Farming, Saturday, September 30, 2000 On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazards) Joyce Bupp I planted potatoes last week. “You did what?” puzzled our daughter after hearing that, probably figuring Mom had real* ly lost her marbles this time. “I’m defying the seasons,” 1 explained. Defiantly. This perhaps-futile venture developed after visiting the ground cellar one recent morning to retrieve a couple of baking po tatoes for tossing into the oven with a meatloaf. Along with the fresh bag of russets just pur chased, I found another con taining about a dozen potatoes bought earlier, wrinkling as they sapped their own moisture, pushing out clusters of pale white sprouts. Clustered around each wrinkling potato were tiny “infants,” some of them already the size of the marbles, which I no doubt appeared to be losing. Logical response would have been to pitch the old spuds into the hay field across the road where birds, bugs, and slugs quickly consume anything of nu got milk? 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Yanking off a small section of black plastic mulch where the once-thriving butternut squash had gone kaput revealed bare, damp, weed less soil, easily loosened by rooting around a bit with my favorite garden trowel. Years ago, I read in a garden ing magazine that potatoes could be grown by simply laying seed sections onto loose soil, then cov ering with a deep mulch of straw. When the spuds grow to desired size, just remove the straw and pick up the potatoes. Literally. Well, it sounds worth a try. Straw being a standard commod ity here, it took only a few-steps side trip to the barn to grab a half-bale to scatter over the ex periment. With potatoes being cool-weather lovers, and straw a great insulator against freezing, perhaps this six or eight minutes of time and a dozen rotting pota toes might yield us some tender, new tater-tidbits before the first snow. Just in time to cook with a Thanksgiving turkey. Deep down, I know the potato venture was just a tactic to delay the dreaded, inevitable day when there is absolutely no usable fresh produce left in the garden. For months, fresh garden good ies have been part of our every day meals. For us die-hard gar deners, it’s always painful to let that go. Other ventures to stave-off gardening withdrawal are scattered here and there, like the single hill of cucumbers, with several fledging pickles being coddled and coaxed on the bank at the dairy barp. Floating row cover tucked around it day find night is a cheap, passive way to capture some extra warmth and hopefully, encour age those pickle-lets to grow a few more inches. Call for free brochure 1-800-888-8204 SOl ylf You Cany Find You Won't Find It!" 3-SIDED ENTERTAINMENT \ / RECLDSER SPECIAL N ' H CENTER | 1 I Ret. Ret. $799.95 | Reg. Ret. $389.95 Our Price 1 wHt&Stz Our Prlce'ST*9iBs 1 CLOSET 1 ' $ 289 95 1 B9 1 iO OFF_w/COUPOfL / 'j* J 7 WORKING DRAWER \ 3 PC. 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