anyone looking for seed potatoes let me know. the farmers are giving them away as there isn’t any demand for them commercially. most types grown here are kennebec, katahdin, maine russet, and several reds, some times yukon gold. pm me and ill ship them to you at my cost.
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Always blown away by the generosity of people on this site. Lovely gesture!
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Is this a new thing?
for now it is until i can’t get anymore. haven’t heard of them dumping them yet but last fall was a bumper crop. now is when they usually ship and the big commercial buyers don’t need as many of them because of the shutdown of the restaurants.
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nice gesture. Locally, I disseminated red pontiacs a few years back. Encouraging employees & their families to garden as an at home hobby. I like encouraging people to be more self reliant / healthy… What better way than also supporting my local co-op at the time. I actually have my potatoes in & already mounded them up once all beit my garden is a fraction the size it has been in past years being Im staying at my office in town. .
But, glad to see your generosity kudos…
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thank you. i too try to get people to be as self reliant for their food as possible. I’ve taught several of my neighbors some tips on growing and shared cuttings of my plants so they could start their own. my father used to tell us to learn to raise food and can as someday the grocery stores won’t have anymore food. he was a smart man in that aspect. he knew that in crisis the government couldn’t provide for its people and it was up to you to feed and care for yourself.
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This is truly a lovely gesture! It is enlightening to see such an offer after reading and seeing all the waste from farmers having to dump thousands of gallons of milk (much more) and all kinds of produce because of the schools and restaurants that are shut down. I watched a video the other day where a large nursery was dumping all of their container filled plants and flats. Most were filled with beautiful spring flowers! It pains my heart to see such waste! They didn’t even care about recycling the containers. It was literally all just dumped in a huge pile and scooped up with a large tractor bucket. We need to fix this broken system!
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Working in manufacturing after growing up on a farm. The relaxation & self dependency is a mode many in towns have forgot. I remember one guy especially that grew the potatoes & ended up raising a whole garden… Also in years past I had a hog farm. With 2 full time employees that did nothing but dump produce. Many days we dumped 10 tons of potatoes a day which is hard to equate against hunger, but the hogs did get butchered… I have mulled someday helping to build a local mission in my area a potatoe storage area & or garden space. Not sure but Ive thought on it…
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it truly saddens me as well. i came from a poor family so we were taught to use and reuse everything. we need to really reassess how we do things in this country and have a backup plan to preserve our food when normal sales routes aren’t there anymore. its so sinful to be dumping food and plants because we don’t have ways to preserve them! I’ve even gone into dumpsters to get plants thrown away in the fall , that hadn’t sold and given to people who wanted or needed them. why can’t others do the same? people don’t see the big picture anymore because they think the food will always be there. they’re learning the reality of it the hard way.
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do it! i bet you could find a lot of like minded people given this current situation. it has show us how vulnerable our food system is. everyone needs to start thinking this way instead of relying on the government to save the day. its not just about having food for yourself but also to help as many others in your community as well. when money fails, bartering will be the new system. you will be much more secure if you have extra.
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I wholeheartedly agree with you! There are so many families still struggling to put food on the table. Community support is essential and I see the day where everyone in a community will come together to share and barter (a few communities already do this to some degree). More victory gardens are being planted this year and other seasoned gardeners are offering their skills and knowledge. Support your local small farmers. Bring back skills and trades that have been lost.
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Certainly ignited some replies. I have kids that I wish to be independent & self reliant. Especially my sons whom I want to see do well for their families… Inspiring them to know as much as possible when it comes to Working with their own hands… Currently though, Im not in a good spot & our family is seperated. Perhaps the potatoe project will be something I do with my boys to reconnect. When the kids were younger at each Christmas season I took them to the store & each bought items to fill a Shoe Box for Samaritans Purse. I have 5 kids & a Step son that will appreciate Living in America, Liberty & Self Reliance but will always have a heart for their fellow man.
