100-mile Thanksgiving Recap
We had quite a nice Thanksgiving. Well, the kids and I did anyway! J was somewhere in Iowa dealing with meth overdoses and turkey burns. We will celebrate thanksgiving with him sometime this week. To me, Thanksgiving isn't about the national holiday. It is to take a day to think about what you are thankful for. This can occur on any day of the year -- as a matter of fact, I think it should! :)
Well, my in laws came from Chicago. They brought a few items for the 100-mile thanksgiving. They brought items that were made in or grown within the 100-mile of Chicago area. It was really cool to get my MIL (mother in law) into this notion. She told many people what we were doing. Most had never heard of this, but were intrigued and want to try next year.
The meal was wonderful! Apples seemed to be a theme this year. I found a turkey from a local farm and stuffed it with some of the apples that the children and I picked in September. After a few hours of roasting, I coated it in maple syrup (from a local Amish farmer).
We also had brussel sprouts from the CSA which were roasted with bacon and apples, acorn squash stuffed with cranberries, apples, and maple syrup. Mashed potatoes with roasted garlic. Stuffing from homemade bread.... I also made pumpkin and apple pies. Of course, I made hte crusts, but I also roasted and pureed the pumpkin for the pie. Oh, and we had homemade whipped cream!
It was a great success. I think with the exception of a few ingredients such as salt and vinegar, it was all local! I am not certain where my wheat berries came from, but they were home ground....
We played charades. It was fun to do something that the whole family got a kick out of. Children and grandparents alike enjoyed playing.
The thing that made this possible was that I have been trying to eat locally since June. It really made a difference in my own mindset. I know that it is easy to get overwhelmed with the notion of Thanksgiving and with the idea of cooking locally, but making it a practice during the entire year makes it something that is highly possible to do.
I plan to continue to eat locally for the rest of the year.
5 comments:
You meal looked great! As always, I sit in wonder on how you find the time to make all of the food along with everything else in your life. It is amazing.
Happy thanksgiving to you and your family. I hope to see you around the holidays.
Besides the fact that your meal looked and I'm sure tasting great, I love that you are having the 'ripple effect'. If every act we do to be more responsible can influence just one person to do the same, the world will be a much, much better place.
Tracey, Thanks! Hey - I just do what I need to do. :) I hope to see you soon.
Bellen, I agree. I love to see the small changes that others are now making. I never thought that I could have any real influence for positive change. It is encouraging.
Today I am thankful for this blog. You continue to inspire me to look for things to try each day to lessen my impact.
Thank you for your point of view and for sharing it with us.
Jeff, Thank YOU!
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