I dug 100 feet of row in 73 minutes. That is substantially faster than the foot-per-minute I had been averaging. The difference is that I used the electric hedge-trimmer to clear the tall weeds off of the plot before digging.
My rate-of-digging was limited by heat and lots of bending over to move potatoes to the side so the next shovel full of dirt would not cover them up.
My lower back aches this morning but it is the kind of ache that goes away after moving and stretching.
I think I am running a little bit less than a pound of potatoes per foot of row. That is an estimate. When all goes well, I expect to get three times that amount.
Mrs ERJ tells me that we will have more than enough potatoes for our personal use.
Denny's Farm Stand
Yesterday, Quicksilver and I took a field trip to Denny's Farm Stand in Saranac, Michigan. No pictures were taken.
We purchased three pies and some donuts. Denise, the woman behind the counter was charming and gracious.
I had eaten a slice of their mixed-berry pie at a family event and it was awesome.
After visiting the farm stand we went to a playground just south of the Lake Odessa Fairgrounds. The equipment was squeaky-clean and there was a towel draped across the chainlink fence to dry the dew off of the slides and swings! The "gravel" was ground up tires so it was springy.
Quicksilver gave the donuts and the playground two-thumbs-up.
I always use a digging fork instead of a shovel when digging potatoes. It is easier, quicker, easier to find them, and does less damage to them.---ken
ReplyDeleteI mechanized my potato harvest. I bought a "double shovel" potato plow and built a home made mount for my Farmall A. It's nothing fancy, I have to get off the tractor and manually raise and lower it, but then I'm just doing a few rows in the garden, not a big field. Just plow them out and pick them up. Using a shovel or fork in my Ozarks clay is a lot of work!
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I found a "double shovel" back in the dump where my predecessors of my farm discarded things. I realized what it is and cleaned it up in case I needed it some day but have never tried to use it. I'll keep it just in case my old JD potato digger breaks beyond repair. Thanks for the info. ---ken
DeleteI just came in from digging 160 row feet of potatoes with a JD digger older than me (early 1940s) that a friend gave me a few years ago. Total 155 lbs but mostly all small with only a few Bakers. It's been a bad gardening year here in the western UP of Michigan --ken
ReplyDeleteI have always used a potato hook for digging potatoes. It’s shaped like a hoe with five tines about 5 inches long and over all about that wide. Get it under on the far side of the row and rake them toward you.
ReplyDeleteDenny's is great. Try Viki's in downtown Saranac, too, for the best authentic pasties around.
ReplyDelete