The November 2024 Roundup from Historic Canoa Ranch

There is only one recorded sighting of a wild turkey on Historic Canoa Ranch property, although they occur regularly in the Santa Cruz Valley foothills and up into the Santa Rita Mountains.

Had Benjamin Franklin had his way, the wild turkey might have graced the Great Seal of the United States instead of our dinner plates this holiday season. No fan of the bald eagle, Franklin likened the image on the first sketch for the Great Seal more to a turkey than the eagle it was supposed to represent. He engaged in some barbed political humor about the turkey’s bravery relative to King Birds and to individuals wearing red coats in the barnyard, references to the British army, which the Americans had recently defeated in the Revolutionary War.

Interestingly, it has been proposed that the domestic turkeys we now happily gobble up as part of traditional Thanksgiving dinner, while descended from the American wild turkey, probably originated in Britain — bred from wild birds imported from the colonies and later reintroduced to the United States as the modern barnyard animal we know today.

Historic illustrations of turkeys; Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. 

When you visit Historic Canoa Ranch, you'll notice many vintage tools and contraptions keeping company with newer appliances. It's a continual reminder of the long and rich history of the ranch and the fascinating cultural heritage that we continue to preserve. 

One of our favorites is this vintage wooden corn shelling machine, operated with a hand crank. The label on the side says "McCormick-Deering," a now-defunct manufacturer of agricultural equipment founded in 1902.