The Yakima, Washington, newspaper today carries a story about a turkey-raising son of Grace Brethren pastor Dwight Cover. Here is an excerpt–to read the entire article, click here.
Teen entrepreneur gobbling up opportunities by raising free-range turkeys
By Ross Courtney
Yakima Herald-Republic
The next morning was not so pleasant. No breakfast on the day of slaughter, when 18-year-old entrepreneur David Cover gathered them in crates, hung them upside down from a fruit tree and butchered them one by one.
“It’s a lot cleaner if their systems are emptied out,” said David, a home-schooled high school senior starting his own sustainable farm.
Today, six families will pull up their chairs to his pastured-raised birds, while his own family will eat four of them.
But this Thanksgiving story goes deeper than turkeys, entrepreneurship and sustainable farming practices. It’s about a family of 10 that teaches hard work through a combination of necessity, intention and prayer.
“I like knowing I’m needed,” David said.
Broad-breasted bronze turkeys are just the latest adventure.
Teaching self-reliance
David’s parents, Dwight and Sherrill Cover, moved from Grandview to their 2-acre parcel north of town in 1999, partly for more room and partly to instill responsibility.
“How am I going to teach these young men how to step up and be a man?” Dwight remembers thinking.
Over the years, the Covers have raised sheep, pigs and chickens while home-schooling their children. They spent nearly four years building an addition to their home without borrowing money, sometimes using salvaged lumber.
Part of it simply was stretching the budget the way any large family would. Meanwhile, Dwight has served as the pastor of different Grace Brethren churches and has not been able to farm full time.