Tom McIlwain is sitting just outside the double doors leading to the country store at Pounds Farm, shaking off the chill and warming up with a cup of hot coffee. The 91-year-old has just finished herding the last batch of live turkeys, gathering them onto a large trailer to go to the processing center for this year’s Thanksgiving season.

The Apollo, Pennsylvania, native calculates he’s been chasing some kind of farm animal for most of his life. Despite retiring 15 years ago, he is still herding turkey, saying he is proud his efforts are an integral part of putting the main dish on family tables all over western Pennsylvania this Thursday.

“I decided to keep working to help good friends out,” he says, then looks toward Rick Pounds, one of two brothers who own the farm. “But also I like being part of a farm family. There is a lot of hard work and long hours that goes into maintaining the health of the turkey; that I am part of making sure that is the case and families all over the area are enjoying them is very meaningful.”

Rick Pounds, 66, estimates they’ll place over 4,200 turkeys on tables this year. “That is down from last year in part because of lack of help, but also a smaller flock this year, increased feed costs and age,” he says. “I am getting old,” he adds, smiling.

Whether you enjoy turkey, pheasant or ham; pumpkin or apple pie; or infinite amounts of mashed potatoes drenched in sweet cream butter — every Thanksgiving table depends on the small farms and businesses where owners and workers put in ungodly hours to make sure family traditions can continue year after year.

Ninety-seven percent of farms in the United States are family owned. Without families like the Pounds, not just Thanksgiving but everyday eating wouldn’t be the same. Much of the food in your grocery store display cases comes from farms and small businesses within an hour of the city’s limits.

The other common denominator is how inflation has impacted everything they do, from the cost of fuel for their vehicles and machinery to the skyrocketing water and electricity bills and the prohibitive costs of buying new machinery.

Kermit and Gladys Stahl’s potato farm just off state Route 31 in Pennsylvania is legendary for its tasty fresh potatoes. Mr. Stahl explains there is a lot of love and labor that goes into that potato on your plate any day of the week, let alone on Thanksgiving. Standing inside an old barn he converted into a general store of sorts, he says it all begins when he buys his seeds.

There is no buying new equipment for the Stahl family — the 52-year-old is still using his father’s harvester — because the costs since COVID-19 have become prohibitive: “So we just get under there and start tinkering and whatnot until we get things working again.”

It is snowing up here on Somerset Mountain, but that didn’t stop a steady stream of customers from going in and out of the chilly barn.

Both Stahls loved raising their two daughters on a farm, and in turn those daughters became deeply involved in 4-H.

The operation running out of sight of the beautiful display cases that now line the entirety of the new Third Street location of Oakmont Bakery in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, is a wonder to behold. Hundreds of loaves of bread are baking, while hundreds of others are being cut, dried and bagged for families to purchase. Everything is done by hand.

Same goes for the pumpkin pie operation. Marc Serrao explains he still uses his grandmother’s recipe, which has to include Libby’s canned pumpkin, heavy cream and an extra egg to make sure it’s fluffy.

By Wednesday of this week, the one-man operation Serrao began 30-plus years ago that now employs over 200 will see 400 dozen dinner rolls walk out the door every hour. By the end of the day, they will have sold thousands of bags of bread stuffing, pumpkin pies, apple pies and pumpkin-themed desserts, with many of the bakers working around the clock for the holiday.

All these families who made sure your Thanksgiving dinner is meaningful are the people we don’t always think about.

Which makes what they do all that more valuable — and something to be thankful for.