Tater Tower Experiment

Over the winter I stumbled upon instructions for a Potato Tower. After reviewing the information and specs on the project I vowed to give it a go this year.

If you haven't heard of this vertical gardening wonder; let me enlighten you!
(Or you can just google it)

The basic concept is to build a square out of wood, put it on the ground, fill it up with dirt & a few starter spuds, cover with dirt, and wait until the vines sprout up. Continue adding layers of the frame (in a tower fashion) & dirt, as the vines grow up. Based on the instructions, you can theoretically get 100lb of potatoes from 4 square feet of garden space.

Here are the notes I'd made up for myself in my handy-dandy notebook:


First of all, I have an issue with following craft projects and recipes EXACTLY. It's like there's a short circuit in my brain that tells me that there's always room to insert my creative adjustments, so why not?!

I had accumulated some scrap wood from work and sorted out the 2x6 pieces, since I figured they'd give me more height per piece.

Once I got the first layer put in, I realized my biggest issue would be having enough dirt to fill the damn thing. From that point on, I'd made up my mind that this would be a trial run, just to see how it would work; and stuck to a smaller scale.

I paused the construction aspect of it at 2 layers of dirt & 3 layers of boards. For the last couple months I've randomly watered & watched the vines go from big and bushy, to droopy, to just...dead. I'd read that when the vines die, they are ready to harvest. I waited several weeks & decided yesterday was as good of a time as any to dig in and see the results of this bad boy.

Here's the front view,  before I started the deconstruction:






As you can see, I didn't really bother putting all of the vertical support 'legs' in, b/c I knew I wouldn't be building it high enough to really matter...and I'd just screwed the back of the tower frames into the neighbor's fence.

Also, looks weren't that important to me this time around b/c it was at the back of our yard, behind my garden; so I also didn't really bother cutting many of the boards...which is why a few of them are sticking out the front.

Here's the side view.

As you can see, the support legs not only give you supports to drill into, but also keep everything squared up & ultimately keep it from toppling over.

Let's just say, this is not an example of great craftsmanship.

The boards were pretty easy to remove, and since I was adamant about not damaging a single spud, I did most of the soil removal with my hands.

If you've bothered to read my "bamBOO" post, you'll know that soil is pretty sparse for me, so I didn't want to waste any of the soil I'd stocked into this tower, when it needed to be returned to my main garden area.

I grabbed a beer, squatted down, and excavated small areas at a time with my hands, checking for lil taters; then used my garden trowel to shovel dirt into a bucket that I'd heave over and dump into my garden.

Oh! There's one!








It's like an easter egg hunt.

Here, you can see some of the lil tubers still attached to the root of the vine.









 There were quite a few that were only the size of peanut M&M's, which was a little disappointing...







Here's my final harvest.

I don't think I'll be inviting any of you over for dinner to share in this bounty. Sorry.

FINAL OBSERVATIONS:
1. Don't give up.  I WILL be trying this again next year, full scale, and following (most, if not all of) the original specs.
2. Location. Since this one was a bit of an eyesore due to sloppy construction, and since we have such a small back yard; I placed this tower at the very back corner of our yard to have it out of the way. The downfall to that area, is that the neighbors trees provide a large amount of shade, there. When the vines were in the height of the their green glory, the one's nearest the sun were clearly stronger looking, the last to die off, and ultimately where the bulk of the potatoes were unearthed. Next year, a new location will need to be established.
3. Water. I think part of the reason the vines died off so quickly this year was lack of water, which could also explain why there were so many under-developed spuds. My hose didn't reach the full distance to the tower, so while watering the garden, I'd lazily try to jet a stream of water the distance to it. That combined with the drought probably equated to some thirsty plants.
4. Dirt. I only had alittle over a foot of dirt, but they seemed to have grown in a staggered pattern, which I believe was the result of adding the layers of dirt. More dirt = more potatoes. Unfortunately, my yard offers very little dirt to raid for this project; so I'll have to budget some extra dough to buy a few extra yards of soil. Fortunately, I work for a landscaping company, and can get a decent rate on it. This project definitely takes more dirt than I'd originally anticipated.

Well, if you know anything about this, and/or see anything I missed please feel free to share! Like I said, this was just a rough experiment & now I have a better idea of what to expect for the full scale model; as well as what to expect financially. I think I can re-use the 2x6's from this project for next year but will need to anticipate any costs for additional purchases of lumber and soil; unless the craigslist gods are good to me.

