Why Tomatoes Crack

Canning peaches today. Not enjoying the process as I'd rather sit on the couch and watch a movie, still really tired but doing better. When I stare at the mound of work, I mean wonderful food, I am grateful. Grateful that I have two stoves to can on which speeds up the process greatly and grateful that we have peaches and pears to can this year. Last year the orchard we get them from in Colorado had a killing frost. This is not the first time this has happened and so I've learned to have on hand more than a years supply.

Once again we did not get any sweet corn this year. The corn stocks were the tallest we've ever had but the ears had just started to form when the17 inches of snow hit. The corn is now flattened. Oh well, our daughter felt impressed to bring home a large amount of corn last year from Colorado when our garden was hailed out. We froze and froze and froze corn until I began to wonder why oh why we were doing so much of it? I've found out that those little quiet impressions whispered to us are for a reason. A reason that we don't always know until later, sometimes never unless we don't listen and head the warning.

With self-sufficiency on the mind I'm wondering just how many years of food you should have on hand since weather is so uncertain these days like 17 inches of snow in the summer. I'm just glad survival isn't up to me entirely since I'm presently not up to the task.

As for potatoes and carrots, I'm not digging yet until I get the mounds of food in the garage under control. Even though things didn't quite go my way this summer with little time to spend in the garden, weather problems, and poor soil in the old garden, we still will have much to put away for winter.  I've pushed most of my goals to next year, planning this winter to better prepare a course of action.

One disappoint was that the potatoes did not produce any seeds, bummer. That leaves me questioning why not? Why do potato plants sometimes produce seed and not other times? Can't find the answer on the internet so far. The commercial potato farmers have to know. I need to find out.

But for now the order of the day is to deal with what is at hand. This has been a extremely difficult year. We have some dear friends with us right now. They are here to hunt Pronghorn antelope with our son. The plan was for them to stay with our son but his remodeling job had progress much slower than he thought it would. Consequently the house has no working bathroom or shower. It has been a revolving door of company most of the summer and definitely the past few weeks. I'm praying life will calm down and allow us to catch up a bit, if not disasters await us. Our poor goat kids are not weaned yet because we have not had time to build a shed and separate enclosure. We have hay to haul and wood which are essential for winter. The house is not painted and I've 200 bags to get sewn before November. Glug! what a list awaits our attention but I keep reminding myself that the Lord is in charge and so he will make all things imperative possible.

Meanwhile, we are learning and relearning some lessons. Due to the constant travel to the other home and to tend to Kirk's father, our poor garden has been neglected. Our tomatoes cracked or rather part of our tomatoes cracked. Yes, I knew why once upon a time but the files in my memory get lost from time to time. I found this handy site http://www.tomatodirt.com/tomato-cracks.htmlwhen I went looking once more for the cause. Not that I could do anything about it. I've given you a photo of the worst one. Also we have learned that up here near the mountain it is very important to trim back the tomato plants of excess leaves and small tomatoes in August so the plant can put its energies into the larger tomatoes. I had only two done of the twenty plants.

I do have some new projects started too like vinegar. I'll show you next time what is in the works.

Powdered Dried Vegetables

Run out of people to give your zucchini to? Don't forget to freeze some and dry some. I tried putting some zucchini in the blender and then drying it - don't do it. It didn't work so well as it was hard to get off the plastic sheets on the dehydrator trays.

 

 It did powder up finer than the sliced zucchini but not worth the waste.

 

Slice instead and then put it through the blender to chop it up. I stored my zucchini last year sliced in ziplock bags but this time I'm powdering it and putting it in canning jars. It takes up less space that way. 

If you have a mandolin, the job is super quick. I love mine and use it almost every day during this time of year.

 

 

Some of you will recall that I like to dry vegetables, turn them to powder, and then add them to noodles, breads, and taco shells to boost the flavor and increase the nutrition level. I've done sweet potatoes, pumpkin, beets, spinach, and zucchini. I have LOVED my powdered hot pepper mix also that I don't use in noodles or taco shell but I love it in chili and Mexican dishes. No, dried hot peppers aren't in my noodles. I have yet to try them in taco shells but I should. It should be replaced this year but I've not hot peppers to do it with so I guess it will hopefully be next year. 

