Thanks!

This is it- the week when we in the USA celebrate and give thanks by roasting our most delicious native bird. Mr. FoodItYourself and I will host a Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. We’ll be serving cranberry sauce made of cranberries I found by the local reservoir. We were going to serve home-grown potatoes, but the potato crop was seriously puny this year. Mr. FoodItYourself has also agreed to make homemade ice cream. (Remind me to show you how that’s done sometime. It’s pretty awesome.)

In the spirit of the season I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of the things I am thankful for this year.

1. I may not have mentioned it, but I planted two fruit trees in 2013- Montmorency cherries, to be precise. I am thankful they survived the horrible 2013-2014 winter and took root in our front yard, despite the poor soil there. I am thankful for their beautiful blooms they produced early in spring. I am thankful for the lesson they taught me- bird netting must go up before the cherries get ripe. Before the cherries get ripe. Otherwise the many, many cherries will belong exclusively to the birds.
2. My family values gardening and cooking skills. I am thankful I picked up on them. I feel connected to my ancestors when I cook family recipes, especially when I can use ingredients I grew myself.
3. I am thankful for the democratic process in the USA. Yes, I rant and rave about how politics end up on our plates. I try to hold off in this blog, but I’m pretty vocal about food politics on my Twitter feed. I’m even more vocal in person. (Ask Mr. FoodItYourself) But the process works, just maybe not as fast as I want. This year voters came damn close to passing GMO labeling laws in Oregon and Colorado. If we stay loud on this issue more states will join Vermont in passing labeling laws.

There are more items, but I have a turkey to brine. And I’m out of salt. (I am not joking!)I hope all my fellow DIYeters enjoy Thanksgiving. Don’t drink and drive. Many blessings!