A curious free-range bird checks out the visitors at Willie Bird's 400-acre ranch.
Wild About Willie Bird
Raising turkeys the
old-fashioned way for 50 years
by penny popken
photos by stuart lirette
W
hen 14-year-old Willie Benedetti embarked on
Thanksgiving and Christmas, all hoping to snag a tender, broad-
a Future Farmers of America project fifty years
breasted bird for the holiday table. One happy customer suggested
ago, he likely had no idea he'd still be pursuing
naming the turkeys after the young entrepreneur, and the Willie
his childhood endeavor five decades later.
Bird brand was born.
In 1963, the free-range turkeys young Benedetti raised on the
Fast forward to 2013, and the Benedetti family – Willie, brother
family ranch off winding Stage Gulch Road between Petaluma and
Riley and cousin Rocky Koch – is still raising free-range turkeys
Sonoma were simply a way to learn about food production while
the old-fashioned way on a 400-acre ranch off Calistoga Road east
making some extra money selling the turkeys to customers at his
of Santa Rosa and on the original 97-acre family plot off Stage
mother's beauty salon. Word spread, however, and soon hungry
Gulch Road. Each year, the three men – aided by their affable
buyers were lining up at the family ranch in the days leading up to
manager "Beagle" Brodsky – raise between 30,000 and 40,000
10
FLOURISH • WINTER 2013
