Today was potato day! Farmer Andy from Candor came to help us with his potato planting implement that's made in Italy. They sure know what they're doing in Italy because this potato planter works really well and we planted nearly a half acre of potatoes in just a couple of hours! It was great, too, to hear Andy talk about different varieties of potatoes, their different dormancy times and characteristics- he can identify potato varieties by name just from seeing their shape and color.
Leah and Anna planting potatoes: Each potato piece gets placed into a section of the rotating disk that drops it down a chute into the groove where it gets hilled up with soil.
We planted Yukon Golds, Reds, and another yellow variety.
Another great element of the day was having the South Hill Elementary after school group join us in the potato field. The kids really liked seeing how the implement worked and they helped pick up some of the bigger rocks that might have jammed the planter. Having younger folks in the field made the day even more fun and exciting!
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