100 mile Thanksgiving
So here is the run down. Not everything is local. I just couldn't do it with the amount of time I have to track things down. But I did pretty well. Will post a picture after the big day.
Turkey - A beautiful 22-pounder from Shady Acres in Elizabethtown
Stuffing - Potato Bread cubes from Martins in York County, with Shady Acres Butter, local celery, and tons of my onions that are really small because they didn't grow real well. Not sure where the celery is from. I stopped at three farm stands in search of celery with no luck. My grocery store had celery marked 'local', so not sure of what their definition is. Flat leaf parsley grown by me.
Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes - Farm stand in Lebanon County. My roasted garlic will go in the mashed potatoes. And my eggs will go into the sweet potato souffle. Sour cream for mashed potatoes from Shady Acres.
Brussel Sprouts - Again, grocery store had 'local' Brussel Sprouts.
Baked Corn - From a box, but very, very local. John Cope's Corn is made in Rheems, which is a little over a mile from our house. All through august and september the trucks loaded with sweet corn rumble past our house headed for John Cope's. The baked corn made with dried sweet corn, eggs, and butter is just awesome. The canned dehydrated sweet corn I could just eat cold with a spoon. Not sure how widely available it is, but if you can find it, try it. John Cope's corn has been on my Thanksgiving table since I was born.
Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Cheesecake - pumpkins purchased in Lancaster County, my eggs. Crust made with Sweetzels spice cookies made in Skippack, outside of Philadephia. Not organic, but a small, family owned company. I could claim that the Philadelphia Cream Cheese for the pies is local too, but that would be dishonest.
Apple Cranberry Pie - Apples from Masonic Homes Orchards in Etown, that Daisy Flour from Annville, Lebanon County, and butter from Shady Acres.
Mulled Cider - Apple Cider from Adams County.
What wasn't local: try as I might, all cranberries I find are from California. Grrrr. Pecans and coconut into the souffle. I cheated and bought those brown and serve rolls. So not local. I don't know about other people, but I always like to have a relish tray with different types of olives and pickles. I have dill pickles that I made this summer, but I purchased olives and sweet pickles from the Mt. Olive Pickle Company from North Carolina. Mt. Olive is the second largest pickle manufacturer in the United States and recently worked with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee to unionize laborers and improve working conditions for migrant workers. So, not local, but bearing the union label.
Turkey - A beautiful 22-pounder from Shady Acres in Elizabethtown
Stuffing - Potato Bread cubes from Martins in York County, with Shady Acres Butter, local celery, and tons of my onions that are really small because they didn't grow real well. Not sure where the celery is from. I stopped at three farm stands in search of celery with no luck. My grocery store had celery marked 'local', so not sure of what their definition is. Flat leaf parsley grown by me.
Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes - Farm stand in Lebanon County. My roasted garlic will go in the mashed potatoes. And my eggs will go into the sweet potato souffle. Sour cream for mashed potatoes from Shady Acres.
Brussel Sprouts - Again, grocery store had 'local' Brussel Sprouts.
Baked Corn - From a box, but very, very local. John Cope's Corn is made in Rheems, which is a little over a mile from our house. All through august and september the trucks loaded with sweet corn rumble past our house headed for John Cope's. The baked corn made with dried sweet corn, eggs, and butter is just awesome. The canned dehydrated sweet corn I could just eat cold with a spoon. Not sure how widely available it is, but if you can find it, try it. John Cope's corn has been on my Thanksgiving table since I was born.
Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Cheesecake - pumpkins purchased in Lancaster County, my eggs. Crust made with Sweetzels spice cookies made in Skippack, outside of Philadephia. Not organic, but a small, family owned company. I could claim that the Philadelphia Cream Cheese for the pies is local too, but that would be dishonest.
Apple Cranberry Pie - Apples from Masonic Homes Orchards in Etown, that Daisy Flour from Annville, Lebanon County, and butter from Shady Acres.
Mulled Cider - Apple Cider from Adams County.
What wasn't local: try as I might, all cranberries I find are from California. Grrrr. Pecans and coconut into the souffle. I cheated and bought those brown and serve rolls. So not local. I don't know about other people, but I always like to have a relish tray with different types of olives and pickles. I have dill pickles that I made this summer, but I purchased olives and sweet pickles from the Mt. Olive Pickle Company from North Carolina. Mt. Olive is the second largest pickle manufacturer in the United States and recently worked with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee to unionize laborers and improve working conditions for migrant workers. So, not local, but bearing the union label.
posted by meresy_g at Wednesday, November 22, 2006
7 Comments:
Have a great day.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Sounds like you did damned well! Yeah, it was tougher than I thought, doing this 100-mile thing. I think I will have it more "down" next year by at least growing my own sweet potatoes. But bon appetit!
Sounds awesome! You've inspired me to try it next year. Happy Thanksgiving.
You're amazing. I hope everything was as splendid as the preview.
Our dinner ended up being much more local than I thought... never underestimate the power of a couple of elderly gardeners! :)
I think this is a wonderful idea and will try to talk my friends into doing it next year! I think you did a great job... and I can't wait for the day that buying a Thanksgiving dinner locally is a bit easier.
Good for you. Your commitment to eating local is impressive! I'm ashamed to say that I too often take the easy way out and just buy whatever's cheapest at the grocery store -- especially this year, since we had to haul everything up to my in-laws in Brooklyn and cook everything there.
We used to have fights over pickles at family reunions -- I have some cousins who work for Mt. Olive and some who work for Cates...the great NC pickle debate.
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