The Outcrop: potato saturday 2010 march 20

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

potato saturday 2010 march 20

it's easy to remember the date because that afternoon, [my] granddaddy died. its great that we spent his last morning alive doing what he loved to do - with our dad, the granddaddy of today. it was sort of like the passing of the torch. of coarse, we didn't know it - and there was no torch, except for the sun was mighty hot on saturday. i'm sure when dad was kendal's age, he was helping in the garden just like kendal did this year. maybe even holly's age.

here are a BUNCH of pictures from saturday, some will have captions.

to start, holly wore her new mushroom dress. i got this on etsy - another one of holycrapclothing's adorable handmade dresses (this is holly's third from her).

there are three places that dad (and duncan) plant, one is right behind mom and dad's house, one is "duncan's garden", and the other is "down by the creek". previously, the potatoes were down by the creek. however, this year the potatoes are planted in "duncan's garden." dad had already plowed and rowed where the potatoes were to go (red and white "irsh" - one syllable - potatoes) so we just had to walk over.

and don't think maggie got left behind. one of the biggest treats in their house is "who gets to hold the leash" - which today was kendal.

so then started the potato cutting. you know, to grow potatoes, you have to plant potatoes.

and then we just walked over to duncan's garden and dad instructed us on how to do it (just spacing, which meant that after kendal and holly threw theirs down that someone went after us and spaced them out...)

incidentally, kendal was not even hesitant to touch and throw the potatoes. holly wasn't either, though she didn't like walking on the uneven dirt. kendal did great - he walked the whole row, though he held one hand for a lot of it. it was soft dirt, and the chunks made it somewhat uneven with the rows and all... i was happy with how he did.

holly getting help from her dad.

as kate said, "crooked rows" which are that way to keep water from wasting the soil)

i told kendal to smell it. nothing like the smell of dirt, and a freshly cut potato.

next, dad was fertilizing some of the other rows so duncan's children could plant snow peas by hand ("torture").

kendal then wanted to try out the fertilizer thing (not sure what it is called...) we did it between rows, though... and it was empty.

in the mean time, holly was done with potatoes and was enjoying singing and playing with mamaw and katelyn.

the tulip magnolias were also in bloom and holly wanted to eat them. i always think of my grandma when i see a tulip magnolia, as she has one in her yard. monday when we went to granddaddy's funeral, it was in FULL bloom.