Thursday, September 15, 2016

Diggin' Taters

Papa Pea and I have both had a taste for potatoes lately, most likely because we've been out of them for some time, and it's a smidge bit early yet to harvest all ours in the garden.

I confess to having gone out to the potato rows once or twice in the past month to "steal" a couple, but I've always pilfered some from the two rows of red potatoes.

Today I decided to go excavating for a few in the row of Burbank Russets, a new variety (for us) I planted this year.  Touted as a good baking potato, it appealed to me.

Look what I found.


Those two big ones on the left measure 8-1/2" and 9-1/2" long respectively and each weigh about 1-1/2 pounds.  Wow.  If the rest are anything like this, looks like we may have enough taters for our winter table without any trouble.

Now, would you like a BAKED POTATO with your steak?

33 comments:

Fiona said...

Well Tis The luck O the Irish to get those taters....Holy smoking french fries!

Mama Pea said...

Fiona - Heehee! I hadn't thought of making French fries out of those two honkin' big ones!

The Luck o' the Scottish is the closest I get to Irish! (A not very pleasant note to that . . . my maternal grandmother and her family immigrated from Scotland to the U.S. because they survived their last winter in Scotland with nothing to eat but potatoes. We have it pretty darn good these days, don't we?)

Carol said...

Love growing potatoes. It's like a treasure hunt!

Carol said...

Love growing potatoes. It's like a treasure hunt!

Laurie said...

Those are some big potatoes. Looks like you're in for a bumper crop. And, you sound a bit cheerier today. Glad about that. Oh and I see you've changed your header picture to the fall one. Love it!

Vera said...

These look better potatoes than ours...
much bigger and healthier looking. Ours are still in the ground though, so I must remind Himself to get them dug up before they start rotting!

Mama Pea said...

carol pavlik - Isn't it though? Years ago when our daughter was nine, we dug our potatoes one afternoon when she was away from home. She was so disappointed because she said it was like a treasure hunt that she always looked forward to!

Mama Pea said...

Laurie - Yes, it was time for a change of "seasons!" Strangely, our colors here have hardly even started to change. Don't know what's going on with that!

Mama Pea said...

Vera - I will be amazed if we find more big ones like these two. They were both under one plant.

Fiona said...

I am a mix of Scots [Fiona], Irish and to top it off French! We do take our bounty for granted and forget the Irish Potato famine when a society put all its food hope in one crop. We seem to be doing the same thing with industrial mega farming. I am still in awe of your super taters!

Susan said...

Wowzer! Those are huge taters! I got a nice crop of red norlands, but the fingerlings were disappointing. I'm holding out for my dark blues. I always fall for the flashy ones.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Flashy, maybe, but Papa Pea was just reading that "blue" taters have a LOT of nutrition in them! But . . . do they turn gray when you cook them?

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Great potatoes - we've eaten the Russet Potatoes most of our lives (and the reds, and the Yukon Gold - we like potatoes) - the Russets are called Idaho Bakers out here on the west coast - very popular. They do make a fluffy baked potato - give me a little butter, some broccoli and cheese on top of the potato and there is one good meal.

Michelle said...

You can have the steak; pass the potatoes, please!

Mama Pea said...

JoAnn - I'll sit down and eat that described baked potato with you any time. (I'll need a little salt and pepper, too!)

Mama Pea said...

Michelle - Although we're no longer vegetarians, I'd be just as happy with the baked potato, too!

gld said...

Those are beauties. Have you thought about saving some for seeds for next year from the best hill? I wonder if those genetics would carry.

Mama Pea said...

Glenda - If the rest of the row turns out ones as nice as these, I'll definitely save some of the more impressive ones for next year. Potato eyes aren't cheap when you buy them from a good, organic source so I'm planning on saving some for next season . . . and hopefully keep them going year after year. I'm really curious to see what kinda poundage this 20' row produces! The batch shown in the picture weighed in at 5-1/2 lbs.

Katie C. said...

I love potatoes too! Mashed potatoes and meat loaf is definitely comfort food. We also bake a potato and put chili on top. I try to squirrel away some chili in the freezer whenever I make it specifically for this purpose. It makes a real easy no hassle dinner.

Mama Pea said...

Katie C. - Ya know, I've never tried that . . . chili over a baked potato. But now I'm definite gonna do it. No hassle dinners can't be beat!

My husband would probably say meat loaf and mashed potatoes is one of his favorite meals. I should make that for him one of these cool(er) days.

Kim said...

Or mashed potatoes with those stuffed peppers you got made up! Can't wait to hear the total pounds on the tater patch

Kim said...

Or mashed potatoes with those stuffed peppers you got made up! Can't wait to hear the total pounds on the tater patch

Lisa B said...

A baked giant potato with butter and sour cream please ship to DE please please please

Lisa B said...

I have plenty of beef to go with it.

Mama Pea said...

Kim - Yepper, now I'm pretty curious to see how well our taters produced this year.

Mashed potatoes with the stuffed peppers . . . I think you're the second one to suggest that good combo. Thanks!

Mama Pea said...

Lisa - That's how I like my baked potato, too. Yum! And I'll just bet you do have enough beef to go with the potatoes!

Rain said...

Love it! Those potatoes look great! I'm a big potato lover, in fact my bf bought me a cookbook simply called "Potato" it has 40 different potato recipes in it. Yum, I'd have those potatoes mashed up with lots of butter and bbq chicken! Yum :)

Mama Pea said...

Rain - Another taste tempting idea . . . I've been hungry for BBQ myself lately! I think many people consider the potato a comfort food.

Mark said...

Hi Mama Pea! (Yes, I'm still alive!) Those taters look great. We had good looking potatoes, but also very few. I think De put them in the day after I came home from the hospital, so they didn't get much "love" during the growing season.

One of the best things about a garden, though, is that there is always next year. We'll just plan on a better crop next fall.

Kev Alviti said...

I love big taters! Makes prepping the meal so easy. i've not grown any this year and I've really missed them, I won;t go without them again. In another couple of weeks I'll go buy all our potatoes from a local farm for next to nothing and have them stored ready to go!

Mama Pea said...

Mark - As the saying goes, some years are good potato years, some years it's something else.

Yes, we all have ideas and plans for next gardening season. There's always room for improvement or trying something new.

Hope you're feeling good again and will be back to blogging soon.

Mama Pea said...

Kev - Sometimes when you have the opportunity to buy your potatoes (or any other vegetable) from a nearby source you trust, that's the smart way to go.

Your lovely garden is so extensive I can see why you have to let something go now and then.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Looks great! Wow! Nice harvest. I have to dig mine up yet. It rained so heavily, it will need to dry out for a few days first.