Harvesting a Year's Worth of Potatoes in My Backyard Garden!

Good morning, friends. This is my mom, Susan, and my dad. We are doing our our annual potato harvest. We planted these potatoes March, I think. Probably never exactly the end of March sometime. And we've got two full beds we are going to harvest today. Plus, we've got a bunch of baskets because I think we're going to harvest a ton of tomatoes today. So we've been we've been looking forward to this day for about a month. You quit watering it about a month ago. Yeah, probably we couldn't get here until today. We're treasure hunting and we're looking for those treasures that we planted three months ago. And it's perfect because today is not very hot. No, it's nice and cool. I actually put a zippy on. We have a wagon here. My mother in law is actually letting me borrow this today. We're going to harvest potatoes in this. And that's a perfect idea because not a lot of the dirt will knock off just while we're pulling it. Yeah, and we're going to use this wheelbarrow. So this bed, dad, we will harvest the onions out of it. All right. So we're going to do this one. Yes, this is the russet potato bed. OK, awesome. And are we clearing the whole thing or are we leaving flowers? Yeah, those are onions. Are those white onions like the ones you gave me? Because that's what mine look like right now. Only that big? Just onions. Yeah, they're not. They didn't grow very big, the white onions. You know, Walla Walla's got this big. These I'm not sure what they are. I can't remember. I think they're Walla Walla's, but they got overcrowded. Yeah. So if you missed it when we planted these, we planted onions in with the potatoes and they did not get very big. They didn't get enough sun because the potato plants. So, dad, we're going to take everything out of this bed, except for we'll leave the thyme and we'll leave the beans so we don't need to dig up the beans that are on the trellis. Oh, those are beautiful. There we're leaving this corner. This thyme right here. Oh, the thyme's behind. Yeah. But everything else can come up behind the nasturtiums. So this is our bed. Number one, we're going to do. And then bed number two is this bed down here. Look at the pumpkins on the trellis. That is the cutest thing. Oh, yeah, that is the cutest thing. It looks like a children's storybook. Yeah, I'm super happy with that. I don't think you can bring the wagon down here. We need to go around the other way. Yeah, we can go around. This is the second bed we're going to do. And this bed is mostly French fingerling, two different varieties and Yukon golds, I think. Where do you want to start? You can start right there. Start here? Yeah. OK, so we'll take the onions. I'll put the onions in a basket. And then we'll. Are we leaving this little plant here? You can pull it. Pull that one. OK, I'll pull the onions and then you can start the potatoes. Do we have something to put the compost stuff in? I'm pretty sure I turned that. Yes, this feels very dry. OK, that I turned the. Irrigation off Josh this year for the first time. He every bed has a valve right here where I can turn the irrigation off to each individual bed. So this bed hope there's already potatoes coming up. So this is the first year that about three or so weeks ago I went ahead and I turned the irrigation off to these beds so that the potatoes would be dry every year. They have continued to be irrigated as I have been wanting them to dry out before harvest, which is not ideal because you want a dried potato one. It's easier to dig in soil when it's dry because it's less dense, less heavy. And two, when you cure your potatoes or dry them to store all winter, you want them dry so they don't tend to go bad as quickly. So this is going to be really exciting to see the difference between harvesting that's with dry soil and to see how they store in my basement all fall and winter. My mom had a great idea to start putting the compost in one spot. You know, the potato tops, once you put them in there, you could probably just throw all that stuff back in the bed. Oh, when we're done. Yeah. OK. I just didn't want to throw it on the ground. It's too hard to pick up off the gravel. Yes. Yes, I would prefer it not going on the gravel. Keep the gravel nice. Have you been putting the vinegar? I haven't done it in about two months, so I need to do it. That 30 percent looks amazing. Look at that. I can already tell this is going to be better with the dry. There's potatoes everywhere. I pulled the potato plant up and then it all came loose. I'm going to put the ground cover. You might want to leave some of the potato top like that so that we know. Dad knows where the potatoes are. OK. Why don't we do the potato section? OK. I was just trying to get it clear, but that we can do that. I'll just leave them there. I'm going to put ground cloth on my garden probably next week because that was. Yeah, I don't want to mess it up. This right here looks like it was a bunny nest. Oh, it does. It does. Oh, look at the rabbit hair. Yeah. So the potatoes are just falling out of this or not falling, popping out of the soil. They are. And I think we had a little bunny nest right here. Can you see the bunny hair? This would be the third time I've had a bunny nest in my garden. Second