I just wanted to pass along some ideas that I have learned from the older women in my community. One of our cousins plans her holiday menus when she is gardening. She has recipes for red and green pickles,etc. She raises all the vegetables including the potatoes. She also raises the turkeys and chickens. They have their own herd of cattle. So she does not have a big grocery bill at the holidays. She is a wealthy woman with 6 kids but she remains a very frugal gal. She makes all of her food from scratch and she is in her 70's. This is probably nothing new for many of you but it was to me, a city slicker who had a lot to learn when I moved to the farm. Cindy

-- Cindy Herbek (dh40203@navix.net), October 19, 2001

Answers

Every year at Christmas I have a huge family dinner. I also use mostly home-grown foods for the basic meal: like a BBQ deer roast, wild turkey, meatballs (made with deer and sausage), mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, home-made bread, pickled beets, all sorts of pickles and relishes. I serve tea, coffee and punch. I will make all kinds of home-made cookies. The rest of the family will bring pop, chips, cheese, and other desserts. My costs for this meal is almost nothing for 30 people, and everyone just loves it!

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), October 19, 2001.

I try to provide everything for our Thanksgiving meal from our garden, too. I don't raise my own turkey, but just about everything else except the cranberry sauce is homegrown. The dressing is made with homemade bread and our own sage. I usually make four or five pies from fruits we've picked in the wild (except for the chocolate one, that is) and I put out lots of pickles and relishes, corn, peas, carrots and potatoes from our garden and of course, homemade rolls. The table groans under the load. Thanksgiving is always a special holiday at our house.

Wishing you enough.

-- Trevilians (aka Dianne in Mass) (Trevilians@mediaone.net), October 19, 2001.

My birthday is November 26 and I hated Thanksgiving. We always had to go to the other side of the family for the meal. We are very clean and normal people who work alot. They inherited their money and have not a clue, anyway, they would put trash bags down on their floors when my dad and his brothers and families came. Even in new dresses and nice shoes we still were treated like the family trash. We stopped going my Senior year when I threw a fit(cause no one remembered my birthday,not even my snooty grandma.)We have had our small, 4, member Thanksgiving dinner for years now. Last year we spent with a cousin I've never really been close to.She is like me!!! We had the biggest feast I had ever seen including the other families, and everything we made from scratch. Even shelled the pecans. We are doing it again this year. I can finally enjoy and be myself.I have learned that if you can't be yourself around someone, you shouldn't be around them. I love my family and I wish them the best but I will continue to enjoy and explore parts of our family I have not been around much. You never know what I may find. I could find more like me. OH how scary!

-- Micheale from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), October 19, 2001.