When growing potatoes, we use seed potatoes that have been organic certified seed. These are not the potatoes most commonly seen in the store which are treated with chemicals to stop them from producing eyes. Eyes are the places where the potato sprouts from. These are the little spots on the potato. Potatoes are planted in the early spring. They’re planted in rows three feet apart under four inches of soil, and six to ten inches apart in each row. They take approximately two to three weeks to emerge from the ground. Early potatoes can be harvested once the plant begins to flower, but mature potatoes are harvested after the top of the plant has died.
We use a semi-manual potato planter. Two people sit on the planter and cut potatoes to fit into the carousel which feeds the potatoes into the row that the planter has dug prior to the seed being planted. Then the potatoes are covered with dirt. Throughout the season, the potatoes are cultivated instead of being sprayed with herbicides. After the plant tops have died and the potatoes have been left in the ground a few weeks to make sure the skins set well, the potatoes are harvested. The harvester digs the potatoes out of the ground and brings them up to the sorter on conveyer belts. On the top of the machine, the potatoes get sorted out from the clumps of dirt by hand. They are then transfered into a wagon that is pulled alongside the harvester. After we have gone through with the machine, we walk the rows and pick up any potatoes that may have gone unpicked. These potatoes are then put into crates which are moved into our storage cooler until they are washed and packaged.
To remove any excess dirt, we wash our potatoes using a washing table. The potatoes pass by the first person who sprays off the majority of the dirt before they pass through the table where they are cleaned further by brushes. They then travel on the rollers to the sorting table. Here, we hand sort the potatoes into boxes for commercial use. After the boxes have been filled they are moved to our packing room where they are set to dry. This is also where we pack our potato orders. Here the potatoes are weighed and placed into bags or boxes depending on what the customer’s order is. After packing we deliver the potatoes to the customer and finally, those potatoes are brought to you.
Our potato varieties include:
Dark Red Norland
- French Fingerling
- Rose Finn Apple Fingerling
- Laratte Fingerling