The Great Potato Plan for 2013

For the 2013 season, I've gone in with two friends to place a large seed potato order. We'll be growing the following varieties:

Purple Viking (purple skin, white flesh)

Sangre (red skin, white flesh)

Warba Pink Eye (golden skin with pink eyes, white flesh)

Chieftain (pinkish red skin, white flesh)

Purple Majesty (dark purple skin, dark purple flesh)

All Blue (deep blue skin, deep blue flesh)

Yukon Gem (light yellow skin with pink eyes, light yellow flesh)

Yellow Finn (deep yellow/tan skin, yellow flesh)

Russet Burbank (russet skin, white flesh)

and six types of fingerlings:

Purple Peruvian

French Fingerling

Red Thumb

La Ratte

Austrian Crescent

Russian Banana

 

With this many varieties and somewhat limited space for a potato crop, I won't have too many plants of any one variety, but it should make for some beautiful, colorful dishes of potato salad and roasted potatoes!

 

They're due to arrive at the end of March so that they'll have sprouted and be set for planting out on the new moon, which falls on April 10th this year.   I'm funny about planting according to the lunar calendar, in that I only do it for potatoes.  This year's crop will be especially meaningful for me, whether I get them in the ground on the full moon or not, because the spuds'll be growing in my garden while we're in Ireland, and that will bring me great pleasure.  I really mean that.  I'll actually think of my crop while we're over there, and somehow, I'm sure I'll feel more connected to my farmer ancestors for having worked my soil and planted my tubers as they did long ago, with hope and anticipation for a great harvest. 

 

Here's a shot of my raised pototo bed from May 22, 2012 (soil was 14" deep).  I post this picture with hope and anticipation that the frozen, snow-covered tundra that currently is my backyard will actually melt and be ready to garden again in another six weeks :-)

 

Movies and Videos - Awash in DVDs

Holy smokes.  I need a new DVD stand just to house my new collection of Irish videos.  Most of these will probably end up for sale on Amazon once I'm sure I've watched them enough times.  One video I *know* I won't be watching again is "The Field."  Although the acting was good and the scenery beautiful, the plot was downright depressing.  The Killinaskully comedy TV series is pretty hysterical, and the others have been helpful and informative.  Please feel free to post a comment if you have specific questions about any video in particular.  I'd be happy to give a more thorough review for you.

Discovering Ireland:  Video Visits Travel Collection

Rick Steves Ireland and Scotland (6 episodes, including Dublin, The Best of South Ireland, and The Best of West Ireland)

The Story of Ireland (BBC)

In Search of Ancient Ireland (PBS)

Celtic Voyages:  A Fascinating Journey Through Ireland (3 DVD set)

Killinaskully:  Season 1 TV Comedy Series

Man of Aran (1934 b/w drama)

Into the West (drama)

The Field (drama)

The Quiet Man (drama)

Ryan's Daughter (drama)

Out of Ireland:  The Story of Irish Emigration to America

Since We're On the Subject of Potatoes...

 

 

 



Potato culture just fascinates me.  Why do some nightshades, like eggplants and peppers, produce their fruits above ground while potatoes produce theirs in the form of tubers underground?  I did see some fruit-like growths on top of my potato plants one year, but it's the only year out of the over 15 years I've been cultivating potatoes that I'd ever seen those non-edible fruits form from the flowers.  Very odd. 

In any event, it thrills me to look at the lush growth above the soil and, once the plants have flowered, to imagine the tubers underneath the surface pushing the soil out of their way as they grow larger and larger.  This photo shows some of my "Warba-Pink Eye" potatoes that I harvested in September 2012 (hover over photo and click to see larger).  I had robbed every plant of some tubers before this point in the harvest, so the photo shows what was left of the plant's tubers once I'd already robbed several over the preceding weeks.  The summer of 2012 saw my most productive potato harvest ever - 44 pounds from my 9' x 4' plot in a raised bed.  Forty-four pounds of potatoes would have kept an Irish man fed for only 4 days during the 1800s in Ireland, when the average person consumed about 10 to 14 pounds of potatoes per day - and nothing else.  Of course, potatoes are only one source of many types of food for us, so we still have over 10 pounds of last summer's harvest left in storage.  They're starting to sprout, so I'm using them more frequently. 

This is a basket of Warba Pink Eye potatoes harvested in September 2012.  As of February 10, 2013, we still have some left, and they're still looking pretty good!


The varieties I grew this past summer were Warba-Pink Eyes, Chieftains, Yukon Gems and Purple Vikings, along with one experimental tuber - the bright red ones pictured below in the pan grew from an organic potato that I bought at Whole Foods and that had started to sprout on the kitchen counter.  I figured it couldn't hurt (too much) to plant it, and it turned out to be very productive! 

