"Julie Bove" wrote:
> When I was a kid, 40some years ago, I remember that the potatoes we bought
> were pretty dirty. Always had to scrub them with a brush before fixing them
> to eat. But in more recently years, I've noticed that most all of the
> potatoes I've gotten have been so clean that they only seem to need a quick
> rinse in the sink. Only have to pull out the brush every once in a while.
> Until tonight.
>
> I get a box of organic produce weekly from a local farm. Most of the time
> even their potatoes are pretty clean. But the paper bag of baby reds I put
> in tonight's soup were so dirty I had a hard time getting them clean. They
> were just encased in thick dirt that turned to mud and splattered my shirt
> as I tried to clean them. And I scrubbed them so much to get the mud off
> that most of the peel came along with it.
>
> Now I realize the growers or vendors or someone along the food chain is
> probably using some method of cleaning that I'd most likely not want to know
> the particulars of. Or maybe I would... But my question is: When was the
> last time you got some really dirty potatoes? Unless of course you grow
> them yourself!

With modern harvesting methods potatoes are washed clean right out of
the ground, before the dirt can dry and harden. Your dirt encrusted
organic spuds were very likely grown on a small family farm that can't
afford the very expensive modern harvesting equipment. Bet you didn't
know that a giant tractor can cost a million dollars and more. Had
you soaked those dirty potatoes in a bucket of water for an hour the
dirt would soften, loosen, and most settle to the bottom so you
wouldn't need to scrub hardly at all.

http://www.dole5aday.com/ReferenceCe...tato_grown.jsp

With the large farming co-ops the harvesters are private enterprises
that are contracted to go farm to farm... working that equipment
constantly is the only way it becomes affordable... fitted with
special lighting bars they actually work all through the night.
Nowadays the large tractors are operated with fancy schmancy GPS
systems, there is no overlap, no wasted space on each run... those
behemoth tractors make five mile passes not wavering a tenth of an
inch... they don't really need a driver, often there is none,
everything fully on cruise control. My tractor has cruise control but
not GPS... when the grass is tall I set it to creep speed and just
steer through each long pass by lining up to a tree on the horizon,
pretty mindless. If I move too fast the mower doesn't have enough
time to mulch and makes clumps so creep speed is nice, but without the
cruise control it's difficult to make straight passes at 1 mph, can't
hold my foot on the throttle steadly so long either. I never use the
cruise control on my car but I like it on my tractor, I can make some
pretty straight rows.

Just last week, heading out to mow my back field:

http://i9.tinypic.com/4ul2arm.jpg

http://i10.tinypic.com/4lg4mzs.jpg

http://i16.tinypic.com/67s6quf.jpg

http://i19.tinypic.com/6g3qlvr.jpg

http://i12.tinypic.com/66xodud.jpg

http://i12.tinypic.com/4mal0mv.jpg

Was hot as hell that day, but AC makes it lovely.


Sheldon