With the holidays steadily approaching, we wanted to inform our neighbors that Mariposa Food Co-op will be occupying several parking spaces on the south side of Baltimore Avenue outside and slightly west of our storefront. Temporary No Parking will be in effect from Thursday, November 19th through Tuesday, December 1st. Signs will be put up several days before as a reminder.
Please contact facilities@mariposa.coop if you have any questions.
Roscoe and Emma Koch had a small family farm in the Lewistown Valley outside of Tamaqua, PA and first started growing turkeys there in 1939. After raising turkeys for his father, Lowell Koch and his wife Elizabeth founded Koch's Turkey Farm in 1953. Lowell and Betty started the business with only two turkey barns and a small processing plant and grew the business to 45 turkey barns by the 1980's. The third generation of the Koch family, Duane, Barb, Pam, and Beth, took over operations in the mid 1990's. In the first year, we experimented with the possibility of growing turkeys using an all vegetarian diet without any usage of antibiotics during the life of the turkey. Having reached success on our third flock, we have raised our turkeys this way ever since. This All-Natural approach to raising turkey is the reason that Koch's turkeys taste as good as they do.
Koch's Turkey Farm is proud to raise our turkeys without antibiotics while feeding an all vegetarian diet that consists only of corn, soybeans, vitamins, and minerals. We do not use animal by-products nor by-products of any kind such as out of date bakery goods, fish meal, or pet food by-products.
Koch's Turkey Farm also raises several different turkey breeds to give our customers the finest turkey at any given weight range. A smaller breed turkey is used for our 8 lb. to 12 lb. hen birds to give a great product appearance and meat yield, while the male is used for our 22 lb. to 26 lb. birds giving a broad breasted beautiful bird at all sizes. We also grow Heirloom Bronze turkeys, a very old strain of Orlopp Bronze which has great taste, less fat, and superior meat yields.
Koch's has been a pioneer in being one of the first to grow antibiotic-free turkeys with an all vegetarian diet. We also started a humane program eight years ago, being the first turkey producer to be Certified Humane with over 800,000 turkeys raised annually. Koch's Turkey Farm was GAP (Global Animal Partnership) approved a year later and as of 2013 we are proud to achieve STEP 2 status. The high standards for raising turkeys this way provides Koch's turkeys with twice the amount of space in the turkey barns as is required by normal commercial growing practices.
At Koch's Turkey Farm, we also raise Organic Turkeys certified by Pennsylvania Organic Certifiers. These turkeys are raised by the strictest standards in the industry and are fed a GMO free diet.
Koch's Turkey Farm is one of very few family owned turkey farms left committed to producing the cleanest, healthiest, and best tasting turkey you can buy. Our high growing standards focused on a pure vegetarian diet and humane practices results in a stress free life for our turkeys, which in turn results in a tender, great tasting turkey.
This year, we are offering all Mariposa member-owners* the option to pre-order fresh, antibiotic and hormone free turkeys from Howe’s farm in Chester County and Koch’s Turkey Farm in Schuylkill County. Vegan and Vegetarian alternatives will be available in store throughout the holiday season. For pricing and ordering information, click here.
Koch’s Turkey Farm is a family farm that was founded by Lowell and Elizabeth Koch in 1953 in Tamaqua, PA. Not only do Koch’s turkeys have free range access to outdoor areas, they are also fed with a vegetarian diet with vitamins and minerals. Animal by-products, fats, bakery or pet food products are never used in their poultry feed. The turkeys meet the very strict Certified Humane® guidelines and Farm Animal Welfare Standards for Turkeys. And of course, they are delicious!
Almost ten years old, Howe Turkey Farm has grown significantly since their humble beginnings while remaining a hands-on, small scale, family-run operation. Howe is on a mission to produce high quality naturally-raised turkeys and they are succeeding. The Howe family employs humane practices to raising all natural, cage free, vegetarian turkeys on one farm. They favor supplementing their turkeys’ diet with probiotics and vitamins and are antibiotic and hormone free. Howe was very well received by our membership last year and we are looking forward to our second year working with them. Want to know more? Read about their farm in the 2014 fall issue of Edible Philly.
Not to worry! Click here to learn more about membership. We will also have a select number of turkeys available for purchase in-store between Saturday, November 21 and Wednesday, November 25.