The tubers I actually purchased for planting were in excellent shape when they arrived from Irish Eyes Garden Seeds (www.irisheyesgardenseeds.com), and they produced a sizeable and healthy harvest.  This week, I'll be selecting next season's varieties, which will surely include a golden-fleshed type, a white-fleshed type, and varieties with different skin colors.  I try to select all-around potatoes that can be used for boiling, mashing or roasting, because I'm not very good at remembering which ones are best for which method of cooking.  My intentions are always to remember these details, but as the summer wears on, my memory wears out :-)

One recent experiment with my potato supply was an effort at cabbage and potato soup.  The only cabbage-like plant that I had in the garden in late November was a mature Portuguese kale, which is very much like a collard and which had formed a large head like a cabbage (they're all brassicas and are often interchangeable in recipes). 

 

 

 



Once the veggies were cooked and tender, I used my immersion blender to achieve a smooth texture and seasoned the soup with salt and pepper.  I was a little disappointed to find the taste quite bland and unappealing, though, so I ventured into my snow-covered backyard and harvested a nice bunch of French sorrel.  I quickly sauteed the sorrel in some butter and added that to the pot, using my immersion blender again to mix it in.  The sorrel made all the difference in terms of brightening up the flavor and adding that subtle lemony kick that sorrel is known for.  Here is the final result, topped with a dollop of creme fraiche:

 

Not a bad soup, given its humble beginnings as Portuguese kale and potatoes!

 



The Chieftains' 50th Anniversary Tour

The Chieftains, a traditional Irish band formed in 1962, is still celebrating their 50th anniversary, and they're on tour in the United States over the next three months.  In honor of my 50th birthday (!), they'll be making a tour stop in Salt Lake City in mid-February, and yes, we have tickets! 

Here's a link to the Chieftains' website with the tour dates:  http://www.thechieftains.com/main/  The show will be held at Kingsbury Hall, the grand performing arts center located on the University of Utah campus. 

In order to properly prepare for the big event, I'll be sure to have plenty of Guinness on hand, and I've ordered one of their CDs, "Wide World Over," described on Amazon as follows: 

"One of the elements that's made the Chieftains the stellar Celtic band in the world is their love of innovative collaborations with mainstream pop stars. The Wide World Over: A 40-Year Celebration gathers into a single collection some of the Irish ensemble's most memorable moments, including predictable alliances with artists such as Van Morrison, who sings "Shenandoah" to additional backing by the Irish Film Orchestra, and unlikely pairings like the Rolling Stones, who add a rock kick and the "Satisfaction" riff to "The Rocky Road to Dublin." Cross-cultural experts Linda Ronstadt and Los Lobos demonstrate their versatility on the Mexican ditties "Txalaparta" and "Guadalupe," on which pipes and pennywhistle don't seem a whisker out of place, while Ricky Skaggs points to the Irish and British roots of American country music on the rousing "Cotton-Eyed Joe." Art Garfunkel, Sting, Sinead O'Connor, Joni Mitchell, and Elvis Costello are also featured in classic performances with the 40-year-old Irish band, while a brand-new collaboration with Ziggy Marley yields a gorgeous Don Was-produced rendition of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song." The cliché that there's a bit of the Irish in all of us proves true in this wide-ranging, constantly rewarding, and frequently surprising collection. And the tracks on which the Chieftains go it alone are also a gas. --Bob Tarte" 

And, as usual, I provide you with the link to the CD on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Wide-World-Over-Year-Celebration/dp/B00005YT8U/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1358008484&sr=1-1&keywords=chieftains+wide+world+over

Can't wait to pour myself a pint and pop in this CD.  Hearing a traditional Irish band collaborate with Ziggy Marley on "Redemption Song," one of my all-time favorite reggae songs, should be something indeed, a true cultural mind-twister.  It reminds me of an experience 25 years ago when I was in a bar in central Australia, and an Aboriginal woman picked up the mic and sang, "I'm Proud to be an Oakie from Muskogee."  She belted out the lyrics with joyful enthusiasm and not a small amount of inebriation, and 25 years haven't erased one bit of the vivid memory I have of her in that dark, smoky little bar on a corner in Alice Springs.  Trying to integrate something that seems so wildly discordant is an experience that should come more often than once every 25 years. 

Emancipate Yourselves From Mental Slavery...

OK, I can't wait for the Amazon delivery.  For the listening pleasure of all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnJgIq48C9k

Thanks to Frank McCourt for these Dublin pub recommendations!