 

This year I'm doing some bell peppers dried. Just ones that I had in my bountiful basket but weren't getting used fresh. We have been on the road wa....y too much but hopefully that will come to an end soon. That has meant I don't get cooking done like I'd like and more food goes to waste, something that really bugs me. Sti...ll I'm doing my best and one can't do more than that. I'm to the point where I've thrown out most of my goals and started over. Not that the goals aren't still there, they just got shoved into next year. That includes doing a great deal of canning and freezing.  

 

 I am going to do quite a bit of drying of food. It is much quicker than canning. Beets are going today into the dehydrator. What a sorry crop I've had but it is okay, I've still some canned so I'll make it another year with cutting back on how much we eat of them.

 If I've learned one thing it is you should can for more than a year's use. Last year we had hail that wiped out the garden. That meant we ate the left overs jars from the year before. This year the old garden has such a bad PH problem that I planted peas three times and each time they died. That is the garden with the beets. I can see it will take a few years to get things set up like I'd like.   

 

This year my food storage will be pulled down to the bare bones as I use up what I have and give the old canned food to the chickens. I have a ton of green beans in bottles with a bountiful crop coming on this year. Chickens will love me this winter and in a way I will be eating those green beans through the eggs.  

When the beets are finished drying I will do scallions from the garden. Oh how I love onions dried. I've learned that despite having fresh onions in a dish, a dash of dried onion also adds a nice punch of flavor. In chicken noodle soup it is a must for a full rich broth.  I've dried a little spinach this year and I emphasize little since it was in the old garden. I'll just have to dry lots of zucchini to make up for the lack of spinach. Hoping next year will be better. I had planned on saving seed but have given up on the idea. Things aren't going smoothly in our lives and that is one of the goals that got thrown out the window for this year.

 

I do hope I get a decent crop of carrots. I put them in really late and it is already getting cool. We've had sixties and low 40's at night this last week. A cool September is in the forecast and I don't doubt it will be as it has already snowed in the mountains. This photo is from before it snowed. The snow has never left the high elevations. I'm guessing if I went where the snow capped peaks are I'd see the snow is pink or green - not white. Have you ever seen pink or green snow? I have a few times in the Beartooth Mountains. It is a growth of some kind that creeps across it. You find it in snow banks where the snow has set for a long time and the temperatures are high but not so high it all melts like now when it is the end of summer but snow is still on the tallest peaks of the mountains.

 

I've been telling the rain clouds that rain is welcome but do not turn to snow. Our acreage was covered in a thick layer of snow all winter and the soil stayed cold even after the temperatures finally started to rise. It was a very late spring. That meant my garden is really slow. The corn wasn't put in the ground until the third week in June. Usually I get beans the end of July but this year it was the middle of August. My corn is the prettiest thing, tall and lushly thick. BUT it just started to tassel and grow cobs. I'm thinking I may have to try another kind of seed. I've been traveling a great deal lately and every garden I peer at through the window has tasseled corn. The corn is skinny, rather bare with very few leaves, but it is tasseled with ears. Will mine make it before the snow flies? I'm strongly questioning it. It is beautiful but 'pretty is and pretty does'. This might end up being goat feed.

 

 People ask if I planted early corn? I did. The earliest I could find and it was meant for Alaska. I fertilized it twice but not more than twice, so why so... tall? The neighbors tell me I have the longest growing time up here on the hill of the whole valley but how much longer is the question? I can breathe a little easier since we have lots of frozen corn our daughter brought us from Colorado last year.

 

My do I keep getting off topic. As for dried vegetables, I want to use some dried bell pepper along with dried onions in tomato sauce dishes and soups. Think what it would do to chili, YUM! Yes, some fresh as well would go in but adding dried would enrich the flavor. Dried vegetables take up so little room and since my storage room is in bad need of a overhaul in the way of building cupboards, food storage needing less space is quite appealing right now.

 

Now that we are back on the subject, don't forget to dry as well as freeze and can. It is a great way to use those not so perfect crops. I know I'm going to be doing more potatoes that way this fall. Remember I have quite a few potatoes in the old garden that haven't faired so well. I'm thinking potato flour big time. I emphasize thinking as I really don't know what is below those shrimpy plants. I'm hoping to explore potato flour in noodles and not just bread.   Well it is nighty night and a muscle relaxer for me. I've been in bed most of the day with spasms. Life just stays wa...y to exciting for me.

