"Sheldon" > wrote in message
oups.com...

> 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.

Yes, they come from a local farm. But normally their potatoes aren't dirty.
At least not THAT dirty. I get a box of assorted stuff each week from them.

Had I known ahead of time they were that dirty, I would have soaked them.
But stupid me. They were the last thing I added to the soup and daughter
was screaming that she was hungry. No time for soaking.
>
> 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.

Interesting. I grew up with farmers on both sides of the family but I was
always cautioned that there were certain things it was best not to grow and
potatoes were one of them. Why? You could buy them cheaply and it wasn't
worth the effort. I know my grandpa planted them some years though because
my mom told me about growing them. And I'm pretty sure we grew them at
least once when I was a kid.
>
> 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.

I wish I had AC, but we don't need it too much here in WA.