Holy Spud-nik, Batman! and It's Not the Size that Matters.

One of the gardening jobs that I checked off the list was to dig the potatoes.  The plants had long gone brownish and flopped over, so off I went down Potato Row, as it is know on the LLF.  It was an interesting harvest.  I buy all my seed potatoes from Wood Prairie Farm in Maine.  They are organic, small, family-run, fiercely against Monsanto and the other Goliaths, and their products (potatoes) are wonderful.  The only problems I have ever had were entirely my fault, or the fault of Father Nature.  So.  As you all know, I plant potatoes pretty much Hillbilly Style - in tires.  I have been experimenting with the Potato Bag and, other than the fact that I actually have to buy them (as opposed to all the free tires I could possibly want), I prefer them - the harvest is the same, if not slightly better, and all you do is dump them over and pick out your potatoes.

I tried some new varieties this year, one of them being a trial organic Russet.  Imagine my surprise when I dug up this baby from Tire #7!

For extra dramatic effect, I used a
grape tomato as a size reference.  Pretty cool, no?

This year, the reds did not do as well as the Bliss and other yellow skinned/fleshed potatoes.  The    did amazingly well, producing almost 8 lbs from 1 lb of seed.  To be fair to the reds, they were pretty much neglected this year as the weeds overwhelmed during the endless blistering heat, and the yellows were more closely planted, so they maintained moisture.  That is my story and I'm sticking to it.  All in all, the total harvest from 6 lbs of seed potatoes was just under 15 lbs.  Not bad.  That will carry me well into winter.

This morning I managed to get out of the door to start chores earlier than I have of late.  This gave me some time to stand and watch the shenanigans in the poultry yard.  Roquefort continues to blossom into a handsome rooster - he's got his "Elvis" almost down, and continues to show a non-aggressive front.  His crow needs polish.  It seems as if he's auditioning - besides the regular "OffWithHerHead", there is the "OffWithHerHead" followed by a gargle.  Neither is very impressive.  But we have hopes.

Then there is Chadwick.  He's the other resident rooster, the Golden Sebright.  Not only was he a precocious little cockerel, but he is not daunted by the size of the hen.  No siree.  And he doesn't waste a lot of time on the "Elvis", preferring to get down to business.  And he's fast!  He's given me the stink eye a few times, but is smart enough to realize I outweigh him.  While I was standing and admiring the variety of colors and personalities, Roquefort sashayed into the coop to get some breakfast.  The next thing I knew, he shot out of the hen door as if propelled by a cannon!  Right on his heels was Chadwick, who chased him from one end of the yard to another.  Apparently, Roquefort has not figured out that he is four times the size of Chadwick; who, after making his point, stalked back into the coop.  Poor Roquefort.

I just can't wait to see how Chadwick will react when the turkeys (Tiny and Alice and Squeak) are let out to graze.  Should be another interesting day on the LLF.