A Gentle Thanksgiving

 At The Gentle Barn, our thanksgiving tradition is a bit different: instead of eating turkeys, we cuddle with them and feed them pie.
Male turkeys are great big show-offs and they puff up all their feathers, march around, and try to gain our attention and admiration.  Female turkeys, on the other hand, love affection and just want to cuddle.  I found that out by mistake one day sixteen years ago when I had rescued my very first turkey, Chloe.  One morning while doing my morning chores in the barnyard, Chloe kept following me around. At first she chirped to me while I worked and I talked back to her, telling her all about my day.  After a while, I started to wonder if there was anything wrong, or if she was trying to tell me something.  So I put down my rake, sat down on the ground, and asked her what she needed.  Chloe climbed right into my lap, closed her eyes and fell asleep.  We have been cuddling female turkeys ever since.
Each year we rescue turkeys from Thanksgiving, give them good food, fresh water, lots of love, and eventually they learn to trust us and allow us to cuddle them.
Come meet our turkeys!  We are open to the public each Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and you can cuddle the turkeys, hug the cows, give the pigs tummy rubs, and feed carrots to the horses.
To get tickets and for more information, go to www.gentlebarn.org.