How I Store 200 lbs of Potatoes WITHOUT a Root Cellar
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 12 июн 2024
- We grow over 200 lbs of potatoes on our homestead this year, but we DON'T have a traditional root cellar... So how on earth will we store them into the winter? I'll show you our strategies for maximizing potato storage even if you don't have a root cellar!
Grow Your Own Garlic! • Ignore this for 8 Mont...
How & Why We Built Our Raised Beds: • Raised Bed Garden Tour...
Tour of my Homestead Pantry: • Prairie Homestead Pant...
Visit my Homestead Mercantile for my must-have homestead supplies: www.theprairiehomestead.com/shop
📔 NEW The Old Fashioned on Purpose Planner: A Planner for Homesteaders, BY Homesteaders! www.prairieplanner.com
🐓 LIVE OLD-FASHIONED ON PURPOSE:
+ The Prairie Homestead Cookbook: homesteadcookbook.com
+ Learn How to Cook Like a Homesteader: heritagecookingclass.com
+ Learn How to Can (Safely!): learnhowtocan.com/
+ Prairie Homestead Merch! homesteadswag.com
+ The Homestead Mercantile: theprairiehomestead.com/shop
🌎 OTHER PLACES WE HANG OUT:
+ The Old-Fashioned on Purpose Podcast: oldfashionedonpurpose.com
+ The Prairie Homestead Blog: theprairiehomestead.com
+ Follow Along on Instagram: / theprairiehomestead
thanks for watching! If you're planning out your garden next year, potatoes are a fantastic crop to grow that gives you a whole lot of bang for your buck! Garlic is another one that's very worthwhile to plant-- you can get the scoop on that here:ruclips.net/video/mmP2BvHfkIE/видео.html
Do you think you could do a homestead tour?
Thank you for the video. I have a couple questions. I'm not capturing what is the difference between what you did to cure them and what you are doing to store them? What happened in the shop where you cured them vs the area you're storing? I'm not even sure what is happening in this curing process. SECOND QUESTION: When you cut up those organic store bought potatoes, did you cut them in the same day you planted them?
Thanks! ~Jennifer
Great video!💗
Could you tell me your plans for next year planting if day nothing was available...like would/could you let the sprouted ones be put aside for planting next spring?
Also...favorite recipes using potatoes?🥰
Have you ever thought of Jerusalem artichoke. I did a handful of pots and they multiply very well. I plan to put them in the ground as an invasive, fodder for my bees, unlikely to be bothered in a Suburban outbreak.
Store bought cannot compare in that pop of fresh flavor from home grown potatoes!
You may find this an odd comment, but that is one of the most wholesome videos I have seen. Three young kids (and their dogs) having fun on the farm helping their mom do chores. That's the way to raise kids. More of America needs to be like this. 👍
Make Farms Affordable Again!!!
I completely agree 😎
@@TimeSurfer206 And not corporate controlled or poisoned !!
Reminds me of when I was a kid. (I'm 55)
@@papawnanabubby5005 ----No IPads and Playstations....just mud puddles, cardboard boxes and dirt !!!! I'm 68.
Your kids are living a charmed life. They dont know it. Mud, dirt, splashing in all if it plus riding in the back of a truck!!!!
😂😂😂😂 I grew up on a farm. Mud = stripping at the back door, even when it's freezing outside. Dirt = a parental check of knees, elbows, and behind your ears until all the dirt is gone. Riding in the back of a truck is hard on one's bottom, what with all the rough, uneven ground! 😁 Thank you for the chuckle, and a few good memories though! ( BTW, I hope she lets them bake "mud pies!" 😉)
@@DeniseBabbit don't forget checking nails too
"Immune systems of steel."
True heavenly happy childhood in nature
Best gift to your children
Yup. What's the point in going $125.00 into debt to get a pressed tea juss degree to make a bunch of 💸💰 to buy a fancy car to spend two hours a day in bumper to bumper to sit in a fake lit room to take orders from someone you don't like and multirepetatively task away at something you hate when all y'all can do whut cher doon. Rieeeht?
