If the turkey is the most important part of a Thanksgiving meal, shouldn’t you care where it’s been?
It’s a point of pride for our family that, at least once a year, the turkey we cook and serve to family and friends has to be fresh – not frozen – preferably be raised “cage free” and on organically grown non-GMO feed. That can serve to limit your choices in Loudoun County. Just next door in Clarke County, however, we’ve found a farm-to-table source we love so much that we’d secretly love to BE them.
Meet the Matich family of Liberty Hill Farm. The farm became home in 2010, as many do, following an extensive search for a “great place to raise a family.” Ken and Andrea have two kids, Samuel who is now 27 and Treasure, 24. A little more than a decade ago, the family began raising its own food starting with chickens raised for eggs and meat, out of a personal desire to eat pure, nutritious food. Just two years later, Ken quite the corporate world to make farming his sole pursuit, and it soon became the family business.
Samuel, whose cheeks glow with health and a perpetual smile, added milk cows and the raw milk is distributed via a herdshare contract to the herd's local owners. Along came Romney sheep, whose fleece was used for yarn with some animals being processed for meat. Steers came next, fed on Liberty Hill’s non-chemically treated pasture grass.
Hogs and sows joined the menagerie in 2015, delighting to root in the farm’s walnut grove as well as to chow down on mineral-rich, organically grown, non-GMO feed. Ducks came and went – replaced by about 100 turkeys, who come to the farm each July as poults, and are fed similarly organic, non-GMO feed from Pennsylvania.
The Matich's explain why they're so opposed to GMO foods this way: "The term 'Genetically Modified' has to do with modifying the gene structure of some living thing by inserting a new gene from another species or 'kind.' Now, in respect to plants, it is messing with its original 'kind' as God made that plant at Creation by forcibly inserting new genes from plants of other species into the original gene.... Not only is there evidence that it can cause health problems in people through consumption but also it is a manifestation of rebellion against our Creator, Who created all creatures to reproduce 'after their kind.' It is for this reason that we avoid, to the best of our knowledge, giving our chickens feed that has genetically modified grain in it."
The Matich's see genetically modified foods as "a manifestation of rebellion against our Creator, Who created all creatures to reproduce 'after their kind.' It is for this reason that we avoid, to the best of our knowledge, giving our chickens feed that has genetically modified grain in it."
Unlike “wild” turkeys, who typically sport mostly brown feathers for camouflage, the Matich flock are all the “White, Broad Breasted” variety, for obvious reasons. They’re your typical curious gang of hens and toms, doubtless interested in whether you’ve brought their next feeding. If turkeys can be said to be happy, these appear to be, suffering no distress when one is picked up for a glamour shot by Treasure.
What is certifiably exquisite, from personal experience, is how they taste. Brined (note that I intentionally omitted the “defrosting” phase), then roasted to perfection, these birds are moister and more tender than any butter-infused gobbler, and the slices of both white and dark meat have more texture than turkey that’s been previously frozen.
Of course, all that makes for a truly non-glamorous pre-Thanksgiving week for Samuel and Treasure who together humanely hand process the birds. They then hand-pick all the feathers to fill all the orders taken from the Berryville, Purcellville and Great Falls Community Farmers’ Markets, all so some of you will be lucky enough to enjoy one for your next family gathering.
If you miss out this year, don’t despair. Snap up some delectable chicken or turkey pot pies, or a variety of home-made soups from Andrea’s kitchen. Visit the farm’s website at https://www.libertyhillfarmva.com/, or contact info@libertyhillfarmva.com or 540 955 6220.