Hypothermia Chicken

 Kirk hollered, " Come quick, one of the chickens is in trouble, bring towels!" Still in my pajamas, I ran outside with towels and Kirk led me to a soppin wet chicken huddled by the goat watering tank. Myrna, the Aracauna , was indeed in trouble. Kirk found her straddled in the tank and rushed to remove her but the soaking wet heap couldn't walk for the racking shivers that jerked her body back and forth. She had severe hypothermia. I called for our oldest grand daughter to go and get the blow dryer and I scooped the chicken up in the towels and headed for the electric outlet on the front porch.

Hypothermia is an old enemy. I often suffer from a mild case of it and once a severe level after a surgery. I've treated many species of animals in various stages. Only once before have I dealt with this level and it was a sheep that was run into a frozen pond by a dog in the winter time. Myrna was in BAD shape.

Forming a tunnel in the towels, I blew warm air inside. Then when she wasn't shivering quite so badly, I was able to gently lift each wing and blow dry underneath, fluffing her feathers as if I were creating a puffy hair style. Then last of all I lifted her up and blew dry her belly. When the painful jerking had ceased and she was just lightly shivering, our oldest grand daughter swore she could almost hear a purr. We fluffed and dried for minutes or more and then when we stopped a soft shiver would run through her now and then. We opted to keep her wrapped up in the towels and put her in the nest in the chicken coop, doors closed. She remained huddled inside the towels.

 

After a while Kirk went out and checked on her fearful that the trauma still might have been too much for her but there she was pecking on the plexi-glass door windows asking to be let out. No green egg today but can you blame her? I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't lay much the rest of the week. I'm just glad our little miss bug catcher is fine once more.     

 

Goat/Sheep Wedding Bell?

 I had things all planned out. It was going to work out great. Lilly Pad was going to live with Jubull. I didn't want the new little buck to be all alone. In a short few weeks he will be weaned. Then for a short period he will be with the other little goats, then he will have to be separated when he is in danger of breeding the does before we wanted him to. The best part of this idea is they like each other. Not in a best friends kind of way but he is polite. When he can be put in with the girls, she will occupy our freezer. How can I do it? You might recall I don't like Columbia wool to spin. It is spungy and I just don't like the feel of it against my skin. I've a beautiful sweater I made from a lambs wool and though I like it, I don't want another. I have no other use for her except as a companion for a brief period of time. Besides, if I added shearing to our list of things to do my husband would shoot me. Maybe not literally but definitely figuratively.


The plan seemed perfect. That is until my friend, the one that gave Lilly to me, sweetly informed me that she had just learned that sheep and goats can cross. WHAT? Goats have 60 chromosomes and sheep have 54. How could this be possible? She informed me on Facebook. You know how reliable Facebook is. I had to look it up. Sure enough, around the world a few were born this past spring. Strange looking creatures.

Does this mean wedding bell? Oh I hope not. Here I thought putting a sheep and a goat together would be ideal. Oh dear, Lilly Pad has been trying to nurse off of Rachel, Abagail's daughter who isn't even two months old. Does this mean she thinks she is a goat? Or does this means she just misses her momma? It is quite a strange sight as Lilly is bigger than Rachel. Why Lilly Pad keeps it up is beyond me. There is nothing there yet. Oh no, what have I got myself into?

This is what I found out on the Internet:
"Technically speaking, a ‘Sheep-Goat-Chimera’ is the name when the sheep and goat embryos are combined in a lab. Interestingly, in the mature animal, the ‘sheep’ parts were woolly and the ‘goat’ parts were hairy. There is another mechanism by which a geep or shoat can be produced, however. It usually involves a goat learning how to put on a Barry White record and the sheep shearing her wool into the shape of a negligee… While this also results in geep/shoat production, the offspring is, technically, a ‘hybrid’ rather than the lab-produced ‘chimera’. The main difference here, however, is that hybrid geep/shoat cannot reproduce – but the chimera geep/shoat can – but it can only pass on either sheep or goat genes."

