My first potato harvest started in the spring when Hannah helped me build this basket for growing potatoes.

I planted Kennebec and a red variety of seed potatoes. Excited when the potatoes sprouted, I dutifully layered the plants with straw and compost as they grew. Yet, the plants never blossomed.Occasionally I dug around in the mulch, but never found anything.

Today, Paul helped me empty the basket out and still, nothing. Until he scraped the bottom layer and out popped a tiny little potato! We carefully sifted through the rest of the dirt and ended up with this:

One-half pound of seed potatoes grew into 1½ pounds of fresh Maine taters. Not exactly a great yield. Clearly, I have a bit more to learn about growing potatoes.  At least the season wasn’t a total bust!