I live in the land of potatoes now, if you didn’t know already, and last week and this one is Potato Harvest. The kids even get two weeks off school, as way back when (within the last generation even) everyone – even kids- helped with the harvest. Trucks and equipment are not only in every field I can see (which is a lot), they are all over the road (more so than usual). There is a distant hum in the background – machinery going back and forth across the fields digging it all up.
It’s kind of fascinating, in a way – it’s pretty slick seeing how they control the harvest and get it into storage barns, all in two weeks. Some will be bagged and shipped to stores everywhere, some will head off to the factory to become fries and other potato products.
Dust is kicked up everywhere. Traffic warnings are on the radio, reminding motorists to be aware of extra equipment on the road and (this makes me giggle) to watch out for falling potatoes. The field near us is being done today, and I am told we can wander over when they are done and gather up any they missed.
There’s a nice collection of harvesting pictures here, if that floats your boat. Modern farming involves a lot of driving around on heavy equipment and not much digging in the dirt.
But then we get to eat them. 
We’re in love with mashed potatoes and with a little help from Paula Dean, came up with one of the best mashed potato recipes there is.
Peel and *slice* the potatoes, 8 to 10 – or I do whatever half-fills my big pot. Paula showed me how slicing the potatoes instead of quartering them, made them cook faster and mash easier. Cook & drain, then mash well. Add a stick of butter/margerine and some milk, like a half cup. Beat with the electric mixer, but not too much.
Heaven. Paula adds sour cream, too.
I didn’t find any unit studies on potatoes, but it sure would be a yummy and interesting one.
Put a clove of garlic (whole) in the pot with the potatoes and then mash it in. V. yummy. You can also grate cheese in while you are mashing.
The sad side of the potato harvest is that for impoverished families, collecting the potatoes after the harvest was an important source of food. Might still be. And I bet that the industrialization of the process has meant that the general level of economic autonomy (and possibly economic level in general) is lower that it might otherwise be.
that’d be in my unit study…
Oddly ernpugh, this seems to be one of the least-impoverished areas I have ever lived in. I’ve yet to find a food bank and the local Sally Ann store even closed down.
I can imagine the farmers are in some heavy debt though. Those machines come with big price tags. (but the local McCompany pays well)
Dammit, now I’m craving potatoes.
I love mashed but I can’t use a mixer because I’m weird and NEED some lumps.
mmmm, potatoes! I think we’re going to have to have some mashed potatoes for dinner now. It’s alright if dinner is just a huge plate of them and some gravy, right?
As a kid, my uncle would call us the day before the farm he worked at would be turning under the field of peas and we would get to go out there and pick peas to our hearts content. We’d take home 5 or 6 brown paper grocery bags full. Oddly, my mom never froze or canned a thing when I was a kid either. My dad hated cooked peas too, so we just ate them, morning, noon and night til they were gone.
I’m now thinking fondly of those memories, but dang! I wish we lived next to a potato field. The cabbage fields we live near now do make me crave sauerkraut though
Yum! Forget Atkins – I love my starch. And mashed potatoes are one of my favourite ways of getting it. Probably the best mashed potatoes I ever had were, oddly enough, pressure cooked. I forget where I got the recipe (and have since lost it) but I actually cooked the potatoes in the pressure cooker. It took about 2-3 minutes at pressure. When I was done they turned out to be the fluffiest, most delicious mashed potatoes ever.
Yum! Forget Atkins – I love my starch. And mashed potatoes are one of my favourite ways of getting it. Probably the best mashed potatoes I ever had were, oddly enough, pressure cooked. I forget where I got the recipe (and have since lost it) but I actually cooked the potatoes in the pressure cooker. It took about 2-3 minutes at pressure. When I was done they turned out to be the fluffiest, most delicious mashed potatoes ever.
Ooh – and I love cabbage, too but prefer it as kimchi!
food bank is on main street, and global put Sally Anne out of business – it’s cheaper!
I always put a bunch of garlic in my taters to cook and mash up with them. Yuuuummm