Thanksgiving in the United States is quickly approaching and I want to share some ideas for a farm-to-table Thanksgiving dinner while you still have time to put it together.
The farm-to-table concept is centered around eating locally-grown and raised food. That food comes directly from a farm, to your table. It’s how our ancestors ate, and is in contrast to the industrialized food system that ends at the grocery store to your table.
Thanksgiving is really an ideal season to create a farm-to-table meal in your home. It honors the historical roots of the holiday as a time to celebrate the harvest and give thanks for our blessings.
Keep reading and I’ll explain how your family can have a farm-to-table Thanksgiving, and some themed ideas to go with it!
This doesn’t need to be “all or nothing”. If it’s not possible or practical to source your entire Thanksgiving dinner directly from local farms, that’s OK. Just pick a few things for this year.
In this post:
How to Have a Farm-to-Table Thanksgiving
1. Buy your Thanksgiving produce at a farmers market
There are still lots of locally-grown veggies to be had at farmers markets all across the country.
It’s no fluke that many traditional Thanksgiving dishes are based on those vegetables that are in season right now. Think of dishes such as sweet potato casserole, roasted squash, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.
To find a farmers market near you, check out the National Farmers Market Directory. And, before you go, be sure to read up on how to spot fake farmers at the farmers market. You can then be confident that your farm-to-table dishes are actually made with ingredients sourced direct from a farm.
2. Order your Thanksgiving turkey from a local farm
Right now, grocery store freezers are overflowing with frozen turkeys that were raised and slaughtered as part of America’s industrial food system.
What you may not know is there are many small farmers across the country that raise turkeys on their own land and sell them direct to consumers like you and I.
Rather than living their life out in an over-crowded barn, these turkeys live on pasture and get to forage for insects, grasses and seeds like they would in the wild.
If you’d like to buy a pasture raised turkey for Thanksgiving, you’ll need to order one in advance. Fortunately there’s still time!
If you’re in Florida – Orange Meadow Farm in Wauchula still has pasture raised turkeys available. If you’re in the Clermont area, Harrison Creak Farm also has pasture raised turkeys.
Anywhere else I suggest searching online or on social media for “pasture raised turkey” to find a farm near you.
If buying a pasture raised turkey from a local farm isn’t feasible or possible, what about buying a pasture raised chicken instead? The price per pound is less, and chickens are a lot smaller than turkeys if you are just feeding a few people. If you go that route, here is a delicious recipe I created for a whole roasted pasture raised chicken.
3. Eat what’s in season
One of the tenets of farm-to-table dining is eating what’s in season. Truly embracing a farm-to-table meal may require forgoing some of your family’s favorite dishes, in favor of foods that are in season right now.
The best way to discover what’s in season is a visit to your local farmers market to explore what real farms are harvesting right now.
Before you go, please read up on how to spot fake farmers at the farmers market. Wholesalers and resellers often attend the markets and source their produce from all over the country and beyond, which defeats the experience you want to create.
4. Avoid processed ingredients / Cook from scratch
For the most authentic farm-to-table vibe, consider omitting pre-packaged and processed ingredients from the dishes you serve this Thanksgiving.
If farm-to-table is all about eating foods from local farms, including processed ingredients in your dishes dilutes that.
Processed food includes anything that comes in a can, store-bought marshmallows and fried onions, boxes of stuffing, packets of seasoning mix and crackers.
Think about some common Thanksgiving dishes made with processed food and how you could tweak or swap out the recipes to omit pre-packaged ingredients.
For example, rather than green bean casserole made with canned soup, you could sauté fresh green beans with garlic.
Rather than pumpkin pie made with canned pumpkin pie puree, you could make pumpkin pie puree from scratch. I’ve shared a recipe for that below.
5. Share the farm-to-table story with your guests
When I cook farm-to-table meals for friends or family, I enjoy sharing about where the food comes from. In my experience, people are surprised to learn about local options for sourcing food direct from a farm. It makes my day when they are then inspired to start going to their local farmers market.
So be sure to pass along the story of where the ingredients for your dish came from, the farm where it grew and how you discovered it. I can’t think of a better conversation topic around a Thanksgiving table.
6. Host a farm-to-table potluck
Here’s an idea if you plan to host a Thanksgiving potluck and think most of your guests will be up to a twist. This isn’t about turning Thanksgiving into more of a complicated chore than it may already feel to some.
If you’re already asking guests to bring a dish to share, you’re halfway there! How about giving your Thanksgiving potluck a farm-to-table theme. Ask your guests to source the main ingredient in their dish direct from a farm. And that farm can be found at a farmers market.
For lots of families, going to a farmers market the weekend before Thanksgiving will be a really fun and connected activity.
Provide index cards, or pretty labels, so all guests can write the name of the farm and location where the main ingredient was sourced. Then place them beside the dish when you set out the potluck.
This also makes a great conversation topic over dinner. 🙂
A Farm-to-Table Thanksgiving Menu
Creating a farm-to-table Thanksgiving menu doesn’t necessarily require special farm-to-table recipes.
A lot of what you already make for Thanksgiving dinner could probably be sourced directly from a local farm. Not coincidentally, many traditional Thanksgiving dishes are based on those foods that are in season this time of year.
What follows is a collection of simple, whole food recipes and dish suggestions made with ingredients that are pretty easy to find at a farm or farmers market depending on what’s in season where you live.
By keeping recipes simple, it’s much easier to go full farm-to-table for your dinner.
Thanksgiving Side Dishes
Sautéed green beans with garlic
Homemade roasted beets
Mashed potatoes
Meats
How to cook a pasture raised turkey
Whole roasted pasture raised chicken
Condiments
Homemade cranberry sauce with less sugar
Dessert
Sweet potato pie made with real sweet potatoes
Final Thoughts
Will you be having a farm-to-table Thanksgiving with your family or friends? I’d love to hear about it, please post a comment below. 🙂
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