This is really rare right? That should mean were safe - maybe.

Thoughts of Survival

Sunrise

It is late. I'm waiting on the oven to heat up to temp and the bread to bake. Summer means not turning it on until it has cooled off in the evening. Cooled off is a relative term I know depending on where you live. Here, we are in the fifties at night or low, low sixties at the highest - heavenly.  When it begins to cool, we throw our windows and doors wide open and let the cool air circulate throughout the house, air conditioning being reserved for only the hottest of days. In this manner we wake to  68 degrees most mornings in the house, my favorite temperature.

 

Heat and I are enemies. It clashes with my Addison's disease and lays me low. Cold may not be pleasant but at least I can put on more clothes. Sweatshirt weather is my favorite.

 

Maybe that is one more reason the Lord put us here in the boondocks where we are nestled against the mountains. It is definitely cooler than where our son lives 25 miles away. Definitely cooler than where we use to live about 140 miles away. And that definitely means a change in gardening. At our son's and back at the old house they have had a fair number of 90's and at our old house quite a few 100's.We have had only a couple or so 90's and it can stay that way.

 

Right now I'm listening to it rain and sitting on the back deck under the large overhand that protects it. The clouded heavens make darkness complete but it is a cozy darkness. A darkness that envelopes you and makes the world seem intimate. The porch lights creates a room all my own.

 

As I type away, the leaky sky ebbs and the torrent of water that gushed down the down spouts slows to a plinking rhythm. It creates an accompaniment to the creek's whispers as the noises of the heavens still. From the corner of my eye I see brown and look up from my computer screen to see a doe walk along the edges of the light's reach. I can hear the tearing of the grass as she feeds unconcerned by my presence. Soon another doe joins her. They slowly wonder off around the corner of the house as the oven beeps, informing me it is up to temp.

 

Have I told you lately, I LOVE this place!!! At the old house yes, I also cooked late at night with the windows flung open but there was no serenading of a creek or companionship of nature, just sounds of traffic, televisions blaring, and music playing. As I enjoy the moment, my body screams SLEEP, SLEEP but that will come soon, bread is baking, the last of the chores before bedtime. I spent most of last week chasing the dotted lines down highways in both directions. So this evening I had to culture yogurt, start sauerkraut, make two desserts, bake bread and a yummy new casserole, as casseroly as I get. It a a new cabbage dish, a winner and I'll be sharing it with you. 

 

One of the things I've been contemplating lately is when we have to live off of a garden what would we plant? I can see that a survival garden isn't the same as a supplemental garden. Too many enjoy nows and things to can or freeze. There is only so much space and so much energy and so it has to really count. I question if we will always have electricity or will the interruption of it become common place? We are getting a taste of that as brown outs happen fairly often and power outages for a few minutes to hours happens about twice a month. I'm told we live in the forgotten valley of the county. It can be rather nice sometimes. My thoughts never still they wander off to will we need to rig something up like they do with donkeys that go around and around to pump water up from a well only we will probably be using goats? Should look into that just in case. Good food for thought anyway.

 

Warfare in the future is to be increasingly a cyber one. Knock out the banking and electricity and a nation comes to a stand still. Our daughter has friends in the military who specialize in just that, defensively and offensively. That is why my thoughts turn to what did the pioneers grow and do? There is so much history concentrated on the wars and treks but not so much on the daily sustaining things of life.

 

Potatoes and cabbage are two of the things I've come to conclusion were a staple. But it is late and for tonight I going to give thanks for the things I've learned to date, one of which is to mark my milk, and yogurt jars with the date they were put in the refrigerator with a dry erase pen. A refrigerator, another one of those conveniences we've come to depend upon. I've looked into natural refrigeration. Something I've yet to share with you. But for now, I'm going to sleep for tomorrow will come all too soon.

 

 

Growing Cilantro

I love cilantro and would like to learn new ways to cook with it. My first step though is to be better at growing it. The last few years I've thrown some seeds in a pot now and then and I've discovered that cilantro isn't at all like, basil, oregano, thyme, or a number of other herbs. Cilantro likes to bolt and there isn't much you can do about it.

