Dark Days Challenge: Thanksgiving

Once again, I'm behind. While I haven't been posting at all, I have been cooking.

Thanksgiving came & went... It is my favorite holiday & this year I was lucky to have five of my friends join my little family for dinner. No photos - too much chaos & wine (Washington state wine!) for that. I did manage to include quite a bit of SOLE foods without much effort. Heritage Turkey from Bernie Nash at Mad Hatcher Farms, potatoes, corn, onions, and apples from Pleasant Ridge Farm, hazelnuts in the stuffing from Holmquist Farm, cream and raw milk from Pure Eire Dairy, and other produce from various Washington state growers purchased at PCC Market.
Was it 100% local? Heck no. But I would estimate 50-75% of it was and that's pretty darn good. And no way am I giving up homemade chocolate pie on Thanksgiving! (Hey, I did make the pie crust from Shepherd's Grain flour - also used for rolls - and lard I rendered myself.)
The biggest hit of the night was my pickle tray; pickled blueberries and blueberry ketchup, pickled Sweetheart cherries and sweet preserved cherries, and an assortment of cucumber pickles. One of my friends helped make the blueberry ketchup with me in August; it was her first time canning. It was fun to watch her get excited when people remarked, "Wow, you guys made this!?" My friend Scott made us promise to take him blueberry picking next summer and he wants to learn to can now, too.
So never mind that I forgot that I don't own a carving knife and Scott's husband had to pretty much tear apart the bird with his bare hands. Good friends, good food, good times AND I brought two more people over to the dark side of canning. I'd call that a success.