MERCER — At Greaney’s Turkey Farm in Mercer, preparations for Thanksgiving Day began months ago, when hundreds of poults arrived at the farm on Main Street, ready to be raised and eventually processed for sale at the farm or stores.
For the 40th consecutive year, Scott Greaney was at the farm Sunday, along with his wife, Tracy, sons Ben and Adam and their friends, processing turkeys for local growers.
In preparation for Thanksgiving, Greaney’s is open Sunday, Monday and Tuesday this week, rather than its usual, more-limited schedule.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years now,” Greaney said. “This year, we did 1,500 of our own (turkeys), and now we’re doing probably around 1,200 for people that grow their own birds.”
To help with the influx in turkeys this year, Greaney has utilized the help of an Amish family that recently moved to town, adding five extra sets of hands to help with processing the animals. This year, he added, most turkeys coming through the farm are between 12 and 18 pounds, although a few 50-pounders came through Sunday.
“We had some of the Amish families come down to help this year and it was great,” Greaney said. “Their help brought in four of five extra people. Then, they bring their birds down and we process their birds. We all work together.”
Customers come from much of the state or region, including Brunswick and York or New Hampshire and Vermont.
“We have a lot of people coming here from all over the state of Maine, and even places like Ossipee and Conway, New Hampshire,” Greaney said. “A lot of places that used to slaughter poultry aren’t anymore.”
Greaney said that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, he has noticed an increase in customers looking to buy locally and support area farmers.
“People are going back to buying local, and it’s really, really cool,” Greaney said. “We’re all farmers out here. We’re all salt of the earth people. We know most of our customers on a first-name basis by now. People will call me up, give Tracy a hug, tease me. They’ve seen my boys grow up. They aren’t just customers. They’re family.”
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