time in a potato bed, but third time in the garden total. So we are going to leave the potato tops just so that my dad knows where to dig. Now, one thing we did different in this bed than we normally do. We planted these potatoes a lot farther apart in this bed than we did in that bed down there. It's not going to be the perfect experiment because we're growing different potatoes in this bed versus that bed. But we're curious to see if the yield is greater with giving the plants more space. These are beautiful. What kind of beans are they? The blooms are gorgeous. Those are I think they're called scarlet runner beans. Are they a green bean or are they a drying bean? Well, I think you're ready to dig it because I think I got all the onions of any size. Are we putting all this compost back in? I think we can put it back in the bed when we're. Yeah, I think what I'd like to do. Oh, is this potato flowers or something else? No, those are sunflowers. Can we start at this end? Those are our volunteer sunflowers. And move the irrigation out. So when I dig, I don't cut the irrigation. Oh, yeah, that's no fun. So my dad is saying he's going to start at that end so he can pull up the irrigation so we don't dig the irrigation, which I think is a really good idea. Yeah, it's better to not break it than to have to find where it's broken and fix it. Yeah, well, that's not a bad onion harvest for being in with the potatoes. Oh, there's pins on these. Yeah, they're staples. Oh, you know what? I think we'll actually go ahead and compost this because my onion has got a disease that I don't want going back into the soil. I need to get a battery powered leaf blower, too, so I can blow the gravel. Oh, yeah. Order that today. That's a good idea. I want to get just a small battery powered leaf blower. OK, look at where these can go. Oh, perfect. Hang them on the side of the basket and then they don't get lost. All right. We got the irrigation almost up. I think I got it all. Oh, no, there's still some here of pegs. There's one more, mom, right there. Right there. I think there's one right here, too. See the one close to me? Oh, yeah, that's a good idea, dad. Very systematic today. All right. So we're going to put the potatoes in here, which I think is ingenious. Two more there. Then we're just going to start at one end and work our way. Oh, yeah. So you said now we're going to pull this all and put in the compost? No, no, just no, not that. Yeah, right. But not the stem. You're going to do onions up there, too, because they just break off and you can't pull them up. So this is much better looking, easier to kind of figure out where we're going to be working from. Dad, I think you left a good bit of space between the. I think this is my first line right here. Our first shovel full of treasure right here. See what we get. Oh, my. Now, just carefully. Wow. Oh, my. Yeah, we've got some good bakers. These are very healthy looking. Yeah, none of that. OK, scabs. Reptile looking. You're going to have to go. That's OK. Got my first. You're going to see casualty. I think, Dad, they're growing underneath the thing. So I'll I'll go the other way when we start. Yeah. Oh, yeah. This one got chopped. Yeah, that's our. Well, let's have a we'll just have an area where we put the chopped ones. We get underneath them. Well, you know, your fork might. Oh, your fork might work better because you won't cut them. You might pierce them, but you won't cut them. Well, it doesn't really matter if they're pierced or cut. Look at the size of these. These are by far the biggest potatoes. We didn't plant these as deep as the year before. Yeah, I think we almost went 12 inches the year before. Oh, yeah. Look at those. I'm going to go underneath them. Oh, there's a giant nightcrawler, a purple one. OK, go ahead and grab those. I'll be very careful now. We'll just stay behind them and on the side of them. Oh, yeah. Look at this. Well, this is awesome. Yeah. We'll bury him. If we were home, I'd throw that to the koi fish. Let's let it go back. And Mom, are you putting the broken ones in one spot? Yeah, they're right here. That's OK. Oh, there's a pin. I think we've still got a whole plant here that we're going to get right here. There we go. Oh, yeah, they're not as deep. We didn't go down as deep. I like that better. Look at this. Yeah, they're over there. Oh, there's a ton of them. You said, yeah, I think we got underneath them this time. Oh, treasure hunting. I love this. Oh, man, they're just every way down there. No, I think we found it. About eight inches is better. But we are going to fill this up. There are eight inches. So we're going to now move forward to our next line. There it is. It's right there. They're already coming up. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then we're going to stay behind it and unearth it as we go along. And then we won't stab as many. I didn't realize they were growing under the edge there. It's a little farther. There might not be a potato right here because we planted things so much farther apart to this here in this bed. We'll just be careful. Watch your fingers. Nobody needs to lose a finger while we're doing. There we go. