Spud Update

Well, I've been harvesting, eating and selling the spuds for about six weeks now, and they are pretty good.

The Charlotte and Pentland javelin earlies were superb, and then I was onto the Pink Firs. They are surely one of the tastiest potatoes there is. I have been selling them at the bottom of the lane for £1.25p for 750 gms with no problem at all. Now they are all gone and I am on to the Desiree, and they have been my first real problem. They have common scab. So after a few dodgy moments wondering what to do I decided to sell them cheap at 50p a kilo as 'blemished'. I have a huge yeild so if they do sell I'll still be on for my target. The thing is they are delicious spuds and fine to eat - they just look a bit crap.

I have harvested just about half a row of the five rows I planted so far, and taken about £125 in sales. If I keep that rate of sales up I should easily make the £1000 I planned for.

Next year, unless I see sense, I plan to grow some conservation varieties and do without the Desiree. I think the punters like to try the new and unknown.

I am also planning to grow a small patch of organic spring wheat, buy a small mill and make my own flour. I watched a great vid on youtube by an old guy who was growing wheat on his allotment. He has even built himself a small threshing machine.

I stand by my opinion on small scale organic farming. The future of the planet would be healthier and better for all of us if we could somehow turn our attention back to the land and get involved in growing our own food.

Just for the record

As life goes by and the time behind me is getting way longer than the time in front of me, I really needed to sit around and not do very much. So that must be why I decided to try and grow a ton of organic spuds on a quarter of acre of land.

I've long been annoyed by the scientists and big business telling us that the only way we will feed everyone is by using high tech solutions like GM and intensive factory farming. It's pretty obvious that those so-called solutions are more about making profits for multi-national companies than feeding people. The truth is that the way to feed the world is to farm the land correctly. And 'correctly' means organically, and using sustainable methods. The energy we need to use to make our fields more productive is human energy, and that is what I want to prove.

Up to now I have used about ten litres of diesel, and spent £40 on seed. I have rotovated the ground and spread 28 tons of year old well rotted horse manure on it. So far I have done 20 hours work. In about four weeks time I will rotovate the ground again and then, hopefully with the help of Hamish (my horse) and a couple of woofers, I will plant the seed.

My plan is to add up the cost of production and sell the spuds at whatever the price comes out at. Yep, that's opposite to the supermarkets, who basically tell you what they are giving you for your crop even if it costs you twice as much to produce it.
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