Thanksgiving 2021

First snow of the season, 28/11/21

The son, age 11, took the above photo of a surprise snow shower at the weekend;  it's the view from our sliding glass door.  At last it has become cold enough to kill the nasturtiums--they are slumped across the path at the right foreground.

We had an alteration of our normal Thanksgiving plans as our American friend had to work late on the day itself;  instead of holding the usual potluck, we had one dinner at theirs on Sunday which they catered, and a feast at ours on the day itself which we catered--and to make up for the missing friend, we invited some neighbors to join us and his family.  So we cooked for 10 people in total, four adults and six children aged between one and 13 (I say we, but the husband actually did nearly all the cooking).

And what was homegrown this year?  Sadly not a lot!  Though I was pleased that all the veg was grown locally, either by ourselves or at a local small farm.  We grew and served:

The best gravy I've ever made with garlic, duck stock and a bit of cider vinegar

Pumpkin pie with our own eggs (which I had saved specially earlier in the month, as our hens have all stopped laying now).

Homebrewed elderberry/blackberry wine and elderflower wine

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It doesn't sound like a homegrown feast!  But it was a locally grown feast:  we had lots of vegetables including potatoes from the farm stand (and also the pumpkin for the pie), a big piece of ham from the local butcher, a strawberry rhubarb pie (berries we'd picked ourselves in the summer and rhubarb from a neighbor).  The only main ingredient we couldn't get from a local producer was the turkey itself.  At Christmas our butcher orders them from a nearby farm but before then, turkeys can only be got frozen from the supermarket.