I can't wait to surprise my husband by bringing to him to several of the pubs featured in Frank McCourt's PBS special, "Historic Pubs of Dublin."  Here's a link to the trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGnmYIePYeg

McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes, takes the viewer on a walking tour of Dublin, stopping in 13 of Dublin's oldest and most famous pubs, some of which he frequented when he was a grad student at Trinity College.  He also visits the Jameson Distillery and the Guinness Factory/Store, walks across the Ha'Penny Bridge and meanders through St. Stephen's Green.  The video packs a lot into its 55 minutes, moves at a good pace and keeps things entertaining with traditional Irish pub music. 

 from connect-123.com

The pubs I'm most excited to visit in our one evening in Dublin are the Brazen Head (the oldest pub in Dublin!), Kehoe's (pictured above- this place hasn't changed much since it opened in 1803, except that women are now allowed to order Guinness and they're not required to sit in a "snug" - more on that later), and The Stag's Head - complete with its mosaic sign built into the sidewalk out front.  An interior shot of The Stag's Head, borrowed from their website, is shown here.  Note the stag's head in the stained glass windows.  The stag features prominently in the decor, apparently!    Below is an exterior shot of the Brazen Head, which opened for business in 1198 AD.  The walls of the Brazen Head have overheard the conversations of Ireland's major literary figures and their most famous political revolutionaries who gathered here to plot insurrections against the British government.  We don't plan to do anything so dramatic.. just enjoy a good pint and feel the spirit of the place.

www.brazenhead.com photo

 

After we visit these three pubs, assuming time permits, and if we can keep drinking more Guinness, we'll check out some of the other pubs featured in the documentary.  They're all amazing, with too much history to wrap one's head around.

I really enjoyed this video.  If you're looking for some good armchair travel, pour yourself a pint and rent this video on Netflix!

Irish Seed Savers Association in Co. Clare

I was thrilled to discover that the Irish Seed Savers Association (http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/visit-us-in-scarriff.php) is located within minutes of my ancestors' town in County Clare.  What a great opportunity it will be to visit their extensive organic gardens and orchards, as well as their cob house, earth oven, polytunnel (hoophouse) and shop, where they sell organic and open-pollinated seed for rare and native varieties, along with garden accessories and books on seed saving and growing.  Pretty cool place for gardeners to shop for an Irish souvenir!  I would treasure being able to work in my own garden with a garden tool that came from a town in Ireland so close to where my ancestors lived.  I'll post pix of our visit, so stay tuned!

Here are some pictures of our hoophouse, which is providing us this winter with lettuces, kale, chard, Asian greens, and carrots and turnips.

In early November, before any snow fell, our older lab Drew watched me

cover our hoophouse frames with the greenhouse plastic. 

A few days later, it looked like this!

Currently, the cold frame is in another part of the garden, covered in snow! 
Inside are lettuces, claytonia (aka miner's lettuce), mache (aka corn salad), and beets.

Reading List

This is a list of books I've read (or am reading*) as part of the preparation for the trip.  Four of the books listed deal with the Great Famine, because I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that this was allowed to happen to the Irish people.  Maybe if I keep reading different accounts of what happened, it will at some point make some sense to me. 

Paddy's Lament, 1846-1847:  Prelude to Hatred

Black Potatoes:  The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850

Vanishing Ireland: Further Chronicles of a Disappearing World

Angela's Ashes

When Ireland Fell Silent:  A Story of a Family's Struggle Against Famine and Eviction

* The Graves are Walking:  The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People

* In Search of Ancient Ireland:  The Origins of the Irish from Neolithic Times to the Coming of the English

* Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916

* Star of the Sea

* People of the Wetlands: Bogs, Bodies and Lake-Dwellers (Ancient Peoples and Places)

* To Hell or Barbados:  The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland

* Nan:  The Life of an Irish Travelling Woman (note: about the gypsy culture in Ireland)

Below are some pictures of a gypsy caravan similar to the one that Nan, the subject of the last book in the list, probably lives(d) in.  The one in the photos has been refurbished to accommodate tourists at the Phoenix organic farm in Castlemaine, Co. Kerry.  We'll be staying in this camper-style room (without facilities) for one night and try to learn more about the Irish travellers' way of life.  Of course, we'll be dining in high style on organic food picked that day on the farm and drinking organic wine - not your typical gypsy meal - but this night should provide us with some pretty special insight into one aspect of Irish culture not often understood by tourists. 

There's also a large pile of travel books next to the bed, some of which include:

Rick Steves Ireland

Around Ireland on a Bike

Cycle Touring in Ireland

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Ireland

Ireland for Food Lovers