No better place for children to be than in the sunshine and dirt!
Wish my kids had the chance to live on farm. We spent 6-7 years with grandparents going to school and living on their farm. Wouldn't trade it. So much better than city
Amen to that
Those kids will never forget those memories. Remember "The mind never forgets what the hands have learned"
especially as young children. most old fogeys may forget yesterday, but they usually remember their childhood easily!
My Aunt resided next store..she was a knowledgeable Gardener..
She taught my sister and I all about plants and care ..how to identify them...all the names and the weeds..differences... How to plant..soil.(s) all about bugs
Slugs etc.
I never forgot..her valuable lessons..so much I was gifted
Children do not forget. I thank God for her..
Best to teach them young
Children can do more than we as adults think .
lol, I laughed when she said child labor, it reminds me that the reason we have spring break for school kids is so they could help with the farm way back when everyone farmed.
I didn't know that. That's interesting.
@@nancyfahey7518 That is what I heard growing up in a rural area, but googling it just now I got mixed results so maybe I was lied to as a kid, I did find this snippet
"Kids in rural, agricultural areas were most needed in the spring"
how ever the entire article was about summer break and not spring break so, again mixed results
In Maine, in the northern counties, during potato harvest, they actually close school for two weeks so that all the school children can help with the harvest.
That's what everyone did as a child. Now kids feel abused if asked to pick up their dirty clothes.
I remember my cousins starting school in August, then getting 4 weeks off mid September to help harvest corn! That was in Illinois in the early 50s!
I like that you have your children learning real life math, organization, and problem solving skills.
It's why country people are so much smarter people a man who has never read a day in his life is smarter than a man who has read all his life
Absolutely great teaching kids about self sufficiency. Good job mom. God bless.
He literally used a calculator
Yes, not from the "indoctrination" centers they call school. That is where they teach you WHAT to think rather than HOW to think. Number 1 rule: QUESTION EVERYTHING. I'm talking to adults too.
@@nuttynutts2963 Would you like your doctor to be illiterate?
Thank you for putting your children to work and letting them know the absolute joy of riding in the back of the truck! 🥰 Awesome momma!
Awesome
OMG!
I LOVED doing this as a child. It was like finding buried treasure.
And gathering eggs was a close second.
I have the greatest memories and that was some 50+ years ago.
These are the luckiest children.
♥️♥️♥️
Poopoo9999999999999999999
Agree !! I grew up very similar in rural Germany....until 40 some yrs ago
when I immigrated to Florida.Just sold my Miami house,bought a cheaper one and moved OUT of the big City to a more Country setting. Lots of Lakes and Woods here too. I think that our survival chances are greater....IF the Sh..really hits the fan. Gun show in July...this time
I AM GOING !!
This is so wholesome. Families like yours are the heart and soul of America, IMO.
Ought to be
heart and soul of human kind if anything, living on a farm, kind loving family. Beautiful.
I remember helping my Grampa plant potatoes. He'd always say " make sure you put the eye up or they'll grow down to China". Good memories
Lol! My dad said the same thing!
Eye to the sky
That's a precious memory 😊
😆 good 'ol grandpappy! 👍💚
Good way to remember
I have always stored my potato harvest in dry sand. Carrots, onions, beets, potatoes etc (any root crop) stays fresh like you just picked it when stored in a dry breathable container layered with produce, dry sand, produce, dry sand.
This is the way our great grandparents did it and it has worked for hundreds of years. Just forgotten but sad...
Where do you get the sand to ensure it's clean, or do you not worry about it?
@@LaurelRussellRanchGirl Is the room temperature and darkness still a must when stored in sand?
@@rogerknight2267 yes, good question. cold but prevent from freezing, absolutely dry and zero moisture.
Awesome!
Once I tried to save a bumper crop of carrots in boxes of sand. Our basement was really too warm, but best location we had. After a couple months, hair like roots were all over the carrots, all matted together. Soon after, they started to rot. I Never tried that again.
