Sunday, November 13, 2011

SAVE A TURKEY - GOBBLE A BOOK

Blog Hop Tour - November 14-21




Can suburbanites raise turkeys in their 
own back yards?

Recent news articles about home-grown chickens, as well as a discussion of our plans for Thanksgiving, led us to the following questions:

How about turkeys? Would it be possible to create a personal back yard flock? (Homeowner association rules permitting, of course.)

Curiosity led us to our computers. The Internet holds a surprising number of articles on this subject.  Here are some turkey facts:

  • It takes a broad-breasted Bronze turkey about 24 weeks to reach a weight of 16 to 25 pounds. (So you need to start planning your home-grown Thanksgiving meal way in advance.)

  • Baby turkeys are called “poults.” (Why? Shouldn’t they be called “turks”?)

  • Turkeys love to be around people. (So you should visit them once or twice a day.)

  • You’ll need a yard or fenced pen measuring at least 75 ft. by 75 ft. - about 1/8 acre - to raise a dozen turkeys. (You could put them in your front yard but that might create a traffic pile-up, so behind your back yard fence might be best.)

  • How to tell a tom from a hen? The toms will fluff out their feathers and start strutting at an early age. (Must be those pesky male hormones.)

  • Detailed instructions are given for slaughtering and plucking. (Not for the faint of heart.)

We don’t know about the rest of suburbia, but after feeding, watering, and spending quality time with our turkeys, we’re not sure we’d be able to actually eat them. Six months of care, from birth to maturity, would make it awfully hard to swing that axe, especially if our toms looked as handsome as the one pictured below. Instead of gracing our serving platters, our turkeys would probably rule the roost, sit at our expanded Thanksgiving tables, and say, “Pass the chicken, please!”



So, rather than murder your hand-raised Meleagris gallopavo, we suggest a trip to your local supermarket for an anonymous bird. Or better still, as the theme of this blog tour says, SAVE A TURKEY and GOBBLE A BOOK!

GIVEAWAY: To encourage you, we're giving away a free eBook download of our novel, I.O.U. Sex. We'll also send you a collection of our favorite recipes for Turkey Day, from our kitchens to yours. To enter, simply comment on this post and include the name of your favorite Thanksgiving (or wintertime) dish. Be sure to also include your email address so we can contact you if you're our winner.

To connect to other blog tour participants, click here for the master list:  Save a Turkey - Gobble a Book 

I.O.U. Sex is available in paperback and eBook formats from AmazonBarnes and Noble,  CreateSpace and Smashwords.


OFFICIAL RULES:
1.  Have fun!!
2.  Invite all of your friends. Spread the word!
3.  This tour starts: Monday, November 14, at midnight (Arizona Time)
     This tour ends: Monday, November 21, at midnight (Arizona Time)
     Winners will be drawn and their names posted by November 25 ***
4.  Meet and mingle with all the authors on their book pages. Experience
     a new destination at every stop. Participate in every blog contest, and
     be entered for chances to win multiple prizes. Every blog visited is
     another opportunity to win.
5.  Participation at all blogs is recommended but not required. 
     Remember,the more blogs you hop, the better your chances of 
     winning prizes.
     Every author and book page is waiting to meet and interact with you,
     so please be sure to show them some love.
6.  Did I mention to have fun? Whoo! Hoo! Here we goooooo!

*** Authors and book pages have full discretion to choose an alternate winner in the event any winner fails to claim their prize(s) within 72 hours of their name being posted or after notification of win, whichever comes first. Anyone who participates in this blog tour is subject to these rules.

Sources for turkey facts:

Photo source:  Wikipedia

21 comments:

  1. Or you could have a Tofurkey roast, which isn't turkey at all!

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  2. That turkey looks very little like the wild ones we see here in NY. I think I'd like yours better. Heh heh.

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  3. Pumpkin rolls and pistachio salad. Skip the turkey all together because we make homemade pizza!!! LOL!!
    viajeradelmar@aol.com

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  4. On Thanksgiving, I could skip the main course and go right to desserts. Great give away! I'd love to win.

    Marilyn Yarbrough
    mk@mkyarbrough.com

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  5. There is no way I could eat anything I raised. We had a white turkey and he lived for about 4 years. It was so sad when he died, he was so cute and cracked me up everytime the school bus came around our circle drive - that turkey would get all puffed out and drag his wings on the ground like he was threatening the bus to make another move - LOL My husband even nick named him "Dinner" knowing we would never eat him.

    Have a blessed holiday,
    Ronda Tutt
    mrsqueentutt@yahoo.com

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  6. lol I wouldn't be able to kill a turkey I raised either :P

    I.O.U. Sex sounds really good!

    My favorite Thanksgiving dish is corn pudding. I don't know how to make it really, just that it's creamed corn, sugar, milk... and some other stuff. lol My Grandma makes it, and while I've got the recipe, it's not something I break out often :P

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    Jess
    romanceaholic at gmail dot com

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  7. Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for the great giveaway! My favorite dish is potatoe bake that my mom makes, its cheesy potatoes and i love em!
    shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com

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  8. Thanks for being part of the Blog Hop, finding lots of new authors and blogs to follow! :)

    Eva
    evitap67(at)gmail(dot)com

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  9. Love the "Turks" question...ha ha! We are doing chicken & Turkey this year (but my bird will be anonymous)

    Sharonda (SexxyBlogger)
    Happy Holidays!

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  10. It's too easy to make pets of the animals you care for on a daily basis & no one wants to eat a pet, so I'm all for getting an anonymous bird for my meal. My favorite menu item is sweet potato casserole. I make it sweet with lots of brown sugar & pecans, so it tastes almost like pumpkin pie. My best friend thought she didn't like squash until she had mine.

    Happy Holidays & thanks for giving away a calorie free treat to gobble after dinner.

    drainbamaged.gyzmo at gmail.com

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  11. Jalapeno corn bread comes to mind. Yum! Thanks for the giveaway! Gloria

    geschumann at live dot com

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  12. Favorite colder time dish is Pecan Pie :) LOVE it!!!

    ssromans828@yahoo.com

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  13. No way could I eat a turkey I'd raised, or any other animal if it came to it. Great information.

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  14. Hey, Sandra! You stopped by my blog and I thought I'd return the favor! I like your post.

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  15. I'm a trivia junkie, so I loved your post! Have a great blog tour!

    BTW, I already bought your book, and my husband does all the cooking, so you don't need to enter me in your drawing. Thanks!

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  16. Thanks for the giveaway!!! Hmmmm, is it weird that i always look forward to the soup that will be served?!? I love soup!!! Chowder..tomato..minestone...yummy!!

    thanx for the giveaway!!
    samanthadacier[at]gmail[dot]com

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  17. Hopping in to say hi. Enjoyed reading the post and the facts. Good luck on the hop..
    Cece

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  18. Thanks for the giveaway and for participating in this blog hop! My favorite Thanksgiving dish is, dare I say, the turkey itself!

    BornajhawkATaolDOTcom

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  19. I love sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie.

    Thank you for joining the blog hop - I love finding new authors.

    Lori

    knitrix29 at gmail dot com

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  20. The desserts! They are always the best thing!
    imajicasnow@inbox.com
    imajicasnow@gmail.com

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  21. Hey! Great hop and giveaway! I don't think I could eat anything I raised! :( My Thanksgiving favorites are my moms turkey dressing and my mom-in-laws mashed sweet potatos...YUM! Happy Thanksgiving!

    barbbattaglia@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete

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