Dead Vine - Live Potatoes

Russet Potatoes 9-13-12

Red Potatoes 9-13-12

Potato Plant

I am back to my day job as a teacher and this blog as well as the garden has gotten a bit behind.  Last night with the four helpers we harvested potatoes.  As you can see (below) the vines had died back.  Actually about half the vines died off and we left the ones that were still green for later.  We had planted 3 types of potatoes:  a red, a yellow and Russets.  I had thought that these were the Russets.  If they were, then our Russets did not do so well.  In fact, we may have harvested less than we planted.  On the other hand, the red potatoes did much better - compare the bags.  We planted a total of about 12 and a half pounds of potatoes.  Last night we harvested about half of them.  It was about 11 pounds.  That's nothing to boast about, but since the reds did so well, perhaps we'll concentrate on them next year.



Helper 9-13-12

You know its kind of ironic that you dig up good potatoes from a dead vine.  I can show you a series of pictures of any of our plants, but I never did take the first picture.  The first picture would show the preparation of the seed for burial.  It sounds gruesome,but with potatoes it is even worse.  One guy was instructed to cut the potatoes up, leaving at least one eye in each piece.  This seems awful, but unless it is buried, there will be no plant.  Yeshiva compared our lives to the seed that is buried in the ground.  There is a cost to the seed.

Helpers 9-13-13

There is a cost involved in anything we do.  In gardening we recognize the cost of the seeds, the fertilizer, the stakes for tomatoes and the like, but in fact those are the small costs.  There are larger costs still.  A person can give up a lot of land. That limits the ability to use that land for anything else.  You cannot play Ultimate Frisbee over cucumbers.  Even this is not the largest cost.  Time is another issue, but as they say quality is always better than quantity .  Simply looking at the garden plot is not enough.  ,there are weeds to be pulled.  The garden may need watering.  You must care for a garden at all times.  Perhaps as the weather cools the tomatoes will have to be covered as protection from the frost.

Yeshua said in John 12: ²⁴ I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.  There is cost, but think of the gain. 
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Sharing spinach/chard with black eyed peas at the oneg
Sharing cherry tomatoe salad at the oneg
Peppers, Cucumbers 

*An oneg is a light fellowship meal after a worship service