With a lovely sunroom, I'm determined to keep herbs going this time instead of having most of them die in the middle of the winter because our house doesn't have enough sunlight. My other option was to put them under grow lights in the room with the coal stove in the basement but then they'd roast to death and the cilantro wouldn't grow there anyway.











To do a better job of growing cilantro in particular I did a little research. Sure enough, cilantro does not like hot weather. I'm sure if it saw the forecast for 90 degrees they are predicting for the fourth of July it would be bolting in a hurry. Oh wait, it already is. I'm not feeling so bad though because cilantro has a short life anyway even under ideal growing conditions. I've learned that the hard way and it was reaffirmed in my research.

That means you need to keep a steady supply of new plants going. One site recommends every 6 weeks and others every 3. I can't tell you what works best for I haven't been a good girl about keeping my going. Presently I have a bolting plant and I'm not sure it is a good idea to start more since we are suppose to warm up though you wouldn't know it by today which is to reach a balmy 64 F. or so. As for the cilantro that is bolting I'm letting it. Cilantro produces coriander seeds. Never cooked with those but it is about time to start. Besides isn't growing my own seeds my goal this year anyway? I did it once with basil, let it go to seed then planted the seed. That was last year and you know that I didn't keep it going as we were in the muddled mess of finding a house and moving.

Cilantro likes lots of hair cuts or foliage cuts shall we say. The top third is recommended. This usually equates to two cuttings before it bolts. Definitely no basil or oregano but it doesn't taste like them either. The research recommends planting tightly. That would help keep it cool. I talked to a gal Wednesday and she says she puts hers in the shade outside, good suggestion only right now I'm not growing outside herbs. I've got a long heavy wood box I'm planning on working on later this summer and it will be by herb box. My neighbor has volunteered to give me some mint and your know how mint likes to wander so it will go in the box this fall.

I'm off topic here. We were talking about cilantro. It is not the heat of the air that causes cilantro to bolt, but rather the heat of the soil. That is probably why the shady location in the yard would work pretty good. You should also mulch the soil to keep it cooler. Maybe it needs a good ice pack in the summer, I don't know but even if I get cilantro in the spring, fall, and winter, that would be alright. I'll just have to save the seeds to start them again in September.

As for trying to stop a bolt, this is what one internet site had to say, "Many gardeners wonder what to do when cilantro bolts. When they see the white cilantro flowers, they wonder if they can simply cut them off. Unfortunately, once cilantro bolts, the leaves rapidly lose their flavor. Cutting the cilantro flowers off will not bring the flavor back to the leaves."

I also learned a new trick with planting the seeds. Sometimes I'm rather disappointed in the germination and now I know why. Cilantro seeds are actually two seeds inside a hard husk. To increase the chance of germination you should gently crush the husk and soak the seeds for 24 to 48 hours. Then you air dry the seeds and plant.  But why would that say that? Why would you soak the seeds and then air dry them when you are just going to put them in the soil and keep them wet? That just doesn't make sense to me so the rebel that I am, I'm going to simply skip that step and see what happens -- in September that is. Meanwhile today I think I'll get caught up on some house work since it is to rain once more. We had a real gulley washer last night. It was cool. We could see lighting backlighting the mountains and then this sheet of gray moving our way. When it hit us it poured rain in bucket loads. It passed over and there was quite a lighting storm to our east. With the sunset in the west and a rainbow in the east it was quite a lovely site to end a long day of working at the other house. This owning two homes is for the birds I tell you. Four hours of travel alone between them makes it a challenge. We brought home our last trailer load yesterday and we have just a few little items there that we are using to do touch up work on the house. Can't wait until we are done and it is sold. I'm so...... in love with where we have moved.

Seed Potatoes and Potato Seeds

 I've been researching potatoes lately. I did a blog which is your first hint but some more questions arose and off I went researching again. My Norland potatoes still haven't come up. I'm getting worried. The Internet said 2 to 4 weeks so they still have a chance but in the past my potatoes usually shoot out of the ground and I've got results in a week. Now I'm wondering just when I planted the potatoes. I do wish I'd keep a journal. I'm not sure but it has be at least 2 weeks since I planted and if they don't come up this week with the predicted sunshine I'm going to give up hope for them. I can't figure out what went wrong. These were seed potatoes and I kept them watered. The ground is cold for sure since we had snow and cold temperatures forever.

