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Weather, know your animals. >> reporter: sandy learner is talking about sustainable farming. raising livestock and growing vegetables without the chemicals so common she calls factory farming. just days before thanksgiving she took me out to see and, yes, dance with her 1300 turkeys. heritage breeds that trace back to the indians. >> come on. raise your arms. gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble. >> reporter: lerner is heritage of the farm in virginia but as interesting as her business is how she got here. she grew up in a farm in california making enough from raising cattle to send herself ...

Turkey cost? >> well, our turkeys are expensive. they're between -- i think they're running this year between $160 and $200. >> reporter: at those prices there are questions about how to make this kind of farming profit an. while lerner is determined to run a sound business, it's not just about the bottom line. there's a 40-room mansion on the farm. what's it like living there? >> i don't know. >> what do you mean? >> i live in a little log cabin and i love it. >> do you think you're a bit eccentric? >> i am now that i'm rich. i used to just be weird. >> reporter: so just days before thanksgiv...

[gobbling] >> there is 800 acres in uppersville virginia." but as interesting as her business is how show got here. she grew up on a farm in california making enough from raising cattle to send herself to college. >> what i learned was to love work. i'm happiest when i am engaged and working and thinking and striving. >> she got into computer. in 1984 she and her then-husband started cisco systems that sound a way to link networks of computers, the foundation of the internet. >> how do you get fired from a company you started? >> we just got taken to the cleaners and part of that is if you don...

>> here's a thanksgiving revel. how do you go from founding a tech giant to creating a successful cosmetics company to raising turkeys the way the indians did? the answer is it takes a unique kind of person like our power player of the week. >> form with the season, know your soil, know your rainfall, know your weather, know your animals. >> sandy learner is talking about sustainable farming, raising livestock and growing vegetables without the chemicals that are so common in what she calls factory farming. just days before thanksgiving she took me out to see and, yes, to dance with her 13000 ...

Called urban decay with edgy colors like her and 15 years ago she bought ayer sure farm. >> you look at thomas jefferson. >> you are a pretty girl. >> she raises shires, war-horse that is go back centuries, and cattle and those turkeys that she said taste better because of the lives they lead. >> how much does this turkey cost compared to what i would get in a grocery store? >> our turkeys are expensive. i think they are running this year about 160 to $200. >> at those prices there are questions about how to make this kind of farming profitable. but while lerner is determined to run a sound bu...