1.  Simplify the day. Celebrate being with those you love. Don’t overdo the cooking – and savor whatever you make. Linger over dessert, play games, watch football or a favorite movie, take a walk. Revive special traditions from the past and create new ones you can turn to next Thanksgiving, and the holiday after that.

2.  Decorate with boughs and berries. There’s no need to buy fancy Thanksgiving decorations. Head out to your yard with a pair of shears and find tree branches, bush stems loaded with berries, flowers whose seed heads have dried on the stem, and flowering grasses to fill tall vases, hollowed out pumpkins, and autumnal baskets.

3. Let there be light. Illuminate your table with candles  of varying heights and widths. Use votives in small glasses or carved sugar pumpkins.

4. Serve locally grown food. Even in colder, northern climates, farmers markets are still selling locally grown greens, potatoes, apples, pears, spices, breads, and cheeses. You’ll find lots of good recipes for salads, side dishes and vegetarian entrees here, as well as heritage turkeys.

5. Offer organic beverages. From apple cider to wine and beer, you have plenty of organic drinks to choose from.

6. Eat all the food you make. Send guests home with leftovers in glass jars rather than wrapped in plastic or aluminum foil. Freeze leftovers in easily re-heatable portions.

7. Use reuseables. Serve your meal on cloth tablecloths and napkins, accompanied by “real” silverware and plates. Worried about cleaning up after a large crowd? Let everyone pitch in – that’s half the fun!

8. Simmer cinnamon. Roasting vegetables and baking pies should infuse your home with delicious holiday aromas. For even more fragrant smells, simmer a few sticks of cinnamon and a few cloves of allspice on the stove. Dab a few drops of pine oil or other favorite fragrance on stones or pinecones that are part of your centerpiece.

9. Turn down the heat. If all your holiday cooking doesn’t heat up your house, your guests will. Turn your thermostat down 3-5 degrees – no one will notice the difference.

10. Recycle and compost. Keep a bin handy for glass, plastic and paper trash you can recycle rather than toss. Make soup from vegetable peelings, leftover meat and bones. Picked-over vegetables can be composted, though remaining meat and bones will need to be thrown away.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Fattened up all year, it’s devoured in a matter of minutes, eaten as leftovers for days thereafter, and then long forgotten – until next Thanksgiving, at least.

If the turkey is the “Broadbreasted” variety – which most supermarket turkeys are – it’s life has been particularly bleak. After being bred to produce an unnaturally large chest, its legs are so short it must be artifically inseminated to reproduce. Farmers remove the tips of these young turkeys’ beaks to prevent cannibalism triggered by close living quarters in cages and warehouse. As for having the strength to fly? Forget about it.

Fortunately, delicious vegetarian options abound — and you should be able to find many of the ingredients at your local farmers market.

Epicurious.com features such scrumptious courses as stuffed pumpkin and lentil croquettes with mushroom gravy.

In a Vegetarian Kitchen with Nava Atlas offers a full-course meal, including salads, main dish options, side dishes, stuffing, and vegan pumpkin pie.

The Veggie Table suggests an even broader array of delicious sounding soups, appetizers, and entrees, including  a vegetable gratin made from tomatoes, eggplant and onions that will be as beautiful on your table as it is yummy.

If your Thanksgiving just won’t be the same without a gobbler on the table, consider a heritage turkey. This genetic ancestor of the Broadbreasted variety roams freely outside, mates naturally, and eats a traditional (well, for a bird) diet of insects and fresh grass. Don’t be surprised when you notice that heritage turkeys are smaller and more expensive than their factory-farmed cousins. This is definitely a case of quality over quantity (and besides, the size may be perfect if you’re one of those people who can’t face eating leftover turkey for an entire week).

You can find a heritage turkey at the Local Harvest website, or check with your local farmer’s market.

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