Well, we've been busy here at the farmstead.  We've managed to dig about 40-50 lbs of red potatoes, and we still have another row!  I am shocked to see that the plants that I thought were dying due to disease were actually dying because they were ready to be picked!  We've got red potatoes the size of my fist!  I was mistaken, and thought we wouldn't pick potatoes until October.  We've enjoyed some hearty meals with the potatoes and look forward to feasting more for the rest of the summer.  I would be more inclined to save some for the winter, but since we lack a root cellar or any type of basement, that is a bit impractical.  Anyone know how to freeze potatoes for future use? 

This is our dinner plate the day we picked potatoes!  Red potatoes, then swiss chard from our garden, and then millet patties.  Yum!

We've also been blessed to borrow a friend's tiller and now we are really in business!  We've tilled under the spinach and lettuce rows and the peas.  It is becoming hard press to find any seeds in the stores to buy.  I was going to plant broccoli and cauliflower but we couldn't find any seeds.  So, there was a packet of corn left!  It is a bit late for corn, but it said 76 days until harvest - that would put us at second week in September.  That's not too bad, considering we live fairly far south.  In Michigan, sweet corn didn't come in until mid August, at least when I was growing up.  Sweet Corn has arrived where we live, but I don't think it is coming very local.  Maybe from further south.  I am also going to plant Buttercup squash and eggplant.  Our green beans are producing now and our tomatoes are finally coming along.  I made a big mistake only watering our tomatoes occasionally (like less than once a week) and they were stalling.  I've watered for the last two nights and it feels like they have doubled in size - and are now flowering!  I was hoping to plant sweet potatoes but found out that sweet potatoes only come in plants called slips.  They are grown off of the root of a sweet potatoe.  Too bad, I was looking forward to an autumn sweet poatoto harvest.  I guess I just assumed that was when they were harvested, since Thanksgiving, sweet potatoes are so popular.

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Posted by Anonymous

Not logged in. I've heard of placing potatoes or carrots in rain barrels and covering them with sand. I read and was told that's how the old timers did it.

Love, Pam

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