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Wow. I like this dry soil. Yeah, it's easier. Oh, here we do it in the wet before. Oh, it was like raining. But there's another beautiful worm. Oh, wow. Look at the size of these. Oh, there's a couple of staples. These are looking like russets. I think I could have turned the irrigation off maybe even a little sooner. Oh, this I can feel a bunch right here, Dad. Yeah, I'll be very careful. OK, I'm going to go get my mom a knee pad. We're going right underneath all of this treasure hunting. OK, we'll pull that. Woo hoo. OK, let's move that forward. We'll get those into the compost. OK, here we go. Oh, there's another one. Here we go. OK, so we do have a line right there. So I haven't quite got this full this line taken care of yet. OK, let's get this out. There we go. Look at how big this one was. No, these don't go together. They didn't go together. Oh, the other part's over there. Oh, right here. Yeah. So that's that's that's the soon to be meal. There's an onion there. All right. OK, we'll go. You can go down and over this way. Yeah, there's a plant right here. I think that's the next one. We'll just keep moving this soil back. Yeah, yeah, that's right. There's a pin. Right. Right there. OK, we're way down here, so we got to get underneath here. There's one right where you're on the bottom. OK, here we go back. All right. Perfect. Oh, that's the seed potato. That's mushy. That's it. Yeah, we didn't damage any of these. No, no, no. Let's go here. OK, let's pull that back. Oh, yeah. Look at these. That's huge, beautiful. Yeah, not damaging any of these, so. OK, I'll go up on top and get that. Oh, my goodness. Look at these. I think I'm going to move this soil. I'll just be not quite there yet. Oh, wait a minute. Good worm. Right there. I don't think there's any plants until we get to about. It's amazing to me. There's a plant right here. Because I knew we were coming. How you put one potato in three different holes for each one, about eight inches down, and we end up with all of this. It's incredible. Well, it's good soil, fertilizer and water because our potatoes don't always do this. No, no, I don't know. We don't have as good a soil or as good a fertilizer. The soil is looking great. There's one, two, three, four, five worms, which is amazing. We are working our way. Oh, wow. We're just halfway. Yeah, and we have a third of the. There it is right there, the wall. That's called the wall of potatoes. Oh, yeah, they're they're stacked layers. More careful is good as you. Yeah, because you haven't speared any since you changed the angle. Oh, these were walla wallas. But I think they didn't grow big because of the not enough. They didn't have any. So they need a lot of sun. More or less. If there's anything behind it, I think this is a half a line. Yeah, I think they're right here. These little bitty onions. Can we just peel them and then dehydrate them? Could you not dehydrate freeze dry them? Oh, yeah, for sure. Because they're not big enough really even to slice or chop. There's a ton right here, Dad. Yeah. Oh, my word. Oh, I just I'm amazed. We're going to have this bucket full, this wagon full with Oh, this is a seed potato. Oh, we're not missing. We'll know next year if we missed it. Oh, there's a no, that's a bad one. OK, then just chuck it. No, I mean, this this centipede. Oh, bad. I'm just going to pick up these potatoes right here that I can see. These in there. That's OK. No, didn't touch. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, spread out almost over the entire amount. Yeah, I think planting them a little farther apart seems to. I think that was good. Yeah, I think it's perfect distance. How far were we? There's a big one right there. Probably a foot and a half. Foot and a half. So maybe I was going to say maybe a foot. I think we went a foot before. These were a little. Yeah, I think I could have turned the irrigation off like. A month. Yeah. The other one, I turned off a few weeks before this one. It should be a bunch, right? Hold those those stocks up and see what you get. There you go. Oh, yeah. There's one right there. It was easy with the clam digger to go only eight inches versus twelve. A lot easier to plant. You're right. Let me get the dirt on. Yeah, these poor onions didn't get enough sun, probably. Nope. The plants cover the plant covered. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think we'll cover this back up. OK, well, that's this. That was wonderful. Yeah, good. Now, do we put the. What do you want me to do with the cut potatoes? I'll get a bowl when we're done. OK, and I'll just pile them right here on this edge so we know where they are from this one bed. I think we probably planted three. How many potatoes? I guess I could go back and look. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine or 10 rows of three a piece. Probably 30. Probably nine. I think we did pretty good for that. Yeah, that that wagon is almost full. So, mom, do you want to dig out the onions that are in there? Yeah. So what my dad's doing is he's just leveling back out the soil and I'll clean up a bunch of. Oh, yeah, this one's yucky. Let's just bury that one. Look at what I found. Oh, zucchini. Nice. Do you want to take that home, mom? Sure. I'm going to clean up around the bed, getting a bunch of this organic material off the gravel rockway. I need to get a blower so I can just blow all this into the big field past the garden, but I don't have one. I might order it today. And then my mom's taking out all of the onions that we harvested with the potatoes, and she's putting that into a separate basket. These ones didn't have scab on them. No, that's what I said. They're they're nice, good skin. The next bed is going to have scab on it. I think next time I'm going to turn the irrigation system off even sooner. Probably a month before we harvest. