My Maine Garden: The Holidays Are Upon Us

Halloween is long over and Thanksgiving is only a week away. I was so busy with garden clean-up, dogs, chickens, and going to a CSA workshop this Halloween that I didn't even decorate. I just blew right through the whole holiday, barely acknowledging it, other than buying a bag of candy. Now that things are slowing down, as much as they ever do, I'm actually getting into the holiday spirit.
I love Thanksgiving for several reasons. One: I get to eat a ton of awesome food that I don't have to cook. Two: I get to take over a bunch of leftovers so I don't have to cook the next day either. Three: I get to spend some much needed time with the family. Four: After dinner is done, we get to turn on the Christmas music.
We're trying to go more sustainable this holiday so since my mom is a great gardener, many of the vegetable sides will have come from her organic garden. Also, we're getting a free-range turkey from a friend who slaughters his own. We know that these animals have been raised in good, healthy, and humane conditions.
In honor of this festive season, I've been baking bread, making chili, and even made some awesome pumpkin muffins for breakfast this morning. The chickens were happy because they got the leftover pumpkin puree. The girls have been getting plenty of autumnal food scraps (squash, pumpkin, apples, etc.), and are being kept warm by the deep litter method. This is where you let the litter build up over the winter so the heat from the decomposing litter keeps them warm. It's a little more complicated than this, but that's the general idea. I'll clean the coop out in the spring and put it in the compost pile.
Basically, I'm enjoying the lull in gardening and coop cleaning. My goal is to enjoy the spirit of the holiday season with family and food, rather than over doing it with presents and heinous trips to the mall.