Being 31, I never thought I'd comment like another did on this video. Incredibly wholesome family. Adorable kids helping, storing grown food in the homeschool house, with complete self-sustainabIlity. Coming from a tiny town, and learning to garden myself over the last 10 years (while thinking about children with my fiance), this video really gives me hope. I'm really glad you're homeschooling your children with everything going on as of late. Much over from our home to yours❤️
Country kids are resilient than most city folks. Natural-born survivor🇳🇿👌
"Why is your face so dirty?" "Cause." One of the best answers in the world for a child. Good job mom.
Cause I'm a child and I LIVE on a farm! 😂
'Cause I was having fun. "Dirt flies when people are having fun"...my son at the kart race track at 9 yrs.
She didn't say "cause"... she said, "ahhh"
She said umm or ahh and then got cut off benefited her answer probably didn't fit the video. 🤣
seeing that boy reach down and munch on that spinach got a laugh out of me, if no one tells you, youre doing it right mom.
Watching this took me back 40+ years to my own childhood.
Hard work but happy.
We did have a root cellar, I dreaded when it was my turn to go fetch something because I feared the cellar spiders. I don't know why I was ever scared of something so small.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful life with us.
Me too. Daddylonglegs still give me the absolute creeps. 😬
Hey didn’t like spiders & still don’t !!
@@brendahill7622 received notification of your comment as I'm currently crawling around in hands and knees looking for a brown recluse that escaped death in my living room.
I have to sleep in the couch because the chickys are hatching, was already going to be a long night but now I'll pass the time on a mission.
I hate brown recluse!
Exactly. THE SPIDERS.
I love that the kids went right for fresh picked spinach as a snack! Great job, Mom!! 👍
@Steve Woda Uh, no. Not all kids would. I know I wouldn't have. We weren't raised on junk food. We always had fruit or vegetables and nuts out as snacks growing up. I had to google twinkies to see what they were. They look like sugar and artificial flavored junk.
Too bad it's only a few kids on a Farm that do this. My kids were raised this way as well to eat their Veggies and I taught them how to grow their own Food. We are not on a Farm. Anyone can be Healthy and Grow their own food as you can see the Millions of people who live in the City that do in their own Backyards & even Balconys with Vertical Gardens. It doesn't take being on a Farm for this.
@@SR-iy4gg Had to Google Twinkies 😂🤣! You're right, they are junk!! 👍
So refreshing to see kids ride on the back of the truck! Kids allowed to be kids 💚. Makes them strong and healthy, no free blue ribbons here!
Yep-- they are country kids through and through. :)
Country kids grow up better
As long as they’re on the farm that’s not illegal but otherwise on a road they would get fined big-time.
Doesn't hurt the kids a bit too help dig potatoes. We had a patch atleast that big in our garden when we lived on the farm. But we would plant in March or atleast by good Friday and start eating them in July or August and have fresh boiled potatoes and sweetcorn and tomatoes for supper and something off the grill usually Pork patties or Chops since we raised Pork
Being raised on a farm, kids know what work is all about and that you get paid for the jobs you do. My son when he was in school never took a book home made the honor roll and National honor society and worked for other farmers and businesses 60 plus hours a week and both days on weekends cuz he knew the value of money. He had his own car 2 yrs before he could get his temporary license to and from school only.
Watching this from Ireland and I really enjoyed it. It did my heart good to see these lovely wee kids mucking in .It was great to see them nawing at the raw potatoes with their muddy hands building up their immune system this is the way it should be. This was very informative and a breath of fresh air. Thank you.
I am 76 years old, and This brought back so many sweet childhood memories, and yes the excitement of finding another potato was indeed like a treasure hunt.
So much richness in the best way back then; there's more money and material now but the unnatural "convenience" is killing us
I’ve learned to start on the far side of whatever I am doing, and work towards the closest, so that when I am getting tired, I am walking and carrying a shorter distance.
That is a very smart way to do it!
Smart! I'll be using this tip later in the year. Thank you!
Wisdom speaking!
Agreed. It's helpful. I've learned that too.