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. There might be a stray onion or two in here. That's fine. But I think I got them all out. I just next time I'll put the onion basket closer. Well, I'm not going to probably grow onions with it next. No, I mean, when we do the next. Oh, there's no onions in that one. Oh, just this one. This was an experiment we did just here because I had extra onions. So this year, I don't think I'm going to cover my beds. Well, I was going to because what I where I've harvested, it's already full of those little three leaf spicy things, you know, that have the little yellow flowers that make the little banana things that shoot seeds everywhere. Well, I I might just do it for one year. I'm not sure I struggled, Mom, with the disease. I'll show you over there called it's a fungal rust. And many of you all said the best way to get rid of it is to start all over with soil, which that's not really practical to take all my soil out and buy all new soil. No, it's not feasible. So another suggestion was not to cover it and let the soil breathe because the fungal disease was just nowhere. No airflow. And so I actually talked to a local farmer, the one who recommended this compost to me, the one I bought. He's at our local farmer's market and he grows the most beautiful produce ever. And I was talking to him and he said he agreed with you all that I should not be covering the beds. But I guess I don't have that fungal disease, Mom. So maybe. Well, I'm wondering if that's what's on my strawberries, because my strawberries have like what I would think is white mildew. No, this is I'll show you. It's OK. Show me. It's it's not mildew. It's I'll show you. It's a rust. The good thing about the fungal disease, Mom, is that it does not affect the produce. You can still eat it. It doesn't make the produce bad. It just isn't as pretty. Yeah. Now it just destroyed my snapdragons. Oh, here's some more staples. So I had to rip those up. We're putting the irrigation system back on. This is a lifesaver. You're going to go dump that? Yeah, I'm sure I'll find the pile. I'll show you. Well, it's probably pretty big. Yeah, it's just in the woods. Anywhere really doesn't matter. OK, so I don't have to dump it on an existing pile. No, but I'll open the. Oh, open the gate for me. Thank you. Oh, and I'll have to move some. Oh, those tomatoes look heavenly. Vines kind of made an obstacle course here with all these pumpkin vines. But I can move this for you. Can you get through there? Yep. So right there, mom, I just have a big pile. OK, that works. Mom, I can show you the rust right here. OK, can I leave the gate open because we'll be coming back through? Yeah. The dogs are inside. Yep, they're fine. This right here is the rust. Oh, so I need to pull all that. I probably should have pulled it already. But, you know, I bet that's what is going on with my shade baskets. Oh, the leaves fell off and they looked brown. And my impatience, the same thing. My impatience didn't get this disease, but I bet that's what it is. Well, it's bad. The it's a bad one. Multicolored plants. Beautiful, beautiful shades of colors, plants, shade plants, I forgot what those are called. They are wonderful. But everything else in the pots look pretty measly. It didn't affect the lettuce. This is a lettuce plant right here. And it's actually if you want to know what a lettuce plant going to seed looks like, that's well on this one, too. Yep. OK, so that's a different project. Do you want me to pull this and just start it in the bottom? We can do that at the very end. I don't want to touch that till we are done touching everything else. All right. Yeah, I would come all the way down, mom. I would come all the way down around the outside. OK. She's got to figure out a way to get over to the oh, we have a cantaloupe. Oh, yeah. OK, so this is the next bed. And this one, I turned the irrigation off probably for sure a month ago. I think these are new potatoes that are growing. Oh, I'm assuming. Well, I know they're still connected to this one. Oh, look, there's a trowel. I think this part right here is going to be the fingerlings and then down where my dad is. That's going to be the Yukon golds. We're going to do the same thing again, pulling up the irrigation. Now, mom, this snapdragon also has that disease. So again, let's just take. Oh, see, I think that's a new potato growing because that potato plant has a flower on it. Yes, that's what I was thinking. Yeah. What do you want to do with all the compost? Well, we'll compost it. I don't want it to go back into the bed. Where should we put it? Oh, OK. So let's go ahead. Oh, look, there's a compost first and take it. Yes. Then do the potatoes. Let's do that because we are running out of wheelbarrow space. Fingerlings are