This is the third year I’ve grown potatoes.  Yukon Gold, Fingerlings and Carolina Golds.  First year I grew them in bags.  Last year, I built a potato tower out of some stakes and leftover chicken wire.  It’s been pretty successful.

Today I harvested potatoes.  I took off the layer of straw and dried ornamental grass trimmings and put them aside.  Then I took a hand rake and raked out the little nuggets of goodness.  You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted cooked fresh homegrown potatoes.  Scrub them clean, put them in a covered Pyrex dish and microwave on high until soft.  No salt or butter, they are so delicious and melt in your mouth.  They are so dense and oh the energy in them!  They are alive.  Best thing for our bodies right now are foods that have energy.

So, I was working away, engrossed in the wonder of digging out treasure, and the thought popped into my head that I should be taking pictures and sharing this.  Of course, I have no before pictures of the potato tower intact with the vines.  but I do have , but the time to harvest potatoes is when the vines begin to die back in the fall.  We had regular rain this summer, not too dry, not too wet, so they did well.  Potatoes like consistently moist soil.  Not too wet but moist.  

The soil doesn’t stick to them much so not to worry, they are hard to miss. When you think you’ve gotten them all, do another step and look a little further, there’s always a few little strays.  So I’ll take my shovel and turn the ground over fairly deep- about 6-8 inches.  I add back the straw and grasses so they can break down in the soil and become food for next year’s crop.  A few shovelfuls of worm compost and the potato tower is put to bed for the winter.

This is an excellent garden activity for children.  The teeny little spuds are so cute and fun.  A great way to spark wonder in the fertile minds of little helpers.

I still grew potatoes in bags this year.  They were under our deck to keep from overheating.  But the potato tower did better for the second year in a row.  If you have never experienced a fresh cooked home grown potato you need this in your life.  If you don’t have a garden, try a bag like a Geopot.  But, you don’t need to spend money on a fancy bag.  Believe it or not, you can use a large fabric reusable grocery bag or even buckets.

Here’s a short video about building a potato tower.

My grandma’s kitchen was always such a happy place.  Numerous heartwarming concoctions evolved there.  She taught me to make juice and jelly from her concord grapes. We’d go out and cut the clusters together and bring them in to her kitchen to wash and prep.  There was always soft music gently playing… and she hummed along while she worked.

One of the reasons we chose this house in beautiful central PA 4 years ago was the large backyard garden.  It had existing blackberries, black raspberries, strawberries, grapes, black currants and gooseberries. I since added Rhubarb, asparagus, honeyberries and goji berries. The blackberries and black raspberries are trellised. Yes, they are a bit of work.  The blackberries are luckily thornless, but alas the raspberries bite. The process of thinning, trimming and tying in the fall can be a job.  But I hum while I work.

I grow organic so I do have to get these little gems of goodness before the birds do. But I share, the berries at the top of the trellis are all theirs.  So far, the only crop I cover with bird netting is blueberries.  I do place a plastic hawk out when they come ripe, and it seems to help, but I’ve also noticed that before the blueberries are finished the lack of birds allows a rise in bug populations. Yes, I do enlist the help of several armies of ladybugs and it has really helped.

On the most part I assemble a stockpile of frozen fruit in gallon freezer bags.  The fruit sometimes freezes in a block so I compile a mixture as I pick.  When I’m ready to cook, into a large crockpot they go and gently warm on low heat. High heat sometimes creates a slight harshness to the taste.

Add to the fruit a healthy amount of filtered water, almost to cover (finished juice can always be diluted to taste.)  After several hours, fruit softens enough to mash with a potato masher.  Now for the fun part.  Last Christmas, I received from my wonderful husband, the gift of a stainless steel fruit press.  Yeah!  Much better than straining or hanging in a cheesecloth bag, It has a heavy hand crank presses that does all the work for you. 

Now, if I run out of time, I can freeze the juice in a container and warm it up again when I am ready to can.  This way, several batches can be produced at once.  One word of warning, berry juice stains.  Dark clothes, blue/black towel covering work area are a must.  Yes your hands can stain too, but it will fade with multiple handwashings.

At this point, the juice smells fresh and marvelous! It can be used to make wine…

 …and jelly.

I home can my juice in quart jars.  Water bath for 15 minutes.  I choose to sweeten it a little with a small amount of organic raw sugar, honey and agave.  For information on canning, Canning Granny has some very thorough water bath canning instructions here.

It’s amazing how fresh and nutrient packed this juice is.  With the first sip, it feels as if your body wakes up!  No wonder…  the love put into the fruit, and the energy preserved out of respect for the plant, processed with care and gratitude, creates an amazing health elixir that raises your vibration.

To your health!

One awesome thing about the south in winter is boiled peanuts.  I’ve never seen how peanuts are actually grown, and had the opportunity to see it, right before my very eyes.

The farmer goes through pulling up the peanut plants and leaves them to dry.

The peanuts are actually hidden underground, attached to the roots.

The farmer turns them over from time to time so they thoroughly dry.

Then, when they are ready, he will come along with a harvester that will pull the peanuts from the roots.

…and they look like this.

Rinse ’em, and put ’em in a pot with some salt water and boil ’em up for a few hours.

Til they look like this.

They have a wonderfully surprising, nutty taste similar to boiled chestnuts.  Yum!