Catawba County growers bring Thanksgiving dinner from farm to table

Catawba County farmers Fred and Melissa Falcone and Casey and Tori Ostwinch discuss Thanksgiving traditions, food on Nov. 12, 2024.

Fred and Melissa Falcone harvested 54 turkeys in the weeks before Thanksgiving. The meat is sold directly to customers in Catawba and surrounding counties.

Melissa Falcone holds a freshly processed turkey at True Cut Ranch on Nov. 12. Falcone and her family raised and processed 50 turkeys this year for families to enjoy on Thanksgiving.

The Falcones began raising chickens in 2002, soon adding ducks, turkeys and pigs. The couple started raising turkeys in 2020.

Two and a half years ago, they purchased a farm with 143 acres of fenced pasture in Claremont, where they raise sheep, cattle, ducks, pigs, chickens and turkeys.

Fred Falcone can trace every ingredient he feeds to the animals.

“Herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, suicide, homicide, genocide. It’s all the same thing. It means kill. All the little microorganisms you kill that you don’t realize you’re killing, or what make the grass sweeter, make it have more carbohydrates, which makes the cows grow better, like, it adds more vitamins,” Fred Falcone said. “I’m not going to sell anybody anything that I wouldn’t eat or feed my children.”

This year, the Falcones started 60 turkey poults — or baby turkeys — in the spring. The amount of time it takes to grow the bird depends on the target weight, how they are taken care of and the breed of the bird, Melissa Falcone said.

Casey Ostwinch, left, inspects a cauliflower plant at Honey Tree Farm on Nov. 12. Casey and his wife Tori Ostwinch, right, have owned their farm in Conover for three years.

It takes four months for their broad-breasted turkeys to grow to 14 pounds, the average size sold to consumers, Melissa Falcone said. Eight-pound turkeys may take around three months.

The demand for locally grown turkeys far exceeds the supply. Melissa Falcone said True Cut Ranch could have sold 500 turkeys.

The turkeys, cows and chickens are moved to different paddocks daily, and the pigs are moved once every week to three weeks, said Fred Falcone. He said this approach leads to juicy, better-tasting meat compared to most store-bought turkey. Their birds are very difficult to overcook or dry out.

Melissa Falcone said she also believes in transparency and being able to show the consumer where their meat is coming from.

“Looking your farmer in the eye and seeing the farm for yourself is what you get to do when you buy direct from a farmer. Even if you’re buying at a farmer’s market, you still get to talk to the farmer. You can absolutely ask your farmer to see pictures of their farm and tell you about their practices. We love to talk about those things. So that’s better than any food label,” Melissa Falcone said.

Chickens are gathered inside of an A-frame chicken coop at True Cut Ranch on Nov. 12. The turkeys raised at the ranch roost at night in enclosures similar to this one.

Honey Tree Farm

Honey Tree Farm owners Casey and Tori Ostwinch produce more than 50 varieties of fruits and vegetables throughout the year. Their most popular products leading up to Thanksgiving include beets, carrots, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, Swiss chard and sweet potatoes.

The farm has four full-time employees and two part-time workers.

The couple moved to Conover and started the farm in 2019. They are taking the modern approach to farming, doing away with pesticides and herbicides and only using natural alternatives to combat pests and disease.

“We can keep our price lower because we’re not fighting disease. We do it organically, so we can’t use synthetic fertilizers, insecticides or fungicides,” Casey Ostwinch said.

The Ostwinches said the practice results in better taste, thicker leaves, thicker stalks and an increased shelf life compared to products found in the grocery store.

They utilize covered, metal-framed tunnels called hoop houses. This allows them to grow plants year-round and protects the plants from flooding, harmful pests and helps with conserving water.

Casey Ostwinch worked as an arborist for 10 years before starting the farm. That experience taught him soil, pest and disease management, which he continues to use on his farm today, he said. He regularly tests the soil, checking for mineral deficiencies and adding minerals and beneficial bacteria where needed. This practice prevents disease, increases plant health and improves the soil’s ability to hold water and nutrients, he said.

This natural process of farming takes a lot of work and can be challenging, Casey Ostwinch said. He said that the third year of farming was the hardest, encountering the most issues with pests and disease.

Tori Ostwinch harvests a curd, or “head” of cauliflower at Honey Tree Farm on Nov. 12. Tori and her husband, Casey Ostwinch were getting their harvest ready in time for Thanksgiving.

“We’ve had to, like, learn and adjust and get better … it seems to be that year three is always a challenging one for people, because you’re like, your honeymoon phase is gone, and you have to focus in on crop requirements, irrigation, soil health,” Casey Ostwinch said.

The time it takes to grow each crop varies by the crop and season, Tori Ostwinch said. She estimates that most crops take about two months on average to grow. The longest maturity times of crops grown at Honey Tree Farm are turmeric, ginger and garlic, Casey Ostwinch said. Turmeric takes a year to mature. Ginger takes 10 months before it is ready to be harvested, and garlic takes eight months. The fastest-growing crop sold by Honey Tree are radishes, which take 28 days from seed to harvest, Casey Ostwinch said.

A typical work day begins at 8 a.m. and ends around 4 p.m., Tori Ostwinch said. “Tending to crops, planting, starting seeds, harvesting, wash and pack, packing pre-orders, and then prepping for market, and then market,” she said.

The couple sell their produce at farmers markets in Charlotte and Hickory, through custom orders online and through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

The Ostwinches also sell goods out of their garage on Fridays.

Buying local produce is important to the Ostwinches. The resulting product lasts longer and has more nutrients, Casey Ostwinch said. The money also helps the farmers and community.

“The money you spend goes back into your community. People think it’s more expensive.

But if you go and look at the produce prices right now, (it’s) pretty comparable,” Casey Ostwinch said. “When you buy from us, it allows us to continue to get better, so we can grow better food,” he added.

Thanksgiving traditions

The Ostwinches usually enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and their favorite dish, sweet potato casserole, Tori Ostwinch said.

After Thanksgiving, the couple makes turkey soup from the leftovers, Casey Ostwinch said.

For the Falcone family, turkey is a mainstay at Thanksgiving.

“It’s all about the brine. That’s the most important thing. Most turkeys you buy at the store have a solution if you look at the label on your turkey, it probably doesn’t just say turkey, as in the list of ingredients. So it’s all about the brine. And I go back and forth every year between Pioneer Woman’s brine and a Southern Living recipe that uses sweet tea. But really, you could ... throw together any salt, sugar, water and seasonings and make a good brine,” Melissa Falcone said.

Pigs crowd around a drum of water at True Cut Ranch in Claremont on Nov. 12. The farm breeds cows and pigs in order to maintain a sustainable supply of beef and pork.

Thanksgiving is an important holiday for the Falcone family.

“We love Thanksgiving. It’s always my favorite holiday. I tell the kids, ‘when you get married, you can go with, you know, your wife’s family for Christmas. But you’re mine for Thanksgiving.’ It really is my favorite holiday because it’s all about sharing a meal with people you love,” Melissa Falcone said.