The best part of harvesting my garden is when I finally get to dig for potatoes. This year I planted three rows of Yukon Gold and Red potatoes. I don't remember exactly where in the rows I planted what, but to me, being surprised by what I dig up is all part of the fun.To me, digging up potatoes is a lot like a treasure hunt. I carefully sink the shovel into the ground around the plant, loosen the dirt and then start running my hands through the dirt in search of the treasure. I love the feel of the earth in my fingers and the moment when they finally grasp the potato. There comes a point when I finally have to make myself stop digging because the bag is over flowing, so I reluctantly put the shovel aside.
This afternoon, as I was elbow deep in the potato trenches, I realized something about the actual potato plant:
1) The bigger, more beautiful plants did not necessarily mean the bigger the harvest. In fact these were the plants that had fewer potatoes.
2) The smaller, more 'sorry' looking plants yielded some of the biggest, nicest, most abundant amount of potatoes.
As I kept digging, I thought about what I could compare these interesting revelations to in life. But instead of me telling you what I think, I'd like to hear what your thoughts are and what comes to mind when you picture the potato harvest of two very opposite plants. The big beautiful plant that doesn't produce much versus the small, spindly plant that produces an abundance.
