A Very Authentic Thanksgiving Feast

Our Thanksgiving was a bit of an adventure this year. A busted stove and the ensuing stress and drama threatened to ruin the day, but I am nothing if not stubborn, so I ended up cooking a very authentic Thanksgiving harvest feast over our fire pit. It worked out surprisingly well, and I even built a fire all on my own for the first time in my life, and kept it going on a pretty windy day. Of course, I would have been even happier if it had been 10 degrees warmer. My feet were blocks of ice by the time I was done. Potatoes, sweet potatoes and acorn squash roasted really well on my birch log fire, and I shish kabobbed a lot of the other veggies, including butternut squash, summer yellow squash, zucchini, peppers, and grape tomatoes. Some of the other veggies got cooked in the microwave, and we had ourselves a strange, but delicious, holiday meal.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!



We decided to share our Thanksgiving feast with the birds. Mikro and I made bird seed ornaments for our little evergreen tree.

Our Version of Thanksgiving

We don't do the whole happy pilgrims and indians thing here, but we do use this day to think about the things in this life which are blessings. And we have a huge vegetarian harvest feast, heavy on the beans, corn and squash...

Top of my list of things to be thankful for:

• My dad came through emergency surgery this week with flying colors and will probably have much better quality of life going forward (if he behaves himself and allows his body time to recover. I suggested my mother duct tape his ankles if he doesn't behave. (This is the man who climbed and pruned a tree one day after pacemaker surgery. A good patient he is not.))
  
  
• Mikro. The great joy of my life, this wonderful little person who sees the world through eyes of wonder and drags me along for the ride.
  
  
• Kevin. My best friend for 30 years now, husband for almost 20. Sometimes we drive each other nuts, but the love is always there, under the crazy. (We always fight at the holidays, a tradition I would rather change, but it seems as inevitable as breathing. At least we got it out of the way early and have now made up.)
  
  
• My mom. She's finally accepted that I parent differently than she did back in the 60s, and she's seen the good come of my way in the sweet, loving and passionately curious person her grandson is. She has even become a fan of homeschooling! We are back to the great relationship we had pre-Mikro, and I am grateful to have her back as my friend, as well as my mom!
  
  
• Wild places nearby where we can enjoy the beauty of nature.
  
  
• Still being able to walk, albeit gimpily. Arthritis is kicking my butt, but I am more stubborn than it is.
  
  
• Having enough. Not a lot extra, and no cushion. We have certainly done better financially, but so many have it worse than we do.
  
  
• The homeschool community, where Mikro and I have both found good friends, great fun and lots of inspiration.
  
  
• Cherished friends I have known for what seems like forever. Becca, Cindy, Vicky, Leela. I have to do a better job keeping in touch than I've done this year. You are all my sisters, as far as my heart is concerned.
  
  
• My online friends, who have been there through the good and the bad.
  
  
• Hope. I lived a long time without it, feeling sorry for myself after the accident, and it makes all the difference.

This is the first year that Mikro helped me prepare our dinner. He snapped green beans and learned how to peel potatoes. More practice needed there, but he tried!

And best of all, he ate his dinner! Green beans, broccoli, sweet potato, acorn squash, carrots, refried beans (a Mikro request), a couple of tiny potatoes harvested from our garden, corn, and even a taste of cranberry sauce (which he says has a good taste, but not such a good texture...) Mikro loves the 3 sisters, and sweet potatoes, but he hates broccoli with a passion. Nevertheless, my very picky, food phobic food allergy boy was so eager to eat, that he had a hard time being patient as I read the Mohawk Thanksgiving address (in English. If I can read it in Mohawk someday, I will be thrilled.)





I spent half the day on the phone to my parents, checking up on my Dad, who seems to be doing well. Very thankful for that!

Plimoth Plantation Webcast Replay

We participated in the live Virtual Field Trip to Plimoth Plantation earlier today. If you missed it, you can watch the replay here.

Or, I could just embed it....

Debunking Thanksgiving Mythstory

On one of my homeschool groups, a request was made for information on teaching the truth about Thansksgiving. Here is a list of resources I've compiled:

From National Museum of the American Indian.

Deconstructing Myths page from Oyate

From Students and Teachers Against Racism

Lesson Plan from Teaching Tolerance

Teaching Thanksgiving

Teaching About Thanskgiving

Article from Scholastic.com

Article from Education World

Another lesson plan.

From Plimoth Plantation


More from Plimoth Plantarion

More from Education World: cross curricular teaching plans on native americans.

Debbie Reese from Nambe Pueblo on Teaching Young Children About Native Americans

From Rethinking Schools

American Indians in the Present (A slide show very worth viewing!)


Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving

Article on historic sites incorporating the native perspective

Book recommendations from Oyate:

Bruchac, Margaret M. (Abenaki), and Catherine Grace O'Neill, 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2001, grades 4-up

Hunter, Sally M. (Ojibwe), Four Seasons of Corn: A Winnebago Tradition. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1997, grades 4-6.

Peters, Russell M. (Wampanoag), Clambake: A Wampanoag Tradition. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992, grades 4-6.

Regguinti, Gordon (Ojibwe), The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992, grades 4-6.

Seale, Doris (Santee/Cree), Beverly Slapin, and Carolyn Silverman (Cherokee), eds., Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective. Berkeley: Oyate, 1998, teacher resource.

Swamp, Jake (Mohawk), Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message. New York: Lee & Low, 1995, all grades.

Wittstock, Laura Waterman (Seneca), Ininatig's Gift of Sugar: Traditional Native Sugarmaking. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1993, grades 4-6