlic bread with that stuff you picked up at the grocery. Hard neck garlic typically will not grow in zone 8 or higher. Once harvested, the neck of the garlic is very stiff, hence the name. Finally, Hard neck garlic grows in tight uniform clusters with six to eight cloves. On the other hand, Soft neck garlic grows more like an onion with soft foliage that will fall over when ready to harvest. Heads from a soft neck variety produce many cloves which are not uniform in size or arrangement. In my opinion, the soft neck flavor is softer and easier to use in emulsions. Much like tea, some varieties become bitter if over steeped. This is often so with hard neck cloves which deliver an unpleasant bitterness when left too long in an emulsion. A nice soft neck imparts slow garlic flavor into an emulsion making it a foodie choice for long storage emulsions. Soft neck varieties braid easier but do not store as long as hard necks. Soft neck varieties also represent specific regions. Montpelier grows two Italian varieties tied to Abruzzi and Sicily.

Yes. Please text or call first. Bubba the livestock guardian guard dog can be intimidating. Otherwise, keep your eyes on the event page as we do open up for visitors occasionally. Once the shop is finished there will be more time to organize farm events.