We said goodbye this week to a great teacher, an amazing spirit and a true friend. Marsha passed away this week peacefully, quietly, in her sleep. Like all great masters, when she was ready she just simply slipped away to go sing and shine in other worlds.

We rescued Marsha five years ago from Thanksgiving with her late husband, Monty. They were both filthy and terrified when they came to us, but very soon learned to trust, forgive and be happy. Marsha loved to cuddle and would actually get offended when we didn’t say hello to her first when we entered the barnyard. She expected us to go straight to her for love and affection and when she was done cuddling with us, then we could say hello to the other animals, if we still had time. Marsha was a great conversationalist and could carry on a good talk for hours. She had a beautiful voice and made children giggle when she would chirp and squawk.

Wild turkeys can live up to 15-20 years and are very agile: able to run, mate and fly. Domestic turkeys are genetically modified to grow very big, very fast so they can be slaughtered when they are only twelve weeks old. By the time domestic turkeys reach a few years old, usually they can no longer carry their own weight and cannot walk. They are prone to heart attacks and other stress conditions due to these modifications and abuse. We wish we could have had Marsha for twenty years, but are grateful that we had her at all. It is so hard to imagine the barnyard without her. We will miss her and she will live forever in our hearts! Marsha cuddled with thousands of people in her lifetime and made a huge difference at The Gentle Barn.