Also, if you've had any first hand experience with tater towers, I'd love to hear your input; good or bad!

"Po-tat-o. Boil'em, mash'em, stick 'em in a stew!"

Playing House

This is Trixy. 

I think the cleaning frenzy that has ensued for the last 2 evenings stressed her out, so she decided to have a nap while I was cleaning the bedroom.

We received a call from MM's dad & step-mom on Wednesday night, asking if it was ok if they came down to visit & take us out to dinner on Friday.

First response: "Hell yes!"


There is a direct line from my stomach to my heart.

Feed me and give me coffee; and I'm yours. Forever.

Second response: "Omygod. We have to CLEAN"

Now, let me say, that considering the pigsty conditions I have witnessed over the years of apartment inspections & even some friend's abodes; we were at a 7 out of 10.

The bulk of the clean-up that was needed was just some general organization. Crap that had accumulated downstairs, that needed to go upstairs; laundry that needed put away; yada, yada, yada...

I left most of that stuff to MM while I made a pot of coffee at 8:30pm, mixed up some bleach water in a spray bottle, grabbed some scrubbers and scouring pads, and tromped upstairs.

I had my ammunition and was trudging into the trenches of war...uh...the bathroom.

What is it about having a Y chromosome that prevents you from being able to see soap scum?

Does being female give me telescopic vision ONLY when it pertains to seeing the dust & hair that accumulate around the base of a toilet?

Does anyone else get so zeroed in on cleaning the toilet tank lid, that you feel like if you don't scrape every microscopic paint splatter off it with your fingernail, you'll implode?

I have these moments. Occasionally.

MM came up to check on me once, cocked his head to the side in an attempt to understand the method to my madness. He quickly gave up and took shelter downstairs before I could delegate.

Good purging comes from moments like these, though. I forced myself to tackle what I consider to be my bathroom "junk drawer" that I'd been avoiding forever. It mostly contains a bunch of cosmetics that I rarely (if ever) wear but could never seem to part with. The icing on this disaster cake, was the fact that a small container of blue glitter eyeshadow (don't judge!) had spilled, coating everything in it's path.

It looked like Smurfette had gone to a rave & puked in my beloved drawer.

I salvaged (aka: meticulously cleaned off) anything I'd actually used in the last 3 months; and parted ways with the gooey lip glosses, gaudy eye shadows, and pasty foundations that I never wear. 

By the time I caught myself scrubbing soap scum off a body wash container, it dawned on me why the pseudo-in-laws visit had flipped this switch in my brain. Granted, most of what got cleaned or purged, needed it. But it's the fact that everything about their house always seems so damn tidy.

Was it a sense of competitiveness driving my frenzy, I wondered? Not really. It was that little itch in the back of my brain that drives me to feel like a legitimate grown-up. My refusal to live in squalor. My desire to have order. My personal vow to schedule these deep-cleanings more frequently. We have no children & 2 grown adults should be able to clean & pick up after themselves.

Even if it is only for the weekend.

Adventures in Food Preservation

This weekend was one centered on food preservation.

My mom came down from Rochester w/ my cousin, her dog, and a butt-load of veggies.

I most certainly acquired my photography gene from my mother, who (no joke) captured my entire childhood on film. On events such as this, she sees more value in capturing the people rather than the process, which is what I'd prefer to show you. Since I took the hands-on approach, I have to give most of the photo credits to her & will preface these with an apology that my un-showered head is in most of them.

This weekend it was concluded that I would be the teacher, using my limited canning knowledge gained from the World Wide Web.

My great-grandmother, Chloie, was a whiz at canning, and her skills bypassed my Mom's interests at the time, and while I remember being a wee little gal & watching her in awe; I unfortunately did not retain any of the actual knowledge in the how-to department, either. By the time I was old enough to appreciate and attempt to remember the processes, she had passed.



Determined to revive this ability, I invited Mom and my cousin to come down for a shared lesson in the craft.




I started mom out with some chopping of the gang of banana peppers she brought down, while I started sanitizing supplies...

While my cousin started shucking the 52 ears of corn they brought down...















Mom & I eventually stepped in, to help.


Lesson #1 I learned this weekend : Preserving is much less daunting of a task with teamwork!








 













Lesson #2 : My horrible posture can result in pictures where I look pregnant. Trust me folks, no bun in this oven.

Before we really got into the thick of things, everyone had to apron-up! 

This included some modeling, of course.

                                          Then, we started processing the corn...

We formed an assembly-line type format for this process.