I just planted my Norkotas and my new King seed potatoes Saturday in the new garden. I hope they do better. These potatoes were sprouted a bit, which is the usual stage in which I planted them. It makes me wonder because the Norlands weren't sprouted at all. Was that the difference? Too bad because Norlands are my favorite potato. They don't give the yields or keep as well as the Kings but the flavor.... yum!!

I hope this week the peas shoot up too because there are only a few poking their heads out. I hope I don't have to replant them. I keep reminding myself that I once planted a garden the third week of June because it kept snowing and was cold and I got a decent harvest so be calm, all will work out. My goal for this week is to finish planting everything but the pepper plants and melons if I have space for them. That means I have to finish the cold frames and cut plastic also for the tomato cages. I think I'll put my cucumbers out in my wall a waters. I just want things out of the house. Not that I am running out of room in here but I want something finished. I never get much weeding done until I'm done planting and the old garden for sure needs weeded.

My garden is huge this year. Maybe not huge in terms of back east measures or Midwest measures but for cold little Wyoming it is BIG. I hope I can keep up with it. Yet on the other hand I'm wondering if it is large enough for all my plans. We shall see as I have lots of seeds that need to be planted because they are on the tipping point of still be good. In the new area I'm sure I will be fighting grass and maybe some sagebrush will try springing up also. Wish I had time to just plant cover crops there but I don't. 

I'm a little more uneasy than usual because this is new ground. Uncharted territory so to speak. That and every year I garden I realize I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I've been planting potatoes for YEARS, close to forty. I'm finding out I don't know anything about them. I only thought I did. Did you know there are seed potatoes and potato seeds? No, they aren't the same thing. I saw a bleep in an article that left me confused and wondering. Not a difficult task to do. When my Norlands didn't come up so did those previous questions and some new ones. I got to wondering if my King potatoes from last year's hailed out garden would produce a smaller crop since the seed potatoes were smaller than what I usually plant? Didn't find an answer. I guess it will come when I harvest them but I'm thinking the answer is NOT. Mainly based on the fact that what I did find said that a seed potato needs to be the size of a medium egg. Less and the plant will die of starvation since the seed potato draws its nutrients off the flesh of the old potato before it begins feeding off the soil. My old King potatoes are doing fine so they must have been large enough. As for the Norlands, they have a couple weeks left before I can officially say they didn't make it.

Up came this potato seed thing again as I researched. I don't think I've ever really wondered much about potatoes before except what kinds to plant and how to get a larger yield. This year as I have vowed to become really serious about seed saving I have delved deeper than ever before. Seed potatoes are simply potatoes saved to be cut up and put in the ground again the next year. As with all things like this, onions etc. It isn't the BIG ones you want but the medium ones that do best. Have you ever seen huge potatoes in a seed potato bin? Once I did but only once. I always figure I should try and copy the professionals as they have laid the ground work already. Why do it again? So I try and keep seed potatoes that are about the same size as they do. I know I tried a big onion, a small onion, and a medium onion to save seed with and the medium one did best. The big one rotted and I can't remember what the little one did. I think failed to do much sprouting. An onion too lives off its flesh before rooting into the ground. Just remember medium is best. You know the saying, "Moderation is all things."

Seed potatoes are smaller potatoes saved to be planted into the garden the next season.

Problems can arise if you don't have an ideal place to store the potatoes so they don't rot before the next garden season. If I'm living off what I produce, I'd like a back up plan. I've had the potato rotting problem happen to me. Someday I'll have a cellar. I have the hill for it but for now I have to come up with a new place to store my seed potatoes for the next garden season. That puts my seed potatoes in peril. Then there is the problem of some potatoes being keepers and store well but some don't. I don't keep non keeper but how do the commercial guys do it? This whirling brain is always going but Wyoming produces little in the way of crops except hay so there isn't a farmer around here to ask. I have yet to meet a self-sufficient gardener here either. Then again I'm not real social so they could be here.

