When Mehmet Oz, M.D., married his wife, Lisa, 24 years ago, he also married into her family’s tradition of doing good, staying active, and eating local, organic and mostly vegetarian foods at Thanksgiving. To inspire some of your own memories this year, we asked him to share his fondest ones from the family’s Pennsylvania farm.

Volunteer in your own way On Thanksgiving Day, Oz and his family donate fresh, seasonal produce to a church-organized food drive. Daughters Daphne, 23, Arabella, 18, and Zoe, 15, spend their extra free time helping out at a retirement home.

Play (don’t just watch) sports Before sitting down for Thanksgiving lunch, all the Ozes run around in their sweats for a game of family football. “No one can get out of it,” Oz jokes.

Spend time in nature In addition to riding the farm’s horses, Oz and his kids take a walk along a nearby stream. “I’m a bit of a naturalist, so we’ll talk about the different plants growing there and why the geese are migrating back,” Oz says. He also spends time in his in-laws’ vegetable garden, picking whatever cherry tomatoes are left. “They’re so good they never make it into the kitchen—I just eat them right off the vine.”

Make meals in memory “Becka was my wife’s grandmother’s best friend—they lived together for the rest of their lives after their husbands died,” Oz says. “And I’ll tell you, that woman could turn out good food—especially this corn pudding.” To celebrate her legacy, the Ozes re-create Becka’s corn pudding every Thanksgiving.

Involve the whole family While Lisa Oz and her parents prepare whole-wheat stuffing and tofu turkey, the kids (including son Oliver, 10) help bake desserts and set the table. Even Oz—a self-proclaimed Neanderthal (“I have trouble boiling water,” he jokes)—has a set responsibility: buying and lugging ice.

Open up your home It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving at the Ozes without helping people who “need the meal more than we do”—like someone who recently lost a loved one or a student whose relatives live overseas. “We just want them to feel like they’re home,” Oz says.