Digging Spuds Without My Buds

About five or so years ago, I worked up a potato bed in the side yard.  The first year it was hard work.  The ground was a compacted, hard, dense, hard-pan as it was a rice field at one time.  Over the years I've amended the soil with hay, leaves and other organic matter.  Now the soil is easy to turn with a shovel.

I planted seed potatoes on about a 30 foot length of row.  Three quarters of it was planted with LaSoda seed potatoes I purchased at our local feed store.  The remainder was small Pontiac seed potatoes leftover from the previous spring.  I've had success holding over potatoes for seed in the past, but not this year.  These spuds were duds.  Only the new LaSoda seed potatoes produced.  I really can't put my finger on why the old saved seed potatoes didn't produce this year.  I've had success in the past, but not this time. 

My sons were unavailable to help, so for the first time in many years, I dug up the potato crop by myself.  It was kind of lonely!  As our birds are beginning to leave the nest, I'd best get accustomed to that.  I got a shovel and began turning the soil over, exposing beautiful potatoes just beneath the soil.  I had mulched the potatoes with lots of hay to keep weeds at bay.  That hay mulch kept the soil moist underneath, so it was VERY easy to turn the soil over and expose the potatoes.  As I dug them up, I buried the hay.  This organic matter will enrich the soil for next year's crop.  In no time, I was done!

A plethora from the potato plot

When I was done, I had partially filled a big wagon with fresh potatoes of various sizes.  It was not as good of a crop as in years past, but it was still a good crop.  We'll enjoy them over the next several months and if the weather cooperates, I'll plant a fall potato crop in a couple of months.

The Potato Wagon

The potatoes were of all different sizes - no two the same.  That's the thing about potatoes.  The crop is underground and you never know how they'll turn out until the very end, when you unearth them and examine the fruits of your labors.  Here is a nice 'baker' - fat, heavy, the size of your palm and perfect for baking.

And here are a few of my favorites.  They are golf-ball sized.  I like to either cut these in half and oven-roast them with butter and rosemary or, even better, slice these little boogers in half and cook with some fresh harvested green beans and butter.  Lots and lots of butter.  Delicious!

We learned many years ago to never wash them until you are ready to cook them.  We store them indoors in milk crates, all dirty.  They'll last that way. 

When digging them up, inevitably you feel the soft crunch under your shovel and realize that in trying to unearth the "pomme de terre" (fruit or apple of the earth), you slice some in half.  These are not lost.  They won't be wasted.  We bring them in, wash them up, and immediately cook them.  These became delicious hash browns!

As I think about it, and at the risk of being melodramatic, I realize that raising potatoes are like life, specifically raising kids.  You "plant" them, painstakingly "fertilize" them, and watch them grow, watering them as needed and pulling "weeds" that compete against them for nutrients.  Over the course of time you wonder if the seeds you planted will produce - if they will prosper and multiply.  You do your best, wondering, will they reproduce and produce a plentiful harvest?  While you watch them grow, most of the fruits of your labors are hidden underground.  You must be patient.  By and by, your "crop" is unearthed and you can begin to examine the fruit you tried so hard to produce. Raising your crop takes patience, love, care, devotion, and watchfulness.  You pray that you won't experience crop failure, hoping that your crop will be a success.  Will the potatoes you put in the ground produce more potatoes to carry forward seed for the future?  Only time will tell...

How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young? Paul Sweeney

Happy New Year To You From Our Maker's Acres Family Farm

Image Credit

Well, 2018 is in the books, wrapped up with a bow and all done.  In the upcoming days, we'll look back at some of the numbers like we always do - looking at rainfall, egg production, milk production, animal production, etc.

For now we'll look ahead to 2019 with a few resolutions and/or goals.  I've come to dislike resolutions simply because they are so doggone hard to keep.  I always start with such good intentions, only to fall short of following through.  And the salt in the wound is that it doesn't take me very long to get off-track on my lofty goals.

This year, I'm going to try to keep things simple, and I've asked my family to hold me accountable.  Here goes:  I like to make goals in three areas: Spiritual, Physical, and Mental.

Spiritual Goal for 2019: Read 3 Chapters a day in the Bible.  Doing this will enable me to read through the Bible in a year.  I like to read beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation.  I know many people will read a couple chapters in the Old Testament and 1 chapter in the New Testament each day.  I like to read the Bible through, though.  It is just more orderly and I can follow the timeline of what is going on from a historical perspective that way.

Physical Goal for 2019:  Do at least 50 push ups and 50 sit ups each day.  I am not real big on working out.  I would much rather work hard in meaningful work that accomplishes an outcome, but especially during the short days of winter, there's not a lot to do outside.  I'm 52 now and as the metabolism slows, but my appetite for good food grows, there's a weighty problem ahead (no pun intended) if I don't burn some calories.

Mental Goal for 2019:  Read a book a month. 

I have a few homestead to do's, but these are more to do list items than resolutions.  I'll list them here and will check them in a year to see how much we got done:

1. Put in sidewalks to help with trudging through the mud,
2. Add lighting to the barn.  Adding the lean-to's on either side of the barn made it darker in the barn,
3. Add lights to the cattle trailer.  Maybe we can be legal for Benjamin's last year of showing:),
4. Build a roof that spans between the barn and goat barn,
5. Bring in more fill dirt to fill in low areas around the barn,
6. Improve drainage around the barn,
7. Make homemade soap

So there we have it.  We have been blessed in 2018 despite some difficult bumps in the road.  May God bless you and your family in 2019!