Farming & Family: The Olthoff's
Today's Farming & Family feature hails from Iowa.
I sent Katie a list of questions and in her easy going style she answered them just as if we were sharing a cup of coffee while our 4 boys played...except there were no wrestling matches, broken dishes, or yelling...so maybe the boys where hanging out with their daddies :)
My husband is a 3rd generation turkey farmer, but our farm officially began 5 years ago, as a result of increased demand for turkey because of Subway's $5 Footlongs! It was kind of a unique situation that I have written about extensively on my blog. Another turkey farmer in our area wanted to expand and offered to help us build new barns as partners with him. We took him up on the amazing opportunity and never looked back.
We raise more than 100,000 turkeys every year. Although many people assume that our turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving, we grow turkeys year round for further processing (lunchmeat, ground turkey, sausage, etc.) So our farm is busy every single day. We do not have a slow season.
We have two boys, ages 3 and 6, and they love to help on the farm. When we get a new flock of turkeys, we all unload them together, and the boys often help move turkeys from one barn to another. When we're not working on the farm, we love playing outside (especially soccer and t-ball), family movie nights, and building legos together.
I work part time for the Iowa Turkey Federation, and have my own small home decor business, called The HomeShed. Between those two things, renovating a farmhouse, and keeping up with my blog, I always seem to be on the go. Luckily, my parents and in-laws both live nearby, and we take advantage of our "village" for raising our boys and getting things done on the farm.
Antibiotic use is a hot topic right now, and I've written about it a lot on my blog. But more than anything else, I want non-farm families to know how dedicated farmers are to animal welfare and food safety. Because I did not grow up on a farm, I had some pre-conceived notions of farming when we started out, but many of them were just plain wrong. I'd like to encourage people to ask farmers directly about how food is raised, and I am happy to answer any questions about my turkey farm.
You can reach me on my blog: www.onthebanksofsquawcreek.com
or...
@katieolthoff on twitter
Thanks Katie for sharing about your farm and family. If you have questions for Katie please feel free to visit her links above or leave them in the comments section.
Until we meet again may God bless you and keep you!
Caci