my favorite tasting potato. I think so, too. They have a good texture. Oh, look at this one. It's huge. So good. I love them roasted. Yes. Oh, they're just like everywhere. Yeah. All right. Here we go. Wait, we got to go dump this first at first. Look at them. Hopefully we get more of this size. Oh, they're just right on the top. These ones in here, I think he buried a little bit deeper, if I remember. This soil feels a lot drier. Oh, yeah, this this potato sprouting eyes. Oh, yeah. It was near the surface. Oh, that's a big potato. So we're showing some signs of disease, not on these red ones. These red ones look really good. I guess some of them have it. It's called scab. Some look really good, though. But on the white ones, it's definitely affected the white ones a lot more. So we're probably going to lose a quarter. You think, Mom? Yeah, I would say. And we've been pitching them over the fence. But, you know, we've got so many potatoes that'll be OK. We lose some potatoes. It's not a big deal. Yeah, this is a good example of what scab is this. You still totally eat this potato. It's just not pretty. So this is scab. It's basically where the potato skin is really rough and craggy. And if I was to peel this, it would be perfectly fine to eat and beautiful. It's just really not aesthetic and it won't store very long. The problem is some of these little fingerlings that have the scab bugs were able to get into it. So like this one, there's a bug hole that's just got to be pitched over the fence. Some of these fingerlings look beautiful. It just means I've got a big project ahead of me going through them once. That's a big one, but that has a literal centipede growing out of it. Gross. So you're really supposed to rotate your potatoes every few years and wait years before you grow them. I think I forgot that I grew potatoes in here two years ago. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have planted potatoes in here, but that's OK. Oh, yeah, this is a whole bunch under the edge. Those look really good, actually. Yeah. Maybe they got too wet. I don't know. Maybe. Because the ones under the edge look really good. OK, one more. See what's right there. I don't know yet. There's still a couple underneath there. Oops. Nothing. I'll put this all back together. OK, let's do that. And I'm going to go through and check the ones that. Oh, yeah, this one has a big hole in it. These red fingerlings are really good in here. Here's the harvest from this bed. Do you want to go through, Mom? You can be very picky and only keep the really nice ones because they're just like that. I would chuck totally this one. Yeah. I mean, it's you can see how the skin like right there. Chuck it. Whoops. Because we have plenty of potatoes. Some of them look really nice, like this one. Looks really good. Looks like a normal potato. And then some of them. I would chuck that one in here. Yeah, here's what did really, really well in this bed. These red fingerlings look absolutely beautiful. And we got a ton of them. So I'm really excited about that because I have never been able to get fingerlings to grow. Some of these I'm going to chuck. Baseball player, I am not. Yeah, this one. Yeah, I was going to retrieve the pins and brush the sides. We got both of the main potato beds harvested. I have one more potato bed over here, over here. This was all potatoes. They've obviously died back. But I have zucchini plants in here, flowers, kale, a pumpkin plant on the other side. So I don't want to dig these potatoes up till much later in the season, if at all. So we're going to let these grow here. What are these beans? These are a scarlet runner bean. Oh, look at that. That's really pretty. Look, that's really pretty. I grew those last year, but I haven't tried eating them yet. Should we pick them? Or do we wait till they're all brown? Well, we'll wait. That'll be a different harvest day. That'll be a big project. Well, a lot are still really green. Yeah. Do we have to wait till they're brown? Yep. So I think this was a huge harvest. From this bed, we got all these potatoes, plus more that we chucked over the fence. These are the little fingerlings that we got that are like the white variety. I would definitely say the red variety of fingerlings did the best. And then these must be. These almost look like two different kinds because some of them are definitely. That's true. Bumpy. They look like a pine cone. And then some of them are smooth. Oh, that's a cut one. Are perfectly smooth. You're right. So this might be two different kinds in there. I think you're right, Mom. So what we're going to do. Either they look like pine cones or they don't. Yeah, you can chuck that one, Dad. It's OK. OK, so we're going to bring these down and we're going to show you where we're going to cure these. You got this one, Dad? OK, I'll get the wagon then. Are we going around to the basement? Yeah, I'll have to unlock the door. Oh, my. You need help? This is uphill. You need help, Mom? I think. Well, once I get it to the top. Then you'll be going downhill. But look how much nicer this looks. It looks so neat and tidy. I love it. You got it? Yep. I stopped to admire the tomatoes. Yeah, that's another. That's not the kind I have. I haven't seen. You have the kind I have. Mine are. They're