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my hats off to you. my kids have been planting and raising poultry since they were old enough to walk. when me and my wife were working, they were taught to work by their grandparents. both could cook a meal and clean a fish and chicken by time they were 10. when i was a kid my father would raise hundreds of meat chickens. in the fall the whole family would come to butcher them. everyone had a job and at the end of the day everyone got their chickens. thats what we have to get back to. try to get your boys involved they will need these skills in the future. we all need to go back to the old ways esp. in times of crisis.
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I agree with you both, @moose71 and @SaddleBrookeFarm. I think a good majority of us here on this forum probably feel this way. We know how to grow food, many of us raise livestock, poultry, or other meat animals. And we teach our children how to do it. About 10-12 years ago, our pastor was really encouraging everyone to start gardens, be prepared, be as self-sufficient as possible, and be able to help others in time of need. I don’t really know how many people initiated gardens and such as a result, but I hope a lot! Sometimes it feels like you can’t do all the things that need done, particularly “prepping” type stuff. Even though we have always been a family of hunters, I encouraged my husband that teaching the boys to hunt and fish, as well as knowing how to process the meat, was the best thing we could do for them. Knowing how to feed yourself is not old-fashioned. It is necessary, and always has been! I have taught them about gardening and orchard work (what little I know about that!), and I just pray this stuff sticks with them. How many times have we told our children, “You never know when you’re going to need to know how to do this on your own.”
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Hey everyone. What do we feel is a good age to have the children be part of the slaughter process of the meat chickens? My mom is from South Dakota and she says 10 years old, which is when she started with pulling feathers. My three girls are in charge of feeding the baby chicks, but they want nothing to do with the butchering part of it, which I feel is fair. They are 8, 6, and 3.
thanks
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Haha…Well. as a child i remember being told to stick out my fingers & organs were slide onto them as the animal was being butchered so I wouldnt drop them carrying them to the next person to process & wrap.
As a 6-7 yr old my daughter helped my mom( very religious etc) butcher Ducks. As a joke my inlaws in PA would ask her what did the Duck do when grandma chopped their head off. Shed flop around…to a few laughs…
My daughter helped raise our piglets, she was not happy riding to the slaughter house. But the ducks helped her understand. I never encourage my kids to make pets of Edible animals but it happens…I wouldnt force a kid to help period really, especially that young.
Castration of Piglets I had to force Farm hands to help under the promise I wouldnt make them next year, lol. Truthfully. I never wanted to do it either. The scream is unforgettable. Almost blood curdling…
Every kid is different. I have 5 kids & stepson. All so different. I just kinda feel out what they like and go from there. Mostly just do what has to be done. Let them help if they want…My sons all usually were /are never far from me when Im working which I loved…
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like saddle said go by their comfort level. even if they just fetch stuff for you at 1st then offer a more difficult task. they want your approval so as long as you are positive and encourage them, they will show you what they are comfortable doing. my daughter wasn’t into the gutting but would pluck , wrap and butcher. my son, who now is a Marine, wanted to butcher from about 10 on. dad had him cutting tree length firewood at 12. bought his own saw at 17 and would cut firewood for the older folks until he went in the service at 19.
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Hi Moose. I’m interested. I really appreciate your generosity! I’d like to pay the shipping though. Are they still available?
Also, as somebody who has probably shipped some, do you think it’s more viable to ship it or for me to buy local (Indiana)?
hi Tim. shipping is pretty expensive. if you can find some local it would probably be cheaper. I’m mostly doing this for people that can’t find any seed locally.
On our farm, we start our children helping as soon as they can walk well. For butchering, that would mean if they are 2-4 they would get to help with spraying water to rinse the chickens off. At around 4 - 5, they are usually old enough to help put the chickens in the ice water after evisceration. Evisceration and plucking (when we didn’t have a plucker) starts between the ages of 6 and 8. Cutting jugular vain and submersing chickens in boiling water to loosen feathers, age 10 (for interested parties). Cutting chicken into parts, ages 10 -12 (depending on the person and how comfortable I feel about them handling a super sharp knife). Everything is really customized to each child, but those are general ages. On a related note, we have a “milestone” age that our children get really excited about. When you turn 6 around here, you get to start cooking your own eggs. 
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