October 12 is Canadian Thanksgiving!

 

Some Canadian Thanksgiving Trivia!

Canadian Thanksgiving is always celebrated on the second Monday in October, earlier than the American Thanksgiving, which is held in November. Since 1971 it has coincided with Columbus Day in the U.S.

The first Thanksgiving feast in the U.S. was held in 1621 when the Pilgrims celebrated their harvest. However, the Americans did not invent Thanksgiving. English navigator Martin Frobisher held a celebration of thanks in 1578 in what is now Newfoundland as he had survived the long journey over the seas.

There are 80 cranberry farms in B.C. with many destined for the Thanksgiving table, and while it is doubtful cranberries were served at the first Thanksgiving meals, the indigenous people used them for cooking and dyeing and introduced them to the pilgrims.

We want to invite you over for our feast!

Would you like Turkey or Fish or both?

Canadian Thanksgiving is October 13th!

 

Today we are having TURKEY and mashed POTATOES, Cranberry sauce, cooked carrots, stuffing, gravy and cherry pie! I can't wait to have the giblets! Mom cooks them special for us cats.

 

 

These are our local turkeys. We have a flock of wild turkeys that hangs around our village. They have been part of our village for about 10 years. Were we live in  BC, we have the Merriam’s subspecies of wild turkey, it is one of 5 subspecies in North America. 

BC is the most northerly extent of the species in North America. The wild turkey lives all over North America and recently, they have been re-introduced and introduced into almost every ecosystem in North America. Wild turkey in BC is a non-native the same as partridge, pheasant, quail, rainbow trout in Region 4 and the plains-bison in Northern BC. But science shows that wild turkey is not invasive nor are they a threat to native flora and fauna or the health of domestic livestock or poultry. AND wild turkey is native to Idaho which is where BC’s population immigrated from.

 

 

Turkey Consumption: Turkey is a central part of the Canadian Thanksgiving meal. In 2020, Canadians purchased 2.5 million whole turkeys, accounting for 36% of all whole turkeys sold that year.

 

Turkey Country or Bird...Have you ever stopped to think how weird it is that a country (Turkey) has the same name as our Thanksgiving bird of choice? You might have thought it was a coincidence, but get this: In turkey, they call it Greek chicken; In Greece, they call it Peru; In Peru, they call it French Chicken; and in France they call it Indian Chicken. The bird we now know as the turkey was indeed named for the country of Turkey! As it turns out, the first explorers brought the turkey back to Europe through Turkey. Because of that, the bird was colloquially called Turkish guineafowl. It was later just shortened to turkey.

 

  

Many domesticated turkeys have been bred to be white so that the carcass doesn’t show feather spots when plucked.

 

A man by the name of Joe Hutto spent a year trying to be a turkey. A few of the friends of Untamed Science crew made an award winning documentary about it called My Life as a Turkey.

 

My Life as a Turkey chronicles Hutto's remarkable and moving experience of raising a group of wild turkey hatchlings to adulthood

NOW  you can wow all of your furrends with your little known Turkey Facts!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!