Would You Like Fries With That?

Sack of Spuds Anyone?

It's a line I know well and repeated often during my youthful years in high school and later in college. And the answer was almost always, "yes, absolutely." Because if you're going to commit the foody sin of treating yourself to a real burger -- might as well complete the 25-to-Life sentence with a side of deep-fried french fries.

But the fries Bill Bird dished up all those years ago cannot compare to the sacks of spuds currently sitting in a cool and darkened corner of the Bird GarageMahal. The first big harvest of 2011 is now in -- and as you can tell by the photo -- we're in "Fat City."

Or -- if we convert these all to fries -- we soon will be.

After a less-than-stellar 2010 growing season -- the Backyard of Bird has bounced back with a spud harvest for the ages. A lot of factors play into a harvest like this -- which includes good seed potatoes and a green-thumbed wife named Venus willing and determined to pack every last square inch of a 4X8 raised bed with as many spuds as possible.

Colorado Rose Red monster. One of many

But there's also a lot of luck that plays into a harvest like this. You just don't grow a giant Colorado Rose Red baker like the one to your left without a little assistance from Mother Nature. And -- she delivered this year -- in spades. The late spring rains that distressed many gardeners by pelting tiny tomato plant starters with non-stop rain (and hail), turned out to be Manna from Heaven for potato growers.

The leafy potato plants that completely covered the bed soaked it all in. Inch after inch of steady rainfall hit all sections of the raised bed in an equal manner. And -- some weeks later when the plants began to die back in the graceful way that potato plants do -- a wonderful sight greeted me and the wife that is Venus.

There's GOLD in Them Thar Hills!

Tiny treasures poked from the top of every plant. Tiny treasures in every corner. Tiny treasures here. Tiny treasures there. Tiny treasures everywhere. I felt much like a gold miner in 1849 California. No need to dig into the ground son -- the gold is right here on top for the picking. Fattened by late spring rains, potatoes were literally bursting out of the ground.

I guess that late rain wasn't such a bad thing after all -- now was it?

There's a special and strange satisfaction that is so very hard to describe when you've literally lucked into a harvest like this. You forget about the hot sun beating down on your neck and back. The dirt between your fingernails isn't a bother. There's a treasure here to get out of the ground and you can't quite dig fast enough. Each shovel of dirt reveals a new prize and brings a new smile to the face of a gardener.

Fat Fingerlings

I suppose it means the work that you put into growing the crop -- the hours spent fertilizing and weeding the garden -- have now paid off with a monster harvest. While you always hope for the best when harvest arrives -- there's always a surprise here and there. There's nothing quite like finding a single Colorado Rose potato that's large enough to feed two people or fingerlings so fat with growth and production that you begin to wonder why you didn't plant more of them.

But it really doesn't hit you until you've turned over the last shovel full of dirt. You don't truly understand until you've poked through every last inch and bit of soil for spud surprises with that spade fork and get every last offering. Only then do you look at those burlap sacks fat with potatoes. And only then does it hit you.

What in Hades are we going to do with all these potatoes?

Pick a Potato

My guess is -- and it's a guess because we don't have a large scale -- that 5 lbs. of seed potatoes resulted in a harvest of 80-100 lbs. of fat potatoes. But -- without a scale -- it is just a guess. I can only tell you that those sacks were not easy to lift when the job was all said and done. Lugging them from the Bird Back 40 into the safety of the GarageMahal didn't do the back any favors.

But last night's french fries were some of the best I've ever had. Home grown potatoes are unlike anything you can find at your local supermarket, but you will find them in stores that cater to organic tastes and desires. You will almost certainly find these at Farmer's Markets scattered around the Sacramento area.

Sacks of Spuds. Harvest Completed

My thanks to the fine staff at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply for once again supplying a superior batch of seed potatoes. Special recognition to Capital Nursery as well for holding three sacks of fingerling potatoes in reserve for me when the wife that is Venus found an extra spot or two for additional seed potato plantings.

It's Sunday morning in Sacramento. Did someone say hash browns?

French Fries! Mashed Taters! And....French Fries???

Uh....Scuse me. I was just dreaming about the kind of dishes that I will hopefully be enjoying as this glorious summer grinds on. The bulk of the Bird Family tomato crop is still weeks away from turning any other color than green -- but some harvests are coming in thank you very much.

Bill and Venus Bird once again find themselves buried under a massive load of spuds thanks to our weekend harvesting efforts -- as evidence by that rather tasty and blurry photo to your right.

The really good news is the sister-in-law -- Leana -- is coming to the rescue with the gift of a digital camera she no longer finds useful. And believe me -- it's better than anything Bill Bird has ever used. I had to promise Leana -- of course -- that the new camera will not be taken on a rafting trip down the Rogue or any other river for that matter. Done.

Folks -- the photo above and the one to your left is the result of planting one 4X8 foot raised bed with a single lb. of "All Red," "All Blue," and "Colorado Rose" seed potatoes purchased from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply in Grass Valley. The harvest appears to be a tad larger this year when compared to last year -- but it's also true that the sizes are down somewhat.

The lovely wife that is Venus and I were pulling monster-sized Red and Blue potatoes from the potato patch last year in an eye-popping harvest that apparently will not be duplicated anytime soon (last year was just "special" -- on so many fronts). It seemed as if every other potato pulled from last year's patch was a "baking" type variety. This year? Perhaps one in five?

But -- while the sizes are down -- production is up. Venus and I harvested so many spuds over the weekend that it took two sets of hands to haul the freshly harvested bounty into the GarageMahal. And Venus promptly brought the Saturday harvest to the Sunday table with a DELISH potato offering (I'll have to post up that recipe).

I'll be honest. Venus and I have been looking forward to the potato harvest for the better part of six to seven months. That's about when we ran through the last potato from last year's harvest -- our first. It was then that we discovered that --like heirloom tomatoes -- no spud is the same. The potatoes that you grow in your own backyard are unlike anything that you purchase at your local supermarket.

In fact? There is no comparison.

Our favorite meal? Well -- I'm almost embarassed to admit it -- but our favorite meal is not the healthiest use of this backyard produce. There is nothing better -- in my humble opinion -- than a tasty snack of "All Red" and "All Blue" deep-fried french fries. It's eyeball-roll-back-in-the-skull kind of good. McDonald's french fries are rumored to be the best fries on the planet bar none -- but I have no doubt that Mayor McCheese himself would be hard-pressed not to proclaim our discovery "Fries From Heaven."

Yeah -- it's that good.

Venus and I have come to discover that spuds grow best in a raised bed. The environmental conditions are so much easier to control in a raised bed when compared to direct-ground planting. Potatoes grow well -- and larger I might add -- in a bed filled with soil that is not compacted (in other words -- no clay).

Although our test planting in the direct-ground bed did yield a nice harvest -- the sizes of the spuds were noticeably smaller. Almost none of them were large enough to proclaim them as true "baking" type potatoes.

No matter. We'll still find a good use for them.

Our harvest -- like everything else so far this year -- is a tad late. We're about three weeks behind where we were last year at this point -- and there's also no doubt in my mind that our less-than-desirable spring weather also affected potato sizes this year.

But you know what gardeners say, right? Better late than never!