I love the "child labor" and them just randomly picking spinach as a snack!🥰
I've lived on a farm, everyone helps and everyone benefits. Get on with your child labor comments. That is. Family helping family. People today are taught to be self centered, and unable to fend for themselves.
@@krzykatldy8688 my comment was meant to be sweet, not rude...this family is precious and a blessing to follow...🙏😉
Working to feed the family is not child labor. I grew up on the farm. Everyone helping with planting, gardening, weeding, harvesting, preserving, feeding, cleaning, etc......
It’s obvious that your comment isn’t serious. Ignore those who think it is😉
There's nothing wrong with having your children help with things that need to be done it teaches them responsibility and self sufficency and independence all things that benefit them in life!
Awesome to see children living real lives building strong immune systems. Brilliant parents raising brilliant kids. Much love to you all.
I don't usually comment on videos, but.. I found this to be just wonderful!
I love I mean truly LOVE that you are a real person doing normal things with your kids doing along side of you. They will grow up to appreciate all that's wholesome and unafraid of honest hard work! Dinner will ALWAYS taste better!
I love that you're not being all fancy using good old cardboard boxes.. keep doing what you're doing and thank you for sharing it all including THE NOT PERFECT stuff. Because it rarely is perfect. You go girl!
Ow, the days of riding in the back of a truck while my grandad and then my dad hauled us around on the farm! Thanks for bringing back these great memories!
I love what you and the kids are doing..this is awesome they're enjoying. It.
“Immune systems of steal” 😂😂😂 that’s so true when you live in a rural area.
Yup I would get yelled at or hairy eyeball when my son's were little - sand, dirt- puddles, whatever, they would be in it. Laundry was nasty, but they had fun. They are both old men now lol.
steel
@@Natalie37854 spelling cops,,lol!!
@@mikesampson3467 Ja, natürlich. Ich bin die offizielle Grammatikpolizei. Wie kann ich dir helfen?
Immune systems of steel...comes from digging in the flower garden, vegitable gardening, fruit treeing, mowing the lawn, etc
Love this video! This is how kids should be raised...helping their loving parents while learning how to grow food! Thank you for sharing your family.
Wow, what a wholesome loving family to be raised in. Wish every American could experience this type of upbringing. Actually I would have loved being raised in this type of
Farming family, and bring homeschooled as well. Good Bless these wonderful people.
it's the America I believe we all long for. tired of being a robot making someone else rich.
That's the best way to boost your immune system. Loved this. You children are so adorable.
This video reminds me of my ranch childhood in Wyoming. We had "immune systems of steel" too, and still do to this day. A little dirt won't hurt you!
As a fellow Wyoming guy I second this motion!!
@@jsvalina3503 , are you one of the Svalinas from Svalina Road? I'm one of the Prestons from Preston Draw. Small world!
When we got a cut from wrecking our bikes the neighbor lady would say"spit on the cut and rub some dirt on it" we loved :-)
When I was a kid, our house was pier and beam with a tall crawl space underneath. We kids would get under the house and lay out the potatoes carefully, then the folks would close the hatch door to keep out any vermin. When Mom needed potatoes, one of us would go under the house and throw them out to a sibling. It was actually a fun chore with a lot of potato fights before we took them inside. It was a great way to grow up.
The most healthy and wholesome video ever.
I have to say that Jill has a way about her that is relaxing and i think she should have her own tv show or something. Good Job Jill. You stay just the way you are.
Right, and the commiercials would likely be big pHARMa. I'll stick with utube.
Yea, tv is on it's way out. I haven't watched tv in so many years and I'm off my anxiety medicine.
No, no, no
What is this bizarre American desire to commercialize, commodify and force celebrity on everything?
@@geclay8996 You tube isn't much better with their "commercials".
We stored them under our house on burlap bags on the ground. We had taders all year. A rotten tader is a smell you won’t forget.
Thank you for the hard work. Beautiful to see your littlest angel carrying a box and dragging a gardening tool. I cried tears of joy. Your hairdo is something we've worked hard to duplicate in my family for years. We achieve it so often now and wear it with pride. We call it God's Do.
