MY LIST OF HOMEGROWN INGREDIENTS FOR THE THANKSGIVING TABLE starts with the bumpy, oddball makings of a centerpiece. Gourds (like the warty or Bule ones), though delicious to look at, are more decor than dinner, but I did grow many edible parts of the harvest feast this year: sweet potatoes (which I’ve cooked with you here before) and Brussels sprouts and white potatoes and winter squash and green beans—and come to think of it, there might be something on the menu made with my apples, too, and garlic and parsley and sage and…well, you get the idea. Did you grow something that’s making its way into, or onto, your spread? Whatever the answer, may yours be a glorious meal, hopefully one shared with those you love, warts and all. Happy Thanksgiving.
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Happy Thanksgiving to you. Thank you for sharing so much – your lovely garden through words and pictures, and your creative ideas. You continue to inspire and educate. Bless your heart.
Home-grown eggs for devilled eggs! My family is little interested in my vegetables, but boy do they ever go for a devilled egg. So that’s what I share on Thanksgiving, saving the precious brussels sprouts for my own enjoyment.
Among the things I’m thankful for is A Way to Garden, where even in the depths of winter I can get away to garden for just a bit. Thank you, Margaret!
PS–I took my amaryllis bulbs out of the closet a few days ago and they’re already greening up! Maybe I’ll have blooms for my birthday in January!
Happy Thanksgiving Margaret! Thank you for such a beautiful and educational blog. Enough relaxing, I better get to cooking.
To answer your question, Margaret — we had Rouge d’Hiver lettuce and spinach from the garden for the salad, as well as thyme, oregano, parsley and mint for flavouring various dishes.
One of my gratitudes is this lovely blog — always interesting and amusing, as well as inspiring. Thank you!
Herbs from the (now) indoor herb garden. The rabbits ate the green beans.
although ‘technically’ not grown by me, a sampling of my home-made/ fermented pinot grigio did make a guest appearance yesterday. by christmas, both the pinot & montepulciano should be ready for “prime time”!
Butternut squash for soup, parsley and sage for stuffing, some arugula to add to the salad.
Happy Thanksgiving Margaret and thank you so much for your wonderful blog! It helps this New England gardener get through the cold months until I can be back outside.
Miss Margaret, I can’t wait for the day when I grow the components of my Thanksgiving feast myself. You’re my inspiration!
We have yet to have a really hard frost here in South Eastern Pennsylvania. Many perennials are throwing out random blooms and a walk around on Thanksgiving Day revealed quite a few Forsythia blossoms. Go Figure.
I am thankful for these little surprises in the garden, they add a little extraordinary to an ordinary day.
A beautiful harvest of Bintje potatoes from the Netherlands made it to the table. Many happy leftovers to you, Margaret.
Welcome, Susan B. “Go figure” is exactly right. Hilarious. It’s all about the surprises, indeed. Thank you for reminding us. :)
p.s. Followed your advice for curing those potatoes, and so far so good. No shriveled, pathetic looking spuds like my harvest last year. Thanks much!
@Sharon: Glad it helped. Mine are looking good in a mesh sack in the mud-room closet; just ate a few more the other night. See you soon.
Herbs. We’re just two for the holidays, so we don’t make the old gargantuan farmer-style spread with salad AND green veg AND corn AND sweet potatoes AND mashed potatoes AND stuffing AND rolls AND five kinds of dessert…not to mention turkey AND an entire HAM!!
Still have some tomatoes ripening, which is a record for me. They’re not great, though, at this point — definitely not holiday worthy (thick skin and mushy insides, just like me).
We had arugula and lettuce in our salad thanks to the promptings of Eliot Coleman’s latest book. Nothing quite like lifting up the row cover blankets to find lush green inside in late November. Feeling pretty grateful!
we had carrots, beets and potatoes from our garden. Perennial herbs such as parsley, sage (my rosemary plant is inside for the winter =)) and thyme still growing under the snow spiced up our meal. At this indoor winter market I bought baby turnips, brussel sprouts, cheese, cider and eggs which were also on the Thanksgiving table. For pies, we used local apples, pumpkins and butternut squash stored in our chilly bedroom. It was a feast!!
Bountiful dinner from our garden: Kennebec potatoes for mashed; kabocha squash; our Frosty peas; braised leeks; braised carrots with rosemary (brought the plant in a month ago); garlic, onions and fresh sage (still pickable after many nights in the 20’s) in the stuffing. And, of course, pumpkin in the pie! We have a root cellar, but until it gets cold enough there, most of the above (except the peas, in the freezer) is in our woodshed.
Welcome, Mary. That’s some delicious-sounding woodshed. :) Thanks for the report and hope to see you soon again; what a feast.
one thing that might be unusual from home grown potatoes. LEFSE
Peel potatoes, Boil until soft, put through ricer, mash, add butter, salt to taste, cool overnight, add flour until dough consistency, form into egg sized ball, roll out like
pie crust, bake on griddle like pancake, stack one on top of other, cool and spread with butter, roll up and enjoy!!
This is ethnic type of bread (think tortilla) from Norway and our family loves it at Holidays.
Hi Margaret, your post reminds me what a good feeling I had while preparing (and devouring) our Thanksgiving meal this year, even though just a small bit came from our garden. The leeks, sage and burgess buttercup squash from our backyard made it all just a bit more special.
Welcome, Robin. That’s what I was thinking, too. Something about little homegrown touches makes such a difference. Thanks for visiting, and don’t be a stranger.
Since we are on the topic of Thanksgiving, does anyone have a good variety of pumpkin to grow here in our Zone 7 home in Southeastern New England? i am looking for a good pumpkin to eat??? Thanks, if this has already been discussed, excuse me, i am new to this fascinating site, this is going to be so much fun for the winter and garden withdraw. haha Lynn