It worked surprisingly well, considering I have, what I call, an ass-to-ass kitchen. It is sooooo tiny that any two people in it at the same time, are, inevitably, ass-to-ass. Hence the name.

My cousin manned the blanching station and the timer on the microwave.

He then handed the ears off to my Mom, who covered the ice bath station.

All of this occurred in 4 minute increments, while I took care of the kernel stripping.

My mom had purchased the a tool similar to the "Kernal Kutter" (I can't remember if it was the actual name brand one, or a knock off) to aid in this process.

Let's just say, it worked fairly well...for about 12 cobs.

Then, POP!

The flaw in the design, which I'd spotted when I opened the package, turned out to be the death of this little gadget. I'm sure they make many kinds of these, and my only advice is to look for one with a solid ring, as opposed to this one that appeared to have two serrated strips of sheet metal fixed into a circle shape.

So, I went back to using a knife.

Just the way they've done it for years.

Lesson #3: Why mess with a tried-and-true method, right?

 

Once the final cob was stripped bare, Mom took charge of the bagging, while I flattened them, pushing out as much air as possible, wiping the bags clean, and dating them.

My cousin helped to distract Trixy, who had been anxiously awaiting something good to fall on the floor, during this entire process.

This made her happy.

Getting her picture taken, did not. 

Meanwhile, Mom and I celebrated our accomplishment. 

Once the corn was stacked neatly in the freezer, we moved on to stuffing the banana peppers into the sanitized quart jars.

I learned from my first go-around at this is not a process to be done gently.
My first two cans of these looked terrible & were a total waste of space. Once the peppers shrunk up, they only filled about half the jar.

So, I showed both my cousin & my Mom how to cram as many of these suckers in, as you can.

For this batch we used Mrs. Wages Kosher Dill Pickle mix for the brine, at the suggestion of my pseudo-sister-in-law. 

Mom is ever curious and learned that taking a big whiff of boiling vinegar & dill, was not as splendid as she'd anticipated. 

Once the violent coughing and laughter had passed, I proceeded to add a sprinkle of peppercorns, 2 cloves of garlic, & a few hot peppers to each jar; and fill them with the boiling brine. 

Here's a few of the finished products. We got a total of 7 quart-sized jars of sweet banana peppers.

By that point in the night, we were loosing a bit of steam (though the water-bath pot was creating plenty of it's own, making the whole house a bit balmy!) and finished off the night with baking 4 loaves of Zucchini Walnut Bread and M.M. stepped in and whipped up some Asian Cucumber Salad. Fortunately, the picture taking had ceased for the night, so I'll spare you the details of those, for now.

Afterthoughts:
1. As excited as you may be to jump into the 'meat & potatoes' of the canning process, make sure ALL the prep that you can possibly do in advance, is completed before you start the brine or begin stuffing jars.
2. Invite friends and/or family over to help. Make a day of it. Dividing up the work, helps; and it's good quality time with your loved ones.
3. As much as I'd anticipated doing something like this while I lived in LA, the primary thing I'd underestimated was the quantity of produce needed. If you want to purchase large amounts from local farmers, then maybe. But I've personally found small gardens (especially container gardens) provide you with an appropriate bounty to eat through the summer and fall, so enjoy it while it's fresh. Historically, canning was vital to families to survive; but also to ensure that NOTHING went to waste. I'm starting to appreciate these processes for their original purpose, as opposed to the hobby that it is to some. Knowing how to do it is important knowledge to have. But I think it  has turned into a bit of a fad for some, and once the novelty of it wears off, you can tell if it's something you're cut out to continue doing.
4. Start with some pint jars for your first go-around. I was alittle overly ambitious & bought/acquired 3 cases of quart jars. I definitely need to invest in some pints, for smaller harvests. I'm running into instances where I don't have enough produce ripe at the same time. Part of that is due to the size of my garden and the terrible quality of the soil. (see "bamBOO" post)
5. I'm also having to re-evaluate the space needed for all of these jars once they are full of goodies. Living in an awkwardly shaped rental house that doesn't afford alot of storage space and no basement, in addition to the impracticality of building any kind of permanent shelving space for them; has left me considering constructing some mobile shelving units. WHERE to put them is the next issue.
6. I recently tried one of the first jars I did (the one's I hadn't packed quite so tight) and found them to be VERY salty. I can only assume this is due to not enough peppers & too much brine?
I'm really hoping the rest turn out a bit better, but I'm learning through trial and error!

I'm learning volumes about all of this as I go & would love any input you might have!