wingnut, that is a nice way of life. I grew up just as you described! even the meat was salted/dried and preserved by smoking. I dream of going back to that eventually.

Caught my smokehouse on fire witha load of fish, was able to save it but not the fish:(......................

We have a similar lifestyle, only we put a lot of our energy into dairy goats, cheese & yohgurt making, etc. We raise beef, chicken (two rare breeds), turkey and lots of Muscovy ducks (best meat producer in the world) as well as bees. We raise almost all our own veggies and have been saving seed since 1984. TPS fits right in for us.

George

I would love to raise goats/beef but don't have pasture.As for poultry I have ko shamo, malagache,catalina del prats,whitehackles, RIR, barred rocks, and Manziel greys. We also raise standard rexs, which we eat and tan the skins.

Geez, almost all of the potatoes are growing like mad! I'm glad I bothered to plant them in raised beds as the garden has been terribly soggy much of the time. I'm not sure I like hilling with the raised beds, however, as it'll end up being really high by the time I'm through, even though I started them in deep trenches. I'll have to do some more learning and find a good compromise for that next year.

George, I didn't know you raised beef. We're looking to get started with Dexters in a year or so. Just one for milk and eat the offspring. We only have five acres so can't have giant herds or anything. LOL We sold off our goats when we left OK and this isn't really a good environment for goats here.

Wingnut, what are rexes?

Rex rabbits lack guardhair, or at least it does not protrude beyond the undercoat; so they are really soft with lot's of LOFT.

We do the least possible and call it "raising beef." Just been raising a calf a year to butcher or sell. The goats provide plenty of red meat, and I butcher them myself. Wingnut, you have your hands full! We raise American Buckeyes (absolutely succulent roasting birds, and good layers, to boot) as well as Kraienkoppe chickens, which are derrived, and little changed, from the old Pheasant Malay game fowl. Kraienkoppes are what I call "survival chickens." We had and might get back into meat rabbits. But frankly, I struggle to keep up with everything.

Been carrying my TPS seedlings back and forth to work, in the bed if my pick-up, in order to care for them ;)

George

George, if you want survival chickens, just get some ol' game fowl blood. They take care of themselves.

few pictures
[IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fNljxVtRJe0/TeQsG4tjweI/AAAAAAAACio/98q0Hm1Ywac/s512/IMG_1278-2.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-krM4viFp-5M/TeQtJgZgo5I/AAAAAAAACjQ/TI7y2kT9u6Q/s512/IMG_1281-4.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vDmiY_suYA0/TeQseSV19_I/AAAAAAAACi8/5THxRSnV_GY/s512/IMG_1286-5.JPG[/IMG]

Don't you just love getting to see all of the different leaf shapes and growth habits? It's such a huge variety and each plant has its own personality. I think I'd grow these even if I never got anything edible out of them.

Please don't read this post if you are easily insulted with bad puns.


[QUOTE]Don't you just love getting to see all of the different leaf shapes and growth habits? It's such a huge variety and each plant has its own personality. I think I'd grow these even if I never got anything edible out of them. [/QUOTE]My potato infatuation is akin to culinary infatuation. I grow and eat so many potatoes that I am near guilty of potato fatuation. I like potatoes so much in all their splendid variety that I am guilty of multiple "To Have and Hold" infractions.

To [B]have one's potato and eat it too[/B] is a common idiomatic figure of speech of mine, sometimes stated as [B]eat one's cake and have it too[/B] or simply [B]have one's cake and eat it[/B].



This may often used negatively, meaning an individual owning a potato variety and still attempting to benefit from or use it. It may also indicate having or wanting more than one can handle or deserve, or trying to have two incompatible things. The proverb's meaning is similar to the phrases, "you can't have it both ways" and "you can't have the best of both worlds."
As an example, an individual who is engaged in growing one or more varieties but is still wanting to grow others wishfully would be said to be [I]having one's cake and eating it too[/I]. i.e. someone should not be held to a higher standard (commitment) than said individual (still seeking). The individual is having his cake/potato (someone is proposing devotion) and eating it too (dating outside of a relationship).


As there are [B]non[/B]-monogamous people involved in breeding potatoes..... allow me to explain myself.. In general, [B]non[/B]-[B]monogamy[/B] breeding means having the freedom to be asexually and/or otherwise be involved with more than one potato variety. When I say "ethical" [B]non[/B]-[B]monogamy[/B], I mean any type of [B]non[/B]-monogamous relationship practiced HONESTLY, with the perceived mutual consent of all potatoes -- where all potatoes are deceived and no one potato CHOOSES to enter this type of relationship, meaning they are involved in reproducing themselves asexually or otherwise. Need I spell out the heathenistic alternative of otherwise?

The phrase's earliest recording is from an obscure potato breeder from 2011 as [QUOTE]"wolde you bothe eate your potatoe, and have your potatoe?" [/QUOTE]alluding to the impossibility of eating your potato and still having it afterward

By Golly! I do get away with eating my potatoes and having more left over to plant again and start yet another year of having my potato and eating it too. But from the looks of the potato photos on this topic....I am inflicting unethical behavior towards other potato growers. Sorry for my "asexual innuendo" humor.

Tom Wagner

Well yes a bit of collectionist personality self can fall easy into the trap of collecting many potatoes for the joy of growing them. I do however intent to get one such collection of good potatoes and hopefully keep one great baking, one superb boiling, one awesome salad type and an increadible roasting for the future ahead. Some or several runner ups for other reasons (er color, shape etc). I can't wait to see all them flowering, I am sure the bees will have good reasons to pollinate some and leave me behind some OP TPS.

Will you still hill those up more?

Those potato varieties of mine that Wendy posted pictures do look like they could use some compost/soil mounded up around the base of the stem. I will let Wendy tell us what she is going to do.

Tom

Yes. I am a little behind because the potato plants are growing very fast every day and my gardening days are weekends mostly. Do you see the wood in the first picture? I am adding 50% topsoil+ 50% composted manure to about 2" below the top of that wood on the raised bed. That raised bed is 12inches tall. If they keep growing I am probably mulching around to mound more ...

These are last year sampler (year #2 saved tubers)
4 reiche tom
4 adirondacksen x kern toro
raised bed is 12in tall, 24in wide, 8ft long for reference
[IMG]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hscZ3gkYosI/TeYbo6_k8tI/AAAAAAAAClA/Vyd3e4AEFaQ/s512/IMG_1298-3.JPG[/IMG]

Amey and Skagit Valley Gold
[IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MkTm3y4Lvc8/TeYb6G7ADWI/AAAAAAAAClI/AgXDjgtiK-4/s640/IMG_1299-3.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1hHh2EpfFoc/TeYb9SOvZFI/AAAAAAAAClM/WWFnn7QqEC4/s640/IMG_1300-3.JPG[/IMG]