number 1 cash crop here in n. maine. me and my brothers picked them by hand w/ baskets from age 10-15 then on potato harvesters from 16-18. i also drove a potato truck and worked in the potato house during that time. the money made helped us buy clothes for school and extras we wanted. if you went to potato houses you could literally get barrels of huge spuds for free. my uncle grew seed grade so the big potatoes were too big to go thru the slicers and would rot easily , so they threw them out. the years we worked for him, we had free potatoes for the year. we stored them in a corner in the cellar. those big potatoes were great for making homemade fries. potatoes grow well in our rocky , clay soil. many varieties are named for regions in Maine, like the Kennebec and Katahdins. i can buy a 50lb. bag from local farmers for $10 for #1’s or $6 for 2nds, come late septemer till spring. “new” potatoes, 1st dug in mid july command premium prices of up to $10 per 10# bag. they are so cheap here, its better to buy them than waste garden space growing them.
That’s how it is around here with sweet corn
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As always Bob , beautiful!!!
Yeah, but I think a lot of us fall into the category of doing it not because it saves money, because it doesn’t, but we do it because we enjoy it and because we can. Or is that just me?
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Nope, you are right! We love digging things up!
And it’s the only way to get really new potatoes
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oh i completely agree! just theres so much of them around here id rather use my limited gardening area to grow other stuff thats not as readily available . fruits are outragiously priced here so i grow and freeze as much as i can. i was raised in a poor family so saving money was the most important aspect of everything.
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