When I read that after a few years of saving seed potatoes, your harvest will begin producing smaller potatoes, I couldn't help wondering how this was prevented? Of course they said in the article to buy certified seed at this point but the commercial guys aren't doing that plus I'm trying for the self-sufficiency route, not the semi-self-sufficiency one.

Does potato seeds fit into this equation somewhere?  Anyone grown potato seeds? I certainly haven't but now I'm curious and I sense an experiment coming on. The research says you start the seeds 3 to 4 weeks early in  pots before putting in the garden. The seeds produce tubers or tuberlets, as they are sometimes called. Sounds to me like if you think they are manly they are tubers and tuberlets is girly. You plant the tubers as you would the seed potatoes you cut.

But where do these potato seeds come from? I know I've never seen a packet at the store or in a seed catalogue. What I didn't know was that later in the summer I had at my disposal hundreds of seeds hidden away. The potato flowers mature and form seeds. Those are the green balls I always wondered what they were but for some strange reason never cut open. Inside is hundreds of seeds. If these are potato seeds then why aren't the catalogues carrying them? The problem is that these true potato seeds, as some call them, produce fewer and smaller tubers that those grown from seed tubers. Customers are of course going to want seed potatoes.

Potato seeds or True Seeds  are seeds not small potatoes

The advantage is that these seeds last for a few years. You are not going to get a potato to last that long. If something goes wrong with your seed potatoes you stored, these are your back up system. I really like this idea. The seed potatoes might rot or sprout way too early and use up all the potato flesh reserve. So if you keep the seed and plant it the three to four weeks early in pots, transplant into the garden, and then save the smaller potatoes to plant the next year is this how the commercial guys are doing it? It being keeping from having ever smaller potatoes and smaller yields. The small potatoes from the seeds being your starter crop for the next season.

Kirk and I were discussing how far back the lack of independence goes. In the local general store people bought seeds. Think Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I'm sure many saved their own seeds at this stage of history but the desire for someone else to do it and take responsibility is a part of human nature. The weaknesses of man. I think of just how much knowledge was lost between my great grandparents and I and I'm greatly sorrowed. I could have learned so much from them on how to do things for myself. Easier gave way and with each generation we became more dependent on others for our survival. With that more controlled.

One more question plagues me. Since the potato flower has the male and female parts and is self-pollinating then what are they talking about putting a dozen potato species next to each other and letting the bees do their job to create new potato varieties? I thought self-pollinating meant they didn't cross. Of course then how do they cross potatoes to get new varieties? I know nothing! So are the potatoes underneath the plants true to the original parent but the seeds will be a cross if you plant more than one kind of potato?  How far apart do your plants have to be from each other to not cross? I don't want to be Ireland and have a famine from not enough varieties grown.

Wouldn't my bees pollinate the different kinds no matter how far apart they are in the garden? I'm so confused. Every time I read an article I leave with questions answered and a whole list of new ones needing answers. I'm finding the potato subject quite in-depth.

While I'm looking for answers, I'm going to work on an experiment. I'm collecting seeds this year and going to grow them the next. Because who know when I'll find the answers. Other questions might send me skitting off in other directions before I return to this subject.

During this experiment I will do the following as instructions dictate. Okay, I've never followed instructions well, yes, I hear you but these are quite simple.

You collect the green balls when the fruits are ripe like ripe tomato. Of course you keep the different varieties separate. Put them in the kitchen blender and cover with water, blend just until fruits break up and the seeds come out.

Then ferment this mixture in a bowl for 24 hours. The seeds will sink and the fruits debris float. Wash the seeds several times and then dry on a coffee filter. Don't have one but I'm sure a milk strainer pad will do. Then spread on a paper towel to dry. Store in a air-tight jar with silica gel in your refrigerator. They will keep for several years if necessary.

Seed potatoes of course need to be stored between 35 and 40 F . Remember these are the small potatoes. I've had them warmer for most years as I don't have a better place and gotten by. Maybe it was just the kind of potatoes I have. This year I'm trying the garage because it is insulated and in the crawl space below the house for storage to see which works best.

Am I the only one that has been in the dark all these years or is this something new to the rest of you too? Can any one of you by chance give me the answers I'm longing for?

Soon I'm going to talk about corn and the new thing I learned about a different way to keep them from cross-pollinating. Got to try that next year too.