Potatoes are large seed plants, which means that farmers must dig a hole using a hoe in order to plant them. They are planted in March or early April, so they are one of the first vegetables planted in the spring. For the Pennsylvania Dutch, St. Patrick's Day on March 17th was the traditional day for potato planting. You can plant potatoes from seeds or by cutting up the leftover potatoes from the year before and making sure that each piece contains an eye.

As the potatoes grow it is important to keep an eye on their health. One nemesis of the growing potatoes is the potato bug. Here on the farm we have to pick these little critters off of the leaves in order to keep the plants healthy. The children have a lot of fun with this chore because when you squish a young potato bug it leaves an orange residue on your fingers!

The part of the plant that we eat is the underground stem and is called a tuber. The potatoes are harvested in late summer or early fall, after the leaves have died. Here at Quiet Valley, we store all of our extra potatoes in the root cellar down by the kitchen. The dark cellar keeps the potatoes cool and dry so that they rot less quickly. That way the family can have warm baked and mashed potatoes all year round!

Hoe: a very useful planting tool on the farm. It allows farmers to dig the perfect size hole for the potatoes to spread out and grow.
Root Cellar: where we store all of our root vegetables such as carrots, turnips, and potatoes. It is located underground next to the kitchen so that it stays cool and dry. When you go in to fetch some vegetables for dinner, be sure to bring your fat lamp to frighten away the critters that dwell there!

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