Unfinished business includes consideration to amend and reenact the Code of the Town of Appomattox, Chapter 5, entitled, “Administration”; Consideration to amend and reenact the Code of the Town of Appomattox, Chapter 33, entitled, “Procurement Policy”; and consideration to hire an engineering firm to complete the VPDES Permit application for SPDES Permit no. VA0020257 and VPDES Permit no. VA0020249 among other topics.

New business includes consideration to adopt an endorement resolution by the Town of Appomattox for the Appomattox Elementary School Travel Plan and the Appomattox Middle School Travel Plan. Also, discussion will be held on consideration of the Town Manager’s position and job descriptions.

Agenda for this meeting, including all upcoming meetings and council concerns in detail can be downloaded as a PDF file.

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” - Jack Kerouac

At some point and time, most of us settle down. We get a job, buy a house, and raise a family. From time to time, we’ll wax nostalgic about our younger days, and from time to time we might wonder: what would’ve happened if I’d hitchhiked to Saginaw like Simon and Garfunkel? Bought a Harley like Peter Fonda in Easy Rider, and headed down to Mardi Gras?

Some folks, however, will never have to look back. I learned last week about guitarist-songwriter Adam Thompson and his girlfriend Ammie Freymeyer’s rebellion against settling down too soon: they’re traveling across the U.S. of A. in an RV, with the goal of playing music in a small town (with populations under 2009) in every state over the next five months. Thompson calls the project Miles to Knowhere, and one of their stops just happened to be in Appomattox (at Baine’s Books & Coffee, Tuesday, November 25, 7:00 p.m.).

I talked to Thompson by phone, then email, and he told me about Miles to Knowhere.

“I was inspired to do this trip after a long day at work. I have a great job back at home, but had been getting antsy as I realize I’m growing older and didn’t want to be forty years old and look back only to say ‘Man, I should have at least tried to follow my dreams rather than accepting my role behind the desk.”

Even with this inspiration, I imagined it had to be difficult to make the necessary plans to take the Great American Road Trip. I know plenty of people who have been inspired by Jack Kerouac’s On the Road or Woody Guthrie’s Bound for Glory…but never got out of the driveway. Thompson and Freymeyer, though, were a man and woman on a mission.

“Surprisingly, we made it happen extremely fast. We were both ready for something fresh and excited for adventure. From the point of deciding in mid-August to hitting the road in late September, we had moved out of our homes, sold belongings, Ammie sold her truck, I managed to book the first run of shows from California to Maine, we had lined up interviews and press, and bought an RV and did our best to turn it into home.”

So far, Thompson and Freymeyer have traveled to 24 states: his stop in Appomattox, Virginia made it 25.

“To be honest, I was one of the guys that called it A-pom-o-tox. But I was quickly corrected after talking to my father about the deep history of the town. I have learned so much about American history during my travels on the east coast and I am so excited to get into Appomattox and explore the history there.”

The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia is the origin of a huge number of Thanksgiving turkeys. They are raised in large sheds, protected from the rain, sun, and nature in general. It is just as well, as these sadly deformed products of modern biotechnology – I hesitate to call them the result of a careful breeding program – are so breast-heavy that they are unable to support their weight on their stumpy little legs. All of them were conceived via artificial insemination because the gobblers are unable to perform their husbandly duties.

The hens are not very motherly either and their eggs must be incubated, along with thousands of other turkey eggs, in huge temperature and humidity controlled incubators. After hatching they go to brooders where they are taught to peck at tasty medicated feed until they are old enough to be packed into crates and taken to the growing farms. It is all so industrialized and efficient, Mother Nature hardly has a finger in the process.

So, if you ever wondered where your frozen holiday bird came from, chances are excellent it came from Virginia and probably never had they joy of foraging for bugs and grass in a pasture.

But these are not the only turkeys that make their way to ovens and holiday tables in November. Some small farmers still raise old-fashioned birds, birds with spunk, that will give you a fight before sloughing off this earthly coil. These birds might not have twelve pounds of white meat on each side of the wishbone, but they cook up juicy and succulent without being injected with “patented flavor enhancers and vegetable oil.” They taste good without all that tinkering. And they can actually reproduce themselves without the help of a laboratory and human intervention.

There are several different types of these heritage turkeys, so called because they represent part of our nation’s farming heritage. They were developed in different parts of the country by farmers trying to improve on the Mexican turkeys which are native to the Americas. They have colorful names, too: Royal Palm, Bourbon Red, Narragansett, Slate, Jersey Buff, and White Holland. All the heritage turkeys are listed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy at some level of concern.

Heritage turkeys thrive on free-range pasture and will eat grass over other foods. They love the long blades and neatly fold them up accordion style before swallowing. They are also very fond of dog food, which tends to be high in protein, something these birds need to grow big and healthy. They do not need to have their drinking water dosed with antibiotics in order to grow and prosper and the gobblers have no difficulty at all in performing their husbandly duties and the hens are motherly.

At The Weyr, we keep a small flock of Bourbon Reds, two of which will be invited to Thanksgiving dinner this year, one for us and one for a friend who is providing us with a delicious, non-traditional, gooey chocolate dessert in exchange. The rest are remaining in the breeding flock to make many more dinners for next November.

If you want to know what real turkey tastes like, try searching in Craig’s List for Turkeys. Or check out a farmer’s market. If you are lucky enough to know some of the local Amish families, ask if they will sell you a turkey. There’s a couple in Dinwiddie, VA who raised 200 birds this season and are down to about 30 or less. Another gal in Locust Grove has them for sale as well.

You haven’t tasted turkey until you try a genuine heritage turkey, an All-American bird for a uniquely American celebration!