Families are giving thanks for many things around this time of year including cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and of course: turkey.

Donna Loewen feeding some of her turkeysTurkey hobby farmer Donna Loewen says her family’s thankfulness extends onto their turkeys. “Whenever we slaughter a bird we thank them for the life they gave us because we are taking their life and putting it on our plate in order to sustain our own.”

Despite the unusually cold and snowy Thanksgiving conditions, Loewen says her birds have paid no attention to the weather. “They are acclimatized to Canadian conditions”, she notes, and “they won’t get freezer-burnt before they hit the freezer.”

Though the turkeys on her farm are used for food all year round, Loewen says it is still important to her family that their food is ethically grown and cared for. Turkeys are not terribly intelligent creatures, but Loewen indicates that it brings her joy to watch them socialize and try to communicate with one another. “We enjoy knowing they’ve had a good life before they hit our plate.”