My grandmother used to spread her taters out on newspaper on the cool basement floor then spread lime on them to keep them from rotting then wash before using. She said not to let them touch each other in case one goes bad. She only did maybe 100 pounds so she didn’t need as much room for them like you would if saving 300 pounds.
I was reading the comments to see if anyone mentioned lime. Yes, this is what my parents did. I’m 65. You can also can them.
@@dtfoxtreasures3131 where do you buy lime for that use? Interesting.
I love how the children climb on the pick up without the mum yelling at them. You are a good mom
We've used plastic milk crates to store them. They can get air & you can stack them.
me too in milk crates works wonderfully.
With no sand right?
I use gunny sacks, as well as milk crates and I use 5 gallon tree buckets with the three drain holes in the bottom. There is no need to pack them in any kind of medium. Unless you like to make more work for yourself, that is. Potatoes need a high humidity storage and whatever air they get in those buckets is fine by them. We hear about having air circulation around potatoes but this has certainly not been our experience. We store them at about 6 degrees C (somewhere in the low 40's F) and they love it and so do we, as we eat on them for 9 months of storage, or more. We always have a few potatoes left in the root bunker when we begin to eat new potatoes.
It is nice watching a great Mom and her children co-operating and working as a team.
This video brings back all of our oldest and best memories of Great Grandpa.
He always put a deep layer of old but clean hay or straw mixed with composted stuff on his crops for three reasons.
Protection from cold weather, weed suppression and soil conditioning.
Your kids are so fortunate to grow up on a homestead. It is a very good and healthy life.
Remember when you could ride in the back of the truck?
you still can
Yes and wasn't it fun. We made silly faces at people that followed us. and got plenty of fresh air and laughs.
Pepperidge farm remembers
When killing kids was no big deal because you could just pop put another one?
@@justdefacts Pure ignorance! What about the amount off abortions?
Check those facts out!
I like this show. Love how the little people chipped in.
Thats right Mommy, get those ADORABLE kids in that garden. They are living the life!
My garden fork is a special potato seeking one. Stabs them every time!
😂🥔
Lol oh no!!!
😂
I have the same one! 😂
It is a well-known fact that Garden forks and potatoes have been at war for years.
A lot of hard work goes into this lifestyle. Much respect to you, mom.
Jill, you are a great mother because you encourage your kids to be kids. You stopped and admired the worm and also let the kids walk in the water and not hollering at them to get out of the water. The kids were involved in harvesting the potatoes because you made it interesting for them. The kids seem to have interesting little 'learning times' no matter what you are doing with the kids. Calculating the total weight using the white board and calculator was a good way to have the kids be involved in the potato harvest. You show genuine interest in what the kids are doing and you are so loving and give great compliments. They know you care and love them. Blessing to you all...
What's better than video games, TV and Mountain Dew? Gardening. I'm 64 now and my dad once pointed out how much us kids "hated" working in our massive garden of 1 to 2 acres...but now that we're adults, all six kids have gardens at their own homes....so happy to see the ray of hope of your kids hanging out with their mom and actually enjoying the effort....it takes special people to raise special people. Thks for sharing.
I hated helping in the family garden. It was big enough to feed three families. But now I garden myself. My brother does too. Will be picking my mom up beginning in May she can help me with it, and then can a bunch.
We use a manure fork for digging potatoes, the ground sieves through the prongs and the potatoes are left. Works great♥️🇨🇦
I so love how you incorporate your munchkins into the harvest.
We started growing Yukon, Russets and Red potatoes, and I am so glad for it. Sweet potatoes we also now grow are stored with the others, in an old barn on our property.
Watching your little girl playing with a worm made me giggle. The difference in city kids and country kids is definitely a thing. My kids grew up in town and my son and daughter (now in their 30s) would never touch a worm, lol. So glad yours explore everything.
Love seeing your family involvement and teaching life as it comes and as needed to be apart of life forever. I just discovered you this morn. Loved every minute. Altho I'm 76yr. You took me back to my childhood. The way you are raising your children is as good as it gets. These lessons of living will be with them forever and will become treasures and memories invaluable and hopefully continued. I still garden and put up my own food for the most part.
