Favorite Recipes: Volume 1

I'm enjoying spud harvest being over. Mike is currently doing field/tractor work. He's using a ripper on the grain fields. It breaks up the soil deep under the surface so it can irrigate better.

We eat potatoes often. I mean we do kind of have an unlimited supply of them, so, I always have them on hand. A lot of people ask my favorite recipes. I'll share a few of them today.

Baked Potatoes
We love baked potatoes. We will eat them as a side with just butter, or do Cowboy Potatoes and serve chili over them with cheese and sour cream.

Mashed Potatoes
I'm pretty sure everyone has a mashed potato recipe that they like, but to make mine special for holidays or sometimes Sunday dinner, I add a few things. Instead of just boiling them in water, I'll add in some chicken broth and a good amount of salt. Cook them until they are nice and tender and then drain them. I'll add a lot of butter, and some milk for regular ones, but sometimes, I'll add a dollop of sour cream or cream cheese. And instead of milk, I use whole milk or heavy cream. Seriously, just a few little changes can make a big difference in the potatoes. Mash away! I like mine to still have a few little lumps in them. Okay, my mouth is watering. I need to move on before I go make some at 9 PM.

Potato Soup
I use the Pioneer Woman's recipe. And it is perfect. It makes enough for us to have it for dinner 2 nights. And maybe a lunch, too. Go here to find the recipe. We had it Saturday, then again tonight. It reheats perfectly.

Spud Harvest

Spud harvest has been so busy! We started last Thursday and I was all excited, but then it rained all day on Friday, and we can't dig when it is raining because the trucks will get stuck, and if the ground is too wet, like it still was on Saturday, we wait. I finally have a few minutes to catch up a bit. Here is a little peek at how we do spud harvest.

• Mike heads out about 8 AM. There are some days on occasion that they will start at 4 or 5 AM, but that is only if we know bad weather is coming and they need to get as much done as possible. He gets a few things done in the shop, but usually heads up to the field and gets the tractor and the digger ready to go.
• The truck drivers head up to the field between 8:30 and 9
• I take care of kids and get them dressed, off to school. The past week has been harvest break. Yes, the kids get a week off of school, and neighboring districts take off two weeks. 
• I will take lunch up to Mike about 12 or 1. 
•  About 3 or 4, I take treats (soda and candy bars, sometimes donuts) out to the pit crew and the truck drivers grab a treat when they come down to unload. 
• I get dinner up to Mike about 6 or so, and we will usually go for a ride in the tractor or truck. 
• The crew finishes up about 10 every night, unless they are almost done, then sometimes they'll go well past midnight.

This is a picture from the tractor showing the potatoes being put in a truck by the digger. The truck drivers stay pretty close to the digger and watch the driver of the tractor to know what to do. The tractor doesn't change speeds, so the truck needs to speed up or down so the potatoes can be loaded in the truck. The driver of the tractor lets them know what to do. That arm on the digger can move up or down, as well. Mike and Derrick (who is our hired man) drive the tractors and literally get no breaks at all. Some other farmers here run a crossover, which is basically a digger, but low to the ground and digs the potatoes and lays them in between two rows, then a digger will come a long and pick up those, as well as the potatoes he is digging and put them in a truck. We don't have a big enough operation to warrant using a crossover. 

Here are a few trucks waiting to back into the cellar.  They come down to from the field and weigh the truck on a scale we have right across the street (it is blocked by a truck in this picture). They record how many pounds, then come over to the pit to unload. 

Here is the piler. We have high school kids usually working in the pit. The trucks back into the cellar and up to the piler. When the truck is unloading, the kids working the piler help to sort the potatoes. They grab dirt clods, rocks, vines, and any broken potatoes. There are some steps on the side of the piler that kids will stand on, as well, to make sure there isn't anything in there that shouldn't be. We have a guy that runs the piler with a remote basically and he makes sure the potatoes get piled efficiently.  If you can see that green line on the wall of the cellar, the spuds go a bit higher than that. You can see a mat right under the truck and the piler, and that is where a lot of dirt and potatoes that are too small fall. After 3 or 4 trucks, the mat is full of dirt and potatoes, and it gets hooked up to a truck and pulled out of the cellar. 

 My life doesn't change too much, I just need to make sure I get treats and meals out to people, and that can take a while sometimes. I'll be honest, harvest for us used to take about 3 weeks, and I am so glad that right now, it is only a week. We are a little more than halfway done. Once we are done with harvest, we do field work to get the ground ready for winter.

That is a little bit about spud harvest. Any questions? Please ask! Is there anything you want to know about operations or why we do things the way we do? Ask!