We’re going to Washington, D.C.! About a week ago, we received an invitation from National Turkey Federation Chairman, Rick Huisinga, to attend the White House Ceremony where he’ll present President Obama with the birds we’re raising. The Minnesota Turkey Growers Association is funding our trip as a way to cap off the experience for us. We are very happy to have the opportunity to see our hard work pay off! Thank you MTGA!

Before we leave for D.C., we’re going to St. Paul to attend an MTGA event at the Capitol with the governor. Val is going to put one of our presidential birds on a table for the governor! It’ll be a good way for us to gauge how well we’ve done in readying the birds for the president.

On Monday, November 21, our high school is hosting a send-off for the birds and us. Willmar’s Mayor Yanish, our principal Mr. Anderson, our FFA and Ag teacher Mr. Pearson, and MTGA Executive Director Steve Olson will join us to thank our school and community for supporting us during this project. Afterward, the birds will drive to Washington, and we’ll leave for our flight to D.C.

This is a great adventure and we learned a lot of responsibility during the project. The turkeys are now about 40 to 45 pounds and are pretty much done growing. Their heads are now bright blue, their wattles are dark red and they love to strut around their pens. Oh and they gobble every time we enter the barn now!

This has been a wonderful experience for the four of us. We hope to write to you more about our journey to Washington, D.C. and we know we’ll have an awesome time. We’d like to give a big thanks to Rick, Jenn and Mr. Pearson, and of course to the staff of Minnesota Turkey Growers for making this possible.