"Bringing back the Diestel Heirloom is our heritage... grown exactly like my Great Uncle used to raise back 60-70 years ago. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is when our Diestel family gets together to enjoy an Heirloom turkey... the same turkey my great grandma would have prepared."
– Jason Diestel, Fourth Generation Turkey Grower-Processor

You may have heard of "heirloom" or "heritage" breed turkeys. At Diestel Family Turkey Ranch, we're proud to offer rare and unique breeds of turkeys in our line of products. We're pleased to support the heirloom livestock movement, which seeks to preserve rare breeds of animals.

Our Auburn and Bronze Turkey Heirloom Breeds
Our American Heirloom Collection of old-fashioned turkeys is a collection of Auburn turkeys and Bronze turkeys. The Auburn turkey, also known as the Mexican Black turkey, originally came from Mexico. The early explorers took the bird to Europe, domesticated it, and brought it back to the United States. The birds are hardy and are well-adapted to the foothill environment, where our Diestel Turkey Ranch is located. The flavor of the meat is exceptionally rich - just as turkeys were back in great-grandmother's day.

The Bronze Heirloom turkey is a descendant of the original wild North American turkey, which was domesticated both in the American colonies and in Europe. Bronze Heirloom birds are known for their traditional appearance and delicious meat - in fact, these were the same turkeys that the pilgrims enjoyed.

Giving you, our customer, the best of both worlds
We raise our Heirloom turkeys to provide our customers with the "best of both worlds" - old-world history, flavor and beauty, in combination with a wonderful yield of meat and that great classic turkey flavor.

Furthermore, in keeping with the tradition of preserving these Heirloom beauties, we handle the birds the old-fashioned way, as it was done in the early part of the 20th century. Our Heirloom baby birds (poults) have not been wing clipped, toenail trimmed, or beak trimmed - all services routinely provided to commercially raised birds. Additionally, we provide the most natural environment and methods to raise these Heirloom birds so they're all certified organic.

As with all of our turkeys, our Heirloom birds are range-grown in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, and they enjoy the large open fields covered in grass and shaded by large oak and pine trees. The deep well water complements the Heirloom turkey's vegetarian diet of certified organic corn and soy. Our birds are fed a diet that's 100% free of animal by-products, GMOs, antibiotics, growth enhancers and hormones.

We are so proud of our Diestel American Heirloom Collection, and we know you'll enjoy serving your family and friends our delicious Heirloom turkeys. Thank you for helping us preserve and promote traditional breeds of turkeys.

Enjoy history at its finest. Savor the flavor that you've come to expect from Diestel turkeys.

The American Heirloom Collection Turkey ranges 10-30 lbs.

Tender and juicy with real old-fashioned flavor
Our American Heirloom Collection turkey is consistently better – tender and juicy with that real old-fashioned turkey flavor that you can really taste.

Slow grown and raised longer
Our American Heirloom Collection turkeys enjoy the freedom of being slow grown the clean Sierra Foothills with individual care where they are raised longer (approximately 6 months) to develop flavor naturally – real flavor from real time.

Broad-breasted
Our American Heirloom Collection turkeys provide excellent value with more meat, less fat and less water than commodity turkeys.

Family ranch since 1949
All of our turkeys are grown, processed and delivered directly to you by us – the Diestel Family Turkey Ranch – family owned and operated since 1949 and working as one of the last small, family owned turkey grower-processors in the United States.

Certified organic by Oregon Tilth
Since the passage of the Organic Foods Act in 1990, Tim Diestel has testified at the National Organic Standards hearings to help define the requirements set forth for the organic turkey. In 1999 the USDA completed their phase of the Organic Foods Act and approved the use of the term “organic” on labels of USDA inspected poultry.

The American Heirloom Collection Turkey is grown and certified organic by Oregon Tilth Certified Organic (OTCO). The purpose of organic certification is to ensure that the agreed upon conventions of organic agricultural systems are being practiced not only by growers, but also by all the people who handle and process organic food on its journey to the final consumer.

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