Subscribed for pure pleasure.
76 here, too. Grew up on a farm, learning, as these children are learning. While I don't grow a garden anymore, my canners are still active. Canned some venison last week. Remember, well, when I was a kid helping with harvesting a large patch of potatoes. They were spread on the earth floor of an old barn, until they were cured. Had a sheltered place with a large bench to cure onions. Peanuts were cured on top of a shed with a low roof pitch. Vines were pulled & tossed on top of the shed. Used to love to climb up there and steal a few. :-)
We were involved in every aspect of farm life as we grew old enough to help according to our ability. From a food standpoint, learned early how to shell peas and husk sweet corn. Later learned to render lard and pluck chicken feathers. Skills still treasured today. Rendering lard and tallow are processes I still use, so that excess fat doesn't go to waste when canning stew meat, for example.
Thanks for bringing back memories.
@@oldtimerlee8820 do you have a good recipe for canned venison?
@@ivylagrone8632 I can venison plain, so I can use it in several ways later. By canning it plain, I can choose to make a stew, soup, pot pie, chili, etc when time comes to use it. When I have canned venison I use it as if it were beef in various recipes.
To can it, I use the instructions for canning beef that can be found at the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Hope this helps.
@@oldtimerlee8820 yes, thank you 😊
This probably seems like a dumb question but I've never actually can't meet. I've actually never personally can anything I've just always helped my mother like for years when I was young. But. But do you poke water or do you make up a broth to can the meat in?
I'll look up that website you mentioned
@@ivylagrone8632 The site will give you details on how to can various meats. If you do what's called Raw Pack, you do not add liquid to the meat. Generally I do what's called Hot Pack. I've used plain water, home made broths and purchased broths for the liquid Hot requires.
For venison I usually use beef broth either homemade or brought (Swanson's is the best!). Whatever I have on hand at the time, when I'm blessed to have venison to can.
Hope you get started canning, soon. It's an art that will last you a lifetime. I've been doing it since 1972, when I bought my first pressure canner. Grew up helping our parents preserve the harvest on our farm.
Have a blessed day.
Jill....Props to you! ....you are doing the best thing you can do, by teaching your children sustainability and how to grow their own food crops and the outdoor life! ....good job!
MAGNIFICENT VIDEO!! I love the children ho are REALLY GOOD helpers with tiny hands, BIG hearts and great minds!! THANK YOU ALL and God Bless the homestead!
I always recruited the kids for potatoes also. When you tell them “we are going to dig for treasure”. They are all in!
You are an amazing young woman. I am so glad I watched this video which I ran across by God's direction while looking for pine needle tea. So glad to see your children being real children, playing in the mud, getting dirty, helping you harvest the potatoes and of course the dogs. Thank you for sharing your expertise with all of us. God Bless you.
Kids grow well in soil. Nothing better than learning, "effort in" -> "product out". However, cheerios are not donut seeds.
Thank you for the chuckle!
“There you go, wormy” 🥺🥰 that was adorable
Hello my dear.. I heard you say this is your potato harvest from 2020.
I'm watching it as I get ready to plant my crop of potatoes in spring of 2024..
Mind you, I don't have a root cellar per se myself. So I decided to check this out ...
Thanks for the straightforward advice.. & oh my !!!.. those are 2 Very adorable angels you had for helpers...
So much fun to watch moms teach their young children to grow their Own food. (Unfortunately, I fear it's going to become very important knowledge as they become adults themselves.. )
My adult daughter & I share a garden.. & I am the researcher - she & her teenage daughter are my muscles in the garden..
& it's sooo fun to do things together in the garden & learn how to grow healthy foods.. that are truly organic...
This will be our 9th garden together .. my, how time & life flies by.. lol.. !!
❤ God bless your family..
You have the most amazing way of motivating your childrens involvement with out patronizing them. Well done on your attitude to immune boosting.
