Giving Thanks & update on "really local" meal

I'd like to give a big thanks for my family and friends, and in the same grain as the original Thanksgiving I'd like to give thanks for my family's own harvest this year.

Our first year with a big farm garden.  We learned a lot.  And the harvest was bountiful.

I'm thankful for all the knowledge that we gained, all the food we were able to can and freeze, and all the fresh air and sunshine!

As I mentioned before, we're planning on having a "really local" Thanksgiving meal challenge.  We're attempting to have a meal with foods grown or raised only within our own community (one school district).

The meal will actually be the Saturday after Thanksgiving (we have my husband's family meal on Thanksgiving and decided to spread my family's to Saturday).

So far it looks like it will be a success.  I have the local foods in hand: wheat flour, lard, eggs, turkey, winter squash, honey, pumpkin, potatoes, onions, kale, lettuce, carrots, radish, greens, canned grape juice, canned pickles, and we'll be heading to the dairy farm tomorrow for our milk.

heritage (heirloom) turkey:

We had a flu-type virus early in the week and I worried that we may not recover in time for our meal, but as of today we're all better (another reason to give thanks!).

....I am a bit worried about the reaction to this feast.  My mom has apparently been telling everyone about our local feast (mostly getting negative comments or confused stares, it sounds like) and one of her coworkers even asked her if I "was becoming a bit eccentric".  Why she repeated this to me I don't know (yes I do, she just wasn't thinking...), but it really hurt my feelings!  The reason I'm doing this is for a fun challenge, to show something positive about our community (amongst all the negativity), to support our community.  I don't do this for every meal, I just thought for something as important as Thanksgiving it would be a fun & positive way of giving thanks for our community and all it provides.

Anyway, all is on track, and I will post pictures of our Saturday feast soon!

In the meantime, I got a great book from our library system that I want to recommend to anyone who enjoys gardening, farming, sustainable agriculture, etc.  Our local paper ran an AP article about the book, which is how I came across it.  It's called "The Seasons on Henry's Farm" by Terra Brockman.  The sustainable farm is in central Illinois. It's written by Henry's sister, who left the farm for college & lived in metro areas many years, only to feel the pull of the farm and return.  She's an amazing writer. 

If you're interested, check with your library or amazon.com.