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Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

I say it every year, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The gathering of friends and family to give thanks for the great things in our lives over a wonderful meal is truly special.

No matter how bad the year has been, you can always find a few bright spots to celebrate.

We are blessed to have a wonderful local agricultural community and it would not be too hard to have a locally sourced Thanksgiving meal. Turkeys, green beans, potatoes and other staples can be found on many local farms, but the volume of food needed to feed Trumbull County alone for one day is mind-boggling.

According to census data, there are approximately 86,000 households in the county. If we assume even half of those households celebrate Thanksgiving with a traditional meal, that would be 43,000 turkeys to feed our community for one day!

Tasking our local farms to feed everyone in Trumbull County for one day would stretch their ability to meet that need without some serious planning and investment. It’s not that we couldn’t grow the crops, but the centralization of food processing has limited the types of crops that can be grown economically in each region. Pumpkins, for example, can be easily grown throughout Northeast Ohio, but if you wanted to grow a variety destined for pie filling, the nearest processing facility is a few hundred miles away. Trucking heavy, bulky pumpkins that distance would be expensive and cost-prohibitive.

A locally sourced Thanksgiving meal would also be missing a few staple dishes because of our climate and soils. Cranberries require very acidic soil (pH 4.0-5.0) that is well-drained and contains sand. We can acidify our local soils with amendments, but well-drained soils with sand … that’s another story. Farmers in Massachusetts and Wisconsin are better suited to grow and harvest that crop to make cranberry sauce possible. It’s a similar story for pecans in the pie or on top of sweet potato casserole. Much of Ohio is just too cold for pecan trees to thrive and produce a successful crop.

While providing food for every household in the county on Thanksgiving using only locally sourced farm products would be difficult, it can be done on a much smaller scale. Connecting with local farmers through farm markets, social media, Farm Bureau and other outlets will help you source all the staples you need.

It’s important to make those connections early in the year so they can plan to raise enough turkeys or even grow a requested vegetable. If you’re willing to skip the cranberry sauce and pecan pie, a locally sourced Thanksgiving meal could be a reality. If you’re up for a challenge and willing to get your hands messy, you could attempt to grow and raise your own Thanksgiving meal. That would be as local as you can get.

Estimates vary, but most agree that approximately a half-acre is necessary to have enough room to raise a turkey and a garden large enough to produce enough food for a family. Efficiently using your space and practicing high-intensity gardening may reduce that space requirement.

Be sure to check with your zoning department first to make sure you are allowed to have turkeys. If you’re not sure where to start, give us a call at OSU Extension and we can provide resources to get you on the right track.

I wish you all the very best on this holiday and I hope you are safe, healthy and have an opportunity to give thanks for the great things in your life. Happy Thanksgiving!

Submitted by Lee Beers, an Agriculture & Natural Resources Educator for OSU Extension-Trumbull County. He can be reached by email or phone: 330-638-6783.

OFBF Mission: Working together for Ohio farmers to advance agriculture and strengthen our communities.