over here. They're ridgy. My Roma's. Oh, they're they've got flat sides and they have almost no seeds. Therefore, making tomato sauce. Did I give it to you? I must not. I think I bought them there. They start with an M. San Marzano's? Yes. I grew those last year. Those are like, I think, an Italian variety, but this bed did so well. Oh, I thought that was a gourd or something. It's a rock. I love the pumpkins hanging from the trellis. Now, did you have to train them up like that? Yeah, I borrowed this wagon from my mother-in-law when I picked up 100 ears of corn from the farmer's market this weekend, which I have not processed yet. Every time I've been doing corn on the cob for any event, I do two dozen and roast them on the grill and then cut them and put them in baggies, you know, like a quart size baggie. And then they're perfect for Mexican slaw or... Do you freeze them? Yeah. Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah. I'm going to roast them first and then done that. That's a good idea. I mean, it doesn't take too much longer to wrap, oil wrap and season in oil. Two dozen as it does to do six. I mean, it honestly does take more time, but not that much. Yeah. Takes no more time to roast them. Right. And after dinner, I just cut off all the corn that didn't get eaten. I can give you an update on the chicks since we're over here. They're so cute. I can't wait to see them. Now, the the the first set of chicks I got are all with the adult chicks. And actually, they spent the night last night for the first time in the coop with the adult chicks. They've been acclimating with each other for quite some time. And we brought out yesterday for the first time the silkies and Easter Eggers, so we can go in there and look. We have a I don't know. What would you call this, mom, where they're getting to know each other in a safe environment, meet and greet? Yeah. Yeah. So there's the silkies. There are two of them down there. They've got water and food. And the two white ones are Easter Eggers. And they can't they can get to know each other, but they can't interact. Hi, sweet girl. These ones have blue feet. I have about six chickens that have blue feet, which I think is super interesting. We think this one might be a rooster. Hi, sweetie. We're not sure yet, but Josh said he has shown some signs of rooster behavior. See this one? This is Ethel. We have Lucy and Ethel. She's got blue feet, too. Hey, sweet girl. So they're getting along really well with the adult chicks. That black and white one right there, she, I think, is the most beautiful chicken we have. Oh, my chickens aren't very happy. I'm in here right now. They want out. They do. So I can see if I can show you the silkies. They're so cute. We had these chicks in this area for probably two or three weeks before we integrated them. And these ones we just brought outside yesterday because those silkies were just so much smaller. I wanted them to get a little bigger. And so now the teenage chicks, I'm still bringing them. I'm not bringing them inside anymore. They slept for the first time in the big girls coop. But these girls I bring in at night and will probably have this meet and greet area for about two weeks and then we'll integrate them. And I kind of think that this one might be a rooster, too. She's supposed to not be, but she's got a red comb already and the other one doesn't. And she's so much bigger. But time will tell. You can see the silkies are just so cute. They're little fluff balls. And they're super, super friendly. Can I just leave the door open? Yeah, I'm not being aggressive. No, they're super friendly with each other. So it's really good. The system's working really well. Josh does have updates on the coop, but I don't know exactly what he's done because I haven't been out here with him. But for now, this system is working really, really well now that they're mostly integrated. It's definitely making our life a little bit easier. My mom got the door unlocked for us so we can bring these inside. So I don't have that much cardboard. I've got this. We can put the potatoes down on and then I'll have to go upstairs and go get some more cardboard. So what my parents are doing right now is we are going to cure these potatoes. Basically, curing is a fancy word for drying them out in a controlled environment in the dark. So we are in my basement and we've got cardboard down. We're going to try to keep like potatoes with like potatoes. I'm going to go get more cardboard and they're just going to start laying them out single file layer. Well, recycle just went out, so I don't have any more cardboard, but I've got this tablecloth that I use just for produce. I looked at that box, but I remember I saw your Christmas tree in it. So you don't want to use that one. I don't want to use that box. OK, just a second. I guess I should Google if we're supposed to wash off the dirt first. All right. When harvesting potatoes, do they need to be washed before curing? No, potatoes should not be washed before curing. Instead, you should gently brush off any excess soil and cure them in a dark, cool, well-ventilated place to allow their skins to dry and heal, which prolongs their storage life. Washing introduces moisture, which can promote rotting and shorten shelf