Potatoes are a staple vegetable for us. We grow several hundred pounds each year for just the two of us. Let’s explore how we grow and harvest a homestead staple – potatoes.
A Homestead Staple – Potatoes
Here’s a video we did on potato planting. As you can see from this video, we will only plant potatoes in the traditional hilled rows. Over the many years of gardening, we have had consistently large potatoes in quantity with vigorous healthy plants. There is no good reason to change our methods which work great for us. Potato Nutrition
Potatoes are loaded with nutrients especially if the skin is consumed. They are a good source of fiber, complex carbohydrates, high in potassium and vitamin C and are low fat and cholesterol free. That is until you pile on high fat toppings such as butter and sour cream.
Uses of Potatoes
Potatoes are an extremely versatile vegetable to use. We generally eat potatoes in some form each day. Everything from numerous soups including potato leek/onion soup and chili potato soup to various side dishes and casseroles such as scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes or salads. And let’s not forget our favorites, baked and roasted potatoes. I even use potatoes in certain breads and rolls. Here’s one of our favorite recipes
Potato Rolls
1 ½ cup lukewarm milk
¼ cup sugar
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 Tbsp salt
2 pkgs yeast
¼ cup warm water
¾ cup soft butter
4 to 4 ½ cup flour (I use a mixture of half whole wheat and half all purpose flour)
Mix together the milk, sugar, mashed potatoes and salt. Dissolve yeast in warm water and add to potato mixture. Add soft butter and mix well.
Gradually add flour until you have a stiff dough, turn out and knead till smooth and elastic. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll to 3/4” thick. Cut with a biscuit cutter. Place the biscuits in two 9 X 13 pans. Let rise about 45 minutes. Bake 400°F for 15 minutes.
One of the Best Homegrown Staples!
Growing potatoes for 40 years has taught us they yield more food value per square foot than any grain we can grow and are far less demanding to harvest making them a perfect staple food for any homestead or survival situation. So why not consider growing a homestead staple – potatoes.
Until next time, keep the dream alive! We wish you a great day!
Ron and Johanna
If you found our site and this post of value, would you please click the “Top Prepper Sites” link in the right hand column to vote for us. Thank you so much!
Please subscribe to our blog if you would like email notification of new posts.
Thank you for your article and your potato roll recipe. My husband and I live in the Gulf Coast Region of Texas, and we grow red and white potatoes twice a year, spring and fall. This year we planted about 15 lbs. of Yukon Gold and red potatoes and harvested about 63 lbs. In the fall we’ll do about the same. We plant about the middle of February and then again on Labor Day weekend using some of our spring potatoes. We also plant sweet potatoes which of course takes about 6 months to grow but are better for you. Once we pull the red and white potatoes up in May, we immediately plant Sweet Potatoe slips in the same area. Since they are not of the same family, we can do that.
Hello Connie. Glad you found our post of interest. Thank you for the comment. It’s nice you have the climate to plant twice a year. Fortunately we have a good root cellar and our potatoes are still in great shape from last fall’s harvest. Johanna has already planted this year’s crop. We love sweet potatoes as well. We tried an experiment this year sticking some of the small sweet potatoes from last year in a cup of water and they did provide plenty of slips. The whole front bed of our greenhouse is planted in sweet potatoes. We are bound and determined to get a good harvest this year. We love candied sweet potatoes. Stay safe down there!