This Spud's For You

I didn't know if I'd be able to say this! I planted potatoes that had gone to seed in my basement, not sure if we’d have much to harvest or not? This summer, I’d gone out to dig up some “new” potatoes for a Sunday dinner dish. Much to my dismay there wasn’t much to dig up. I blamed this on the horses. They are excellent escape artists and unbeknownst to me, they’d trekked over to the garden for nibbling and rolling. GRRRR!

They made a serious dent in the potatoes and beans. I wasn’t sure what would or could be recovered. I did my best to keep bugs and pests off of  the ones that hadn't been smashed. I've not had the best luck this year, remember the goat ate the tomato plants.......twice. The kids and I picked off beetles and took them to the chickens for afternoon snacks. When canning season hit and I forgot all about potatoes. That is until last night………….

Chad and the “little garden helper” dug up one hill. It produced these two large spuds and several others. There’s something quite magical about digging up potatoes in the fall; it’s like finding buried treasure……that you can EAT! And, eat we do! We smash, mash, roast, grill, bake, hash, broil and fry taters. Chad bought a french fry cutter, which was used often last winter, usually on Sunday nights. Although I despise the smell of deep fat frying in my kitchen (*barf*) because it lingers for days, it truly is one of my family’s favorite way to devour spuds. I LOVE the crunck of kettle chips, delicious.

It looks like we’ll have another nice harvest this fall,  digging will commence soon. My wish at this time is for a root cellar. The store room downstairs is a bit on the warm side, my onions are trying to sprout. I’ve a mind to bury one of the box car storage units we have. It is insulated and I think it would do the trick. We’re going to need to do something with all the jars that I’ve canned this summer too. Though I never feel like I do enough, it does appear that we’ll not run out of green beans for awhile……….57 jars worth!

I got several jars of salsa, chili base, spaghetti sauce and tomato soup. I didn’t get a lot of sweet corn put up (thanks cows, again, grrrrrr) but we had quite a few bags left over from the previous year. I hope to put up at least a couple more batches of tomato soup and mild salsa. I also have dill beans to make, peaches to jam and cantaloupe bread to bake. I wish my harvest was done……..when the snow flies, I guess that’ll be my sign.

Everything seems to be about a month or two behind. I normally have things a bit more organized, tidy and on track than what I do. By this time last year, I’d already switched the summer clothes out of closets and had the fall/winter ones in. The canned goods were neatly organized and on the shelves and I could walk across my floor without stepping on a sandbur! I feel like I am moving in slow motion and I don’t like it one bit. I look around and see so many things that need attention, yet only those things at the top of the list are what get done. I've abandoned all hope of getting to item number four on my list, one through three take the entire day! (I’m trying to remember how often I’ve mentioned this in blog posts! Sorry if I’m redundant.)

We'll be taking our boys to a Husker game tomorrow. We lucked out and got four tickets. Since there are five in our family, the youngest will be going to hang with her cousins. She'll be much happier with them than watching football. Sunday will likely find me a. resting and b. making jam and freezing the lug of peaches in my fridge downstairs. Harvest is here, isn't it? As least we have an amazing moon to look at!

I'll bet you've been working hard too; doing what you need to do to get ready for winter. If you can, take a break tonight, pull up a chair, light the firepit and grab a refreshing beverage........ THIS SPUD’S FOR YOU!