Tremendous Potatoes!

Fingerlings.  Not quite so small as we expected.

So far our potato harvesting has been going phenomenally this year.  We've only harvested 5 plants and already have pulled more potatoes than any previous year.   I think we are somewhere around 12 - 15 pounds.  Getting a plot at the community garden already paid for itself. 

Yukon golds and russets.

All Blue, Fingerling, Rose

Most impressive to us though was that we pulled one potato that was nearly 1.5 pounds all by itself.  It was just huge.  Huge!  We are so pleased already and there are still lots of plants to be harvested. 

The big humdinger and the itty-bitty micropotato!

We have certainly been enjoying the variety of potatoes at our disposal now too and eating them every day.  Sometimes a couple times a day!   Hashed, baked, mashed, fried, roasted.....mmmmmmm.....homegrown potato goodness that is for sure.

Yukon-Russet breakfast potatoes.

Yukons, All Blue, Fingerlings, cut for roasting.

Roasted Fingerlings, All Blue, Yukon, Patty Pan squash, eggplant, and fennel.   Everything in this roast came from the Yellowstone Valley, except the splash of olive oil and sprinkle of salt.  It made me quite pleased.  The meal idea was a suggestion from one of our local farmers (Danley Farms) whom we talked to at the last market.  Matt and I had never eaten fresh fennel before.  It was pretty good.  Not nearly as licorice-spicy as I expected it to be.

It is so interesting to me how each variety has a subtly different texture and flavor.  The fingerlings are so soft and creamy it is amazing.  The All Blue are just so beautiful and strange looking!  They really look like the came from South American origin.  The Yukon golds are so sweet and tender.  The Roses are so pretty, but we haven't yet eaten them (all 5 tiny potatoes) so I don't know how tasty they are just yet.  We were surprised to unearth them.  We thought the Rose hadn't come up at all.  Apparently at least one plant did and was swallowed up by its neighbors so we never noticed.

We are trying to diligently keep track of our harvest this year.  Inspired by Robin over at The Gardener of Eden Matt wanted a concrete number of how many pounds we produced from our little plots in a season.  I think he wants proof that it is a really worthwhile venture economically.  It seems like it is, but we never really bothered to keep track in years past.  We certainly know it is the best tasting, freshest foods we could eat.  There is no doubt about that.  We really don't have any strong doubts that it is economically advantageous either.  Organic or small-scale local produce can be quite spendy!  We sure know that.  One thing I have already learned is that if we continue to weigh our harvests every season we are going to have to buy a larger scale.  Our second-hand store find only goes up to 1 lb. which is slow going when you've got a basket full of spuds!  The big one couldn't even be weighed until we cut it in half!