May
2010
Potato
Ah the humble cobbler. Raiser of those impoverished masses, pride of the Inca, and Idaho’s claim to fame. The potato is a nutritional power house, stores well, and complements any dish.
Yesterday I took the time to cut up this years seed potato. Carefully I selected just the right amount of eyes for each seed piece, set them in cardboard trays with a fan running in the background to help dry out the newly exposed flesh. The cutting of a potato into many pieces in order to reproduce the plant is an old practice going back to American prehistory. Interestingly some sects of Hindu’s won’t eat potatoes out of respect for the roots ability to continue creating life in seeming perpetuity.
Now, as the new seed potatoes dry preparing themselves for the planting ahead, I cannot help but be pleased with the varieties. Outside of newly exposed flesh these potatoes hold little in common with one another. These little tubers range in color, size, and harvest time in order to get the variety we will all appreciate come fall, winter, and hopefully spring.
Here is a quick list of potato varities we are planting:
- Keuka Gold
- La Ratte – Fingerling
- Ozette Fingerling
- Peanut Fingerling
- Red Lasoda
- Red Pontiac
- Mountain Rose
- Purple Viking
All these varieties are from http://ronnigers.com/ which is a respected organic/natural potato producer which produces in the rocky mountain region. Click on the names of the potatoes to see more about what will appear in our CSA baskets later this year.
Here’s to another productive weekend, one of potato planting, seedling transplanting, fence building, and preparing new garden beds. Sunday is suppose to be beautiful folks, for those of you who have some free time and want to spend it productively outdoors your helping hands will certainly be welcome out at EIO farm.
Dewayne