At 12 o’clock this afternoon, I found myself outside a Levi clothing store, awaiting a silver jeep to pull into the adjacent parking spot. It had taken several days to arrange this meeting. I live in north Portland and he lives outside the city’s limits to the southeast. I like fresh food from local farmers practicing sustainable farming methods. He likes letting chickens and turkeys roam around his land. It was clearly a good match for the both of us.

Frank Eckstein owns and operates Crippled Crow Farm, which also happens to be his home and backyard. I heard about Frank via a Twitter message last week from Edible Portland. The “tweet” claimed that Frank had some free range turkeys left and was eager to sell them before the holiday. It would be important for me to note that I had hoped on purchasing a bird from Afton Field Farm, but they had sold out before I could make an order. At the same time, I like the idea of supporting more than one animal farmer; and my encounter with Frank fueled an interest to work with him again.

It turns out that Frank is really operating like a small-scale farm. Compared to Tyler and Alicia Jones of Afton Field Farm, whose land exceeds 100 acres, Frank is literally raising birds in his backyard – all 1/2 an acre! According to the stories Frank shared with me today (outside and inside the Levi clothing store), he raises a couple hundred chickens and several dozen turkeys on his land (read: his backyard.) Frank is open about the fact that his “operation” is more hobby than profit-seeking organic agriculture. In fact, he used to sell the harvest of his fairly large garden, but due to the extensive time committment and other labor constraints, he grows produce for the birds! I love that he plants huge batches of cucumbers just for the turkeys – sounds like the birds really get a healthy diet.

As far as ‘free range’ is concerned, Frank told me that the birds have total access to the surrounding land. This includes the neighbors yard and grass across the street. Aside from the enclosed shelter he built for nighttime sleeping, the birds have complete roaming capabilities. There are no fences, no gates, no constraints to their lifestyle. Between this and what the birds get to eat, I think I genuinely discovered the kingdom of royal poultry living.

Aside from the free and unadulterated lifestyle of the turkey I bought, Frank also sells the meat at incredibly reasonable prices. Because his “operation” is so small in scale and this is really just a hobby and passion for him, he is willing to sell his birds at affordable prices. For example, the free-range, organic and hormone-free 20lb turkey I bought today, cost me $50 – $2.50 a pound! Honestly, that is unheard of at New Seasons, the farmers market or just about anywhere selling birds with a comparable lifestyle. The best part is that Frank knows it. He’s not there to make a profit. I keep repeating this because it is truly an anomaly in the market for this kind of meat.

If you live in the Portland metro area I highly recommend contacting Frank and purchasing some of his birds. Chickens sell for a flat rate of $14 and range in weight from 4-5 pounds. His eggs cost $3 a dozen; and his regular turkeys cost $2.50 a pound. What’s even more exciting is the fact that he also raises a heritage breed of turkeys called bourbon red. To be expected, the heritage breed is more costly to raise since it takes longer to gain weight. Unlike the broad breasted white turkey (aka 99.99% of the turkeys purchased in America for next week’s turkey holiday) who gets big and fat quickly, the bourbon red reaches a weight of 8-10 pounds by the end of November. In turn, the per pound cost is higher and so few people want to pay more for less (except me of course!)

Next week I will have a post devoted to the menu I’ve put together for the holiday. Today, I want to thank Frank and his incredible generosity and kindness in raising these beautiful birds. It is truly awesome to be able to afford a turkey raised sustainably and support a local farmer. How fortunate we are.

Related posts:

1. Turkey Day
2. Lessons Learned
3. Thanksgiving Menu
4. Freezer Madness and the Long Winter Ahead
5. CRX: The Bird That Built a Nation

Tags: afton field farm, Chicken, Grass-Fed, portland