Ron Pils of Gainesville, Texas, takes us on a ride to feed turkeys before the holidays arrive.

www.LetThemEatLocal.com The morning is quiet, and darker than usual for 6 a.m. Skip Ratliff walks out onto the back porch, sipping a cup of coffee. He checks the animal traps, set the night before. Empty. Tilting his head to look around the corner, Skip slowly approaches the edge of the house. He hears a rustle underneath the trailer. A black tail slips into the dark. There’s a noise behind him, and Skip turns around to see the guard dog, Sassy, her long tail the likely culprit. Hundreds of feathers strewn across the field reveal the devastation like a crime scene: a chicken thief took 35 of the finest hens. “Supposedly, Sanger has some mountain lions,” says Skip with skepticism. “It’s a big loss.” Skip’s wife, Heather, walks out, surveying the damage. Skip pulls a hose through the fence to water the mud pit for Boris, poppa pig. “I ordered the cameras,” she says, wearing her uniform of pink scrubs before going to work. “Anything in the traps?” Before the accident, the Ratliffs counted a flock of 150 chickens on their farm of eight acres, next to their grandfather’s house in Sanger, Texas. The Ratliffs started Crazy Feather’s Farm in 2012, with their children and friends in mind. They knew families whose children could not consume eggs from the store because of allergens: the traditional soy-based feed given to factory fowl. Now, they share their harvest with everyone, to inspire local eating and the mindful farming practices they preach. “It’s about quality. It’s about knowing where your food came from,” says Heather, who grew up on a 185-acre farm in Vermont, throwing hay bales since she was eight. “It’s being productive, being busy with your hands. It’s something about getting dirty, and being sweaty and working hard. It’s all those moments, and then raising your children up to understand what work means. It teaches them that the animals rely on them feeding and caring for them and making sure they are healthy and well the same way that we care for them.” The farm specializes in using only non-GMO (genetically modified organisms), non-soy grain for feeding the pigs and chickens they produce for meat, and for eggs. All meat is processed at a humane-certified and without the use of nitrates or MSG (monosodium glutamate), and with only organic seasonings, says Heather, adding “the sausage is the best we’ve ever had.” The kids, says Skip, have learned to appreciate the reward of giving their animals the best life possible. Heather is completing her Master’s degree in occupational therapy at Texas Woman’s University. She trains therapy horses for children to ride and become better communicators. “There’s a connection with animals, that is so remarkable and magical itself,” she says. “It is healing.” The Ratliffs consider themselves modern-day farmers. In addition to raising animals, Skip is a full-time electrician, sometimes working up to 56-hour weeks, waking up at 4:30 a.m. to tackle the chores. “We are busy all the time, but yet we still find the time to do what we care about and what matters to us. So we hope that our children will see that, and carry that on as well.”