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For a compromise friendlier to your pocketbook, opt for a local, organic bird, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be heritage. It comes with a higher price tag than a conventional gobbler, but included in that price are transparency, piece of mind, and a better planet. Just make sure to contact your farmer early — those tasty local birds go fast!
Green beans are a summer vegetable, but local varieties keep well canned or frozen and can be pulled out for an all-local Thanksgiving. For rolls and pie, source local flour or head to your town’s bakery. You can round out your menu with seasonal produce by searching LocalHarvest.com, a database of local farms and their offerings. That just leaves the day’s centerpiece: the turkey. If you’ve never put much thought into choosing a turkey, then it’s time to talk gobblers. On one end of the spectrum is the conventional turkey, which comes from giant factory farms, and on the other is the local, heritage turkey, which can probably be found pecking at the grass near you. Locavores would advocate for heritage birds (ancient breeds with peak rearing, diet, and flavor) as the gold standard, but any small farm is likely to raise its birds better than the ones that supply the grocery store, which often pack thousands of turkeys into sheds, limit their access to sunlight and soil, overfeed them for quicker slaughter, and regularly inject them with antibiotics.
has more vitamins and minerals. Montclair State University researchers showed that local broccoli, for example, had twice the vitamin C of broccoli shipped in from out of the country. The same holds true for other vegetables, fruits, and proteins. Transporting food a shorter distance also lowers carbon emissions, and local food is more likely to be organic because it doesn’t need to hold up for shipping. That means it’s sprayed with fewer harmful pesticides, and, in the case of meat, include fewer antibiotics. When you buy something at a farmers market, you know exactly where it’s coming from, and, if you have any questions, just ask the farmer. Finally, buying local supports your town’s economy, keeping your neighbors’ jobs safe. Eating locally means eating seasonally, and that makes Thanksgiving the perfect time to experiment with the locavore lifestyle. Because the usual Thanksgiving menu dates back to colonial times, the menu is already packed with foods available in the fall, like sweet and russet potatoes, pumpkins, and cranberries.
Engage Your Kids onThanksgiving With These Gratitude-Themed Games
and put it in a bowl. Then, at the dinner table, have each person draw a random slip and read what it says without saying the name while everyone else tries to guess who wrote it. While Pictionary may get your kids talking about what they are thankful for, Guess Who? will tune them into what others around them are thankful for too. PICK-UP STICKS Like regular pick-up sticks, the goal is to remove a stick from a haphazard pile without disturbing the others. However, by using colored sticks that represent different kinds of thankfulness — such as places, people, or food — you can make players think outside the box. This will ensure you get a wide range of creative, thoughtful answers whenever the kids pick up a stick. These modified games are great for helping your kids realize how much they have to be thankful for. Use these to spend some fun, educational, quality time with your family this Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is an excellent time to teach children about gratefulness. By planning some fun, gratitude-themed games, you can impart a valuable lesson and spend some quality family time together. Get your kids in the holiday spirit by adding a Thanksgiving twist to these classic games. PICTIONARY Want to bring out your kids’ creative side? Pictionary is the perfect way to encourage artistic expression and grateful thinking. Try adding a rule where players have to draw something they’re grateful for. This will get your kids thinking beyond turkey and stuffing and give them an imaginative way to express their gratitude. Plus, who doesn’t love a good art contest? GUESS WHO? To play gratitude-themed Guess Who, have each participant write down their name and something they’re thankful for on a slip of paper
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