As Thanksgiving approaches, the time has come to harvest the poultry raised at Rancho Alma Linda. A team consisting of Marie Nava, Yolanda Nava, Sonya Nava, and OC intern Berlin Arellano managed to dispatch, clean, and butcher 11 turkeys and 19 chickens. With over 15 years of experience, Yolanda and Marie were great teachers. Making sure every detail was covered from start to finish.
After the poultry is dispatched, each bird gets a scolding hot bath to loosen the feathers. Once the feathers could be easily plucked, the turkeys were hand plucked and the chickens were tossed into the poultry plucker where a chicken could be defeathered in seconds. Next the birds are cleaned and eviscerated. In the process the heart, kidneys, gizzards and neck are separated and saved to be inserted in a bag and back in the bird before packaging. Marie then does her final cleaning and quality control inspection before double bagging and weighing each bird.
The poultry that are raised at Rancho Alma Linda live outside in a natural habitat on grass, in the fresh air and sunshine with plenty of space to roam and forage. Rotating the poultry to fresh pasture every day is not only healthy and delicious but also goes beyond sustainability to rebuild healthy, regenerative soils. As a result, the poultry raised here is of superior quality and keeps customers coming back every year. Most of the birds are sold locally to repeat customers, with a few going out of town. They currently market between 100-150 broilers and about 10-15 turkeys avg/yr. Marie has aspirations to increase her production as demand for her products continue to rise.