Great video. It brought back the memories of ALL those years I WAS part of the child labour crew. One year we had over a TON of potatoes to dig. My dad "loosened" them with a potato fork and we went behind and dug them out with our hands. The year we had a ton we had 35 rows of 40 hills each - all planted, hilled and harvested by hand....yay. We sold 100 lb bags for $5.00! Now, I would just use some type of potato tower or grow them in straw, which I definitely recommend - as a VERY experienced labour hand - as there is no hilling or digging that way. You're doing a great job.
Your children are precious. Love how you raise them❤️
The hand that rocks the cradle....rules the world.
The cool thing about letting kids eat straight from the garden is that they get all their vitamins and minerals that way.
Our bodies will break down over time if we don't get enough minerals so this is really good. They'll be very strong & well balanced if allowed to eat straight from the garden. Good job. Good vid. Ty.
Jill, your little helpers are so Adorable, you are a lucky Mommy !
You need either a five tine long handled manure fork or a four tine long handled potato hook for digging potatoes. Nice video with the kids helping.
@@anstriagreenwood3365 A friend suggested digging with my hands and after trying my potato hoe in a few hills and "wounding" a few i did and it actually worked way better. Of course if you have a lot this is not efficient. Cheers.
@@anstriagreenwood3365 Indeed there is, dirty finger nails and all! Happy gardening.
I envy you and your family for the life you are living. Your kids are wonderful helpers. My brother and I always looked forward to traveling across the country to see our grandparents and helping out on the farm. I learned so much from that.
Thanks for sharing
I remember the first time Grandpa had us youngsters pull out a "weed" in his garden. We were shocked and delighted to find potatoes underneath! We were elementary townie kids that had no idea they grew underground... I can still hear Grandpa laughing as we squealed with delight with each newly found treasure. What a great afternoon!
The ones we stab we cut up, freeze and dehydrate.
Us too. We peel cut up or make into French fries, cottage fries etc. Blanche them and freeze.
Brilliant! I can’t believe that I never thought of this. I’d just toss them. 🤦🏼♀️
This is the exact life I cant wait to have with my family
Every year my Papa would grow a row of potatoes about that size, and every year all the grandkids (4 of us that lived in the area) would get called in to dig "taters" as he called them. A couple of minutes would go by and then "EWWWW!" Someone found the seed potato and squished it. There was a BIG bag or two of potatoes in it for all of us, because Papa always grew more than he and Nana could eat in a year. I never understood why until I was an adult. Papa grew enough to feed the helpers too. I've learned more about life from his garden, even years later, than I ever thought possible. Thank you for sharing, and reminding me.
What a peaceful, relaxing, productive way to spend some time. One of the those last, warm days to treasure when it's cold & dark.
Love the “child labor” part. Kids should be involved in gardening more often these days.
As far as the harvest part, did you try using a pitchfork instead? I remember my grandparents were always using pitchforks with 3 or 4 prongs to harvest potatoes. Also, to protect them further from frost, maybe mulching them heavily with composted wood chips? I use wood chips mulch for everything here, in SC, and looks like everything thrives under this heavy layer. I am talking 4-6 in deep.
I don't like using wood chips in the vegetable garden where I have to harvest stuff: it falls down in the holes left behind and gets in the way. I save it for perennial beds. It would be great for asparagus, for example.
I use hay, straw, or leaves for vegetables. They rot down faster and don't move around so much.
I read "How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back" by Ruth Stout back in the 70s. She said 4"-6" for heavy mulch, like you do, and 6"-8" for light mulch, which packs down after a while. I was amazed at the depth of the mulch she recommended since I had never mulched before but she was right.
The children are soo cute & helpful,God Bless you & your Family!! Xoxo
You are such a gem. You make things seem so attainable to even an aspiring homesteader.
Use milk crates to store your spuds. You can buy them at Wally World.
When we buy a place I plan on growing herbs like parsley, sage, rosemarry and thyme. Plus garlic and onion. And tomatoes. Back in the northeast one summer someone left these huge pots out for anyone to take. I brought them home, filled the with soil and planted tomato seeds. I had so much great tomato that year.
sounds good, but if we have a food shortage, you will need something to stick to your ribs like potatoes
kd1s, I bet Simon and Garfunkel will come visit you! And probably sing to your crops!
