Why turkey?

Yesterday's "Opt Outside," "Buy Nothing" Day went pretty well if we make allowances for the fact that the Better Half paid for our coffee at Coffee Talk while we waited for the Christmas parade to begin. But, since it was a small, local, Main Street business, we're giving ourselves an exemption.

Before going out for coffee, we trimmed half a dozen or so dead branches off a pair of oak trees, and sprayed pruning sealer over the cuts. We still haven't really figured out why so many oak branches die. It doesn't happen on maples or conifers that we've noticed. Then again, we aren't sure why or when turkey became the traditional Thanksgiving main course. We did some poking around in the wilds or the internet today. Most pages that purport to explain the origin of Thanksgiving turkey admit the authors don't really know. Of the options available, we're particularly fond of this one in TIME magazine. It was written by a food historian and refers to turkey drovers. Here's her summary of how Thanksgiving turkeys came to be:

"Some give credit for the turkey’s preeminence to Sarah Joseph Hale, the “Godmother of Thanksgiving,” whose accounts of early New England celebrations emphasized a roast turkey and eventually became the model for the festivities adopted by the rest of the country after Abraham Lincoln declared it a national holiday in 1863. Others credit the bird’s existing role in English celebratory feasts and the fact that its large size made it a practical item for such affairs. Others still believe it is because the turkey’s position as the most American of feathered creatures—Benjamin Franklin, after all, thought it a much more “respectable bird” than the Bald Eagle—makes it a fitting entrée for one of the most American of holidays."

As it occurred to us at Thanksgiving dinner this year, we're very please that we didn't end up with bald eagles being served as the main course, even though they're the symbol of the US. They are birds of prey, but we've also seen quite a few feeding on road kill.

the parade wasn't the only activity

Photo by J. Harrington

one of the goats is right, middle

Photo by J. Harrington

and Santa with his elves

Photo by J. Harrington

The Christmas lighting  ceremony at Taylors Falls last night was a treat, especially the contagious excitement of the flocks (herds? droves? schools) of youngsters showing their parents around. Here's a few photos. The herd of goats, especially they pygmies, were a real treat.

                     300 Goats

By Naomi Shihab Nye

In icy fields.

Is water flowing in the tank?

Will they huddle together, warm bodies pressing?

(Is it the year of the goat or the sheep?

Scholars debating Chinese zodiac,

follower or leader.)

O lead them to a warm corner,

little ones toward bulkier bodies.

Lead them to the brush, which cuts the icy wind.

Another frigid night swooping down — 

Aren’t you worried about them? I ask my friend,

who lives by herself on the ranch of goats,

far from here near the town of Ozona.

She shrugs, “Not really,

they know what to do. They’re goats.”

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