This Thanksgiving our house was filled with friends and family. Like many others we spent the day preparing food to load our table with a bountiful feast. The dishes include vegetables I grew at Quarter Acre Farm like the mashed potatoes and baked winter squash. As well as local produce like sautéed brussel sprouts from a neighboring Sonoma Valley farm, and apples for our pie from the fruit farm across from me at the farmers market.
But in addition to all the cooking in the kitchen, we have an outdoor cooking activity as well, brewing beer. The annual Thanksgiving brew has varied over the years we’ve done an Irish strong red ale, an amber lager, and a cream ale. This year it was a honey wheat. Everyone gets involved from mixing, to straining, to timing, to supervising with a wine glass in hand.
I believe creating food and drink with others is so fulfilling because it achieves some of our basic needs as humans; nourishment and camaraderie. Now to wait for the beer to finish fermenting.