life. OK, perfect. Yeah, I think we had to do it before because they had caked with mud. Yeah, we didn't know not to. I think we did know, but we just we just it was like so much mud is mud. It was mud, not dirt. I want to try making French fries for the first time and potato chips. I've never made either of those like real, not baked French fries. I mean, big French fries hundreds of times. Well, I think the trick for French fries is you cook them twice. Yeah. And you have to soak them in water. Yeah. Get the starches off. Yes. Now, this is as I recall, it might be wrong. You slice them and make French fries and you soak them in salted water. So I think it's salted and then you dry them and you fry them and then you can take them out and freeze them. And then when you want French fries, you just have to fry them the second time. I might do that because then you could probably even throw them in the air fryer the second time instead of frying them. Yes, I think that would work. I mean, you'd have to research it. But yeah, I as I recall, let's just say that as I recall, because I really like good French fries and I really like sweet potato fries. And they're hard to make. Yeah, they are. They're not mushy. And the way I've seen to do those is to slice them, rinse them and dust them with cornstarch. Oh, cornstarch. Yeah. Yeah. I would put the ones that are cracked. They're still good to eat. I'm just putting them over here. And I'm putting them cracks up so they will dry better. Almost done. That's it. OK, I just ran up and grabbed them. Here's the pig. Oh, perfect. Dad, you want to bring out the wheelbarrow and we'll use that for the next project. Let me get the last of the potatoes out of it. All of this. And then there's some onions still. Yeah, the onions mom can just go next to the potatoes. OK. Oh, now I wish we'd put the potatoes at one end. You could roll them. Yeah, I think I'll do that to try and get the dump, some of the dirt off. There we go. And then I'll spread them back out and we can put the onions at the other end. Well, I was thinking I might actually put the onions on the cardboard up in the grill room because you're not really supposed to have onions and potatoes next to each other. Oh, you know, that's true. That's what they say in your pantry. You shouldn't put them next to each other. You just sweep the potatoes like this. Yeah. Well, even look at the amount that's fallen off since they've just started to dry here. Yeah. Well, there we have 2025 garden potato harvest minus the bed. That is the volunteer bed. But we're not going to worry about that today. I decided I'm not going to cure these onions down here with the potatoes. I'm actually going to bring those up and I'll probably cure those on the porch. And then I'll just process them really shortly. What I'm going to do is grab a box fan in a little bit and we're going to put two box fans on here, turn it on. I'm going to close the blinds, have the lights off, let this dry for probably two weeks before I put them where I'm going to have them all fall and winter. We're going to do some fun projects with these. I want to try making French fries. Like I said earlier, I want to try making potato chips. And then obviously all the classics with these potatoes. But the box fans have been in the grow room where the chicks have been brooding and they're very dusty. So I want Josh to take his air compressor and dust them off before we turn them on down here just to kind of get the dust that's already on the box fans off. This is obviously going to make a mess, but I don't want any more dust down here than needs to be down here. We all just took a break to get some water. So my mom, dad and I have all hydrated. We only have about 20 minutes before my son gets up from his nap. We've been trying to do this during his nap because we all want to go to lunch together. It's kind of our tradition. Now we have a favorite burger place that we like to go after we do these big harvesting days with my parents. So what we were going to do was harvest the tomatoes, but I think I'm going to come out tonight and harvest the tomatoes tonight once it cools off a little bit during dusk. So we're going to tackle one last project that isn't going to take us that long. And honestly, it'll be a huge help to have my parents here to help me do it. I think they're still drinking some water. My mom wanted to fill up her water bottle. I just grabbed a can of carbonated water. So did my dad. So the last little project we're going to do is not as exciting as harvesting potatoes, but it'll feel good to get it done. You might be able to hear my neighbor's dogs. They're talking to us saying hello. I want to get this bed cleaned up. It's honestly a little bit sad to look at it. So we're going to go ahead and clean it up. I also brought up my onions because I'm going to cure those up here. I don't want to cure them down by my potatoes. I actually need to go grab the wheelbarrow, not this basket to pull these up. So this bed right here, we might have to move some pumpkins out of the way. Well, I can do that. But I figure out where they're coming from. There's two different plants here. So which one do we clean? These snapdragons. Let's see. And this will go that way. Whoa, don't bend it. Do you want to pick any of these tomatoes on the... I'll get those later. OK. Well, we'll get three beds taken care of, huh? Yep. OK, now here's a tomato plant. It's great. I don't think that's much of anything. No, pull it. Just a volunteer. A little pull here. Perfect. Yeah, we'll figure out another time. What's under here? That's it. Oh, it's a label. You want to dump this, Mom? Yeah. Is that something specific to this particular pumpkin, the white splotches on the leaves? I don't know, because the other one over there doesn't have it. It must be. Is that it? It's kind of pretty. Easy. Yeah. I thought we got a lot done. We did get a lot done today. Here, wait, Mom, let me put this in there. It was on the leaves. This, you see on the leaves? Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is bad. That's why I wanted this to be the last thing we do, because I don't want to go touch other stuff now. All right, so we're going to wheel up the wheelbarrows. No, we're going to leave that blue one, because I'm probably going to do more harvesting tonight. So that one can stay here, Dad. I'll just put it right here. OK, perfect. Do you want me to take it this way or around the gravel? Maybe around the gravel. OK. You want this one shut then? Sure. What I need to come out and do tonight, probably, or tomorrow, is grab all these tomatoes. And it looks like these black beans are ready to come up soon. So that's exciting. Are we having another shelling bean party? Bean shelling party? Actually, Josh bought an electric one. Oh, how fun is that? You need help, Mom? Got it. It's not near as heavy as when it was full of potatoes. That was probably 100 pounds of potatoes. Oh, I would think so. At least 75. This would be a worthwhile investment for you. Yep, I think I'm going to buy one. I think I'm sold on one of these wagons. I borrowed it and I've used it like six times in the last three days. So I think it's time for me to invest in one. All right. So onions go in. Let's just leave them out for now. OK, so I might actually dry them out here somewhere. And then, Mom, it's not supposed to rain again forever. You can pick whatever tomatoes. Oh, from your table setting. Yeah, I saw that on Instagram. Yeah, I haven't put it away yet, and it's been, I don't know, five or six days. These ones are going to be pretty ripe, so you might want to have like a tomato sandwich tomorrow or tonight or something. Yes, I probably will. And then you wanted the zucchini, right? Yes, please. I have a lot. Do you want any more? I've got more. No, that's good. My dad is saying he really likes the tomato candles that we bought, which I everyone who's seen them has been super thrilled with them. They're these beeswax, beautiful tomato candles. I can link the company down below where I bought them from. I found her on Instagram. So tomorrow or tonight, I need to take care of these tomatoes. I need to harvest a bunch of tomatoes that I made. Ginger snap cookies this morning. Do you want to take some of those home, too? OK, today is September 1st. So and it felt like fall. It's like 80 degrees right now, but it felt like fall. I think this is yours, Mom. Yeah, I thought it was mine because I was missing some. I have a couple more, too. That's OK, though. I bought some new ones. You want to take that cake home to us? Sure. OK, so today, this morning, it felt like fall. It was kind of chilly out this morning. It was foggy. And so my son said he wanted to make cookies. I opened up the cookbook and he picked ginger snaps for the first time and they were a huge hit. So it kind of feels appropriate to make ginger snap cookies the first day of fall. So I'm going to package up some of those. I'll show you them. They turned out so well. These are them. This is the recipe. I can link this recipe down below. It's out of my favorite fresh milk cookbook. They are fantastic. So I will probably give them half of those cookies because we don't need to eat all those cookies. And then my mom wants the rest of this cake. So after our dinner party, we had about half of this cake left. We had a family dinner at Josh's dad's house yesterday. So I took it. We ate more of it. And then my mom wants the rest of it. She was snacking on it earlier. So she's going to go home with ginger snap cookies, some more cake. And I was going to show your haul. I'm going to make some zucchini bread and put it in the freezer because I've not had good success grating zucchini and freezing it. And later trying to make zucchini bread with it. It's just too watery. That's a good idea. So I'm going to try and put three. I cleaned out my freezer. Mom, do you want any peppers? I don't. In fact, I'm going to pull mine and give them to your brother. Oh, OK. That's a good idea. Because he'll eat them. Yeah, he will. We won't. Did you guys bring a change of clothes? Yes. OK, good. Because we're going to get cleaned up, head to lunch. And Josh and the rest of my family is ready to go to lunch. So we're going to get cleaned up. So thank you, mom and dad, for coming and helping me harvest potatoes. It was so much fun. I really enjoy working in your garden. I love doing this. And God bless everyone. Thanks for being here. We'll pop some more videos here. You can go enjoy between now and my next upload. And we can't wait to see you next time. Bye.