Spuds

Dear Alice,

Did you know that it is the International Year of the Potato? I love potatoes...and while complaints of how many times we had them in a week (when the children were small and budgets stretched thin) still ring in my ears, I love it when potatoes are on the menu! Imagine my surprise and delight when this morning I discover that Ted Kooser, former poet laureate of the US, has this gem in his little book, Valentines!

A New Potato

This is just one of the leathery eggs

the scuffed-up, dirty turtle of the moon

buried early in spring, her eyes like stars

fixed on the future, and, inside its red skin,

whiteness, like all of the moons to come,

and marvelous, buttered with light.


This, shared with the World in the CS Monitor today.


Last spring I had high hopes with the blue potatoes I planted, but was Oh! so disappointed when the squirrels, too, thought they made a lovely dinner. I lost almost half my seedling potatoes to them. A dry, droughty summer made for a final crop that was almost what I planted in number. So, I have left the potato growing to those whose focus is not fiber of the fuzzy kind, but instead pays more attention to his crops in the field.

We bought 100 pounds of potatoes at the Traverse City Farmers' Market at the end of the season. 20 lbs. of blues, 10 lbs of a nice white for smashed potatoes, 20 lbs of red-skinned, and 50 lbs of Idaho bakers. Oh! and 10 lbs of Yukon Golds. As I recall, Mr. Westmaas threw in the whites for mashing for us to test. I must put potatoes on the menu for tonight!

Snow again, but at least it has warmed up to a balmy 14°F!

I'll be checking with you later today to see how the appointment with the doctor went.

Stay warm!
Nancy