We always have volunteer potatoes in our garden and compost; love the red potatoes, too.
Volunteer potatoes??
These potatoes grow from peels or potato bits that sprout in the compost pile or compost transferred to our garden beds.@@anti-ethniccleansing465
@@juliecarns
Ah I see. :)
I've appreciated reading the comments almost as much as watching the vid! So good to see there are still those who have their values right.
My grandfather used to live in Northern Maine, and my sister and I got sent up there ever summer for a week or two. Depending on the time of year, part of our chores was to help get the potatoes up. Not my favorite chore, but fond memories. We also used to pick blueberries and he would make the most unbelievable blueberry muffins! All depended on what time a year we went up.
I love that your kids just grab shovels and do what needs to be done! lol. And I can only imagine what laundry is like at your house. Im guessing there is lots of shaking out dirt of pockets, and finding rocks, bugs, eggs lol. Great memories. "How did your face get so dirty?"... um making mud potions mom! :-)
We harvested 65 lbs last week. With what we planted, we should've had 100 lbs. Great video.
People are so generous sharing the how too's with each other. So we all might benefit. Thank you.
The easiest way to harvest spuds is with a pitchfork. It really does not matter if you stab a few, especially the outliers. Also it helps immensely to mound the soil around the initial planting once the shoots start to come up in the spring.
If you place an insulator above the soil once the plants have died, the potatoes should do well just staying in the ground unless you are in a real cold climate, like northern Iowa.
I travel for work and am always amazed at the serious lack of trees there are out west. I guess that's why they call it big sky country.
Just a suggestion, my mother in law uses what's called a potato fork. Works much better than a shovel. This is such a wonderful video to watch. So refreshing to see kids out playing, and helping at the same time! Precious!
I just found this video and absolutely love it. Good ole country living. Your children are adorable.
My dad would roll our potatoes in lime and put them either in a old horse stall and cover with newspaper and straw and other times he has dug a hole outside and put them in a lined straw bed to keep during the winter months....This worked for us..
Is this just agricultural lime?
@@dharmaslife3361 Yes
My father told me to plant potatoes during the dark of the moon..that means near the new moon, they will grow deep..He said if you plant them in the light moon, near the full moon, they will come to the top and you can't keep them covered..This year due to the weather I had to plant my potatoes during the light moon and although they produced very well many turned green from exposure to the sun.
My grandma planted by the moon. Root crops as you mentioned & above ground crops planted the opposite. She fed a lot of us..
You need to keep them ridged, which is the real reason they were exposed to the sun. Ridge once a week. Green potatoes are TOXIC
Green potato is poisonous. Back home farmers made sure not even the pigs didn't eat it.
I throw straw in them after they are about a foot tall. Saves me weeding and keeps them from turning green.
Yes but the westernized culture called the old lunar cultures "lunatics" and so became biased against the quasi agrarian hunter-gatherer lunar cultures
I love seeing the kids help 😊 blessings to you All 😇
"Immune systems of steel".The world is a better place with mothers like you.Respect.
Well Done! Our family loves potato harvest season. We love growing and harvesting our potatoes. Thanks for sharing.
So wonderful to see the kids Lovin the outdoors and so willing to help you!
I grew up farming gardens also.
I miss the fresh veggies but not all the hard work. Canning and freezing
Was always a messy chore.
Thank you for sharing your down to earth life.
It makes me happy to see young people living a wholesome lifestyle.
God bless.
It's so great to see your kids having fun working next to you! I see so many kids who don't know how to work and don't know the satisfying feeling of success when the accomplish something hard. You're doing great!
Your family is adorable! I'm so happy to see kids plating with dirt out in the fresh air! That is one of the reasons for their immune systems of steel! Great job, momma! New subscriber as of today!
Beautiful video. I love to look at vids from other homesteaders. There is always something to learn.
Wish more people raised their kids this way! Growing potatoes myself and video was very helpful!
So glad you are showing your kids how to do this!!
They will really appreciate what you did, many years from now!