Cold Potatoes! Free Pumpkins! Nuts for Squirrels!

We went to the garden today and dug up some cold potatoes! We usually leave the potatoes in the ground as long a s we can, but try to get them out before the ground gets too cold and freezes them. Last year we lost a few because they were too close to the surface and froze. Thankfully our cold nights and mornings we've had lately hasn't hurt them yet.




After digging potatoes, we went to Kroger's. We were greeted by this sign outside the store.





Well you know me, if it's free, I'll take a few. If you enlarge the picture, you will notice it says "Free to a good home," I thought that was cute. I took three big ones and put them in the car before going in to do some shopping. I'm glad I got them before going inside, because when we came back out they were all gone! Someone else had the same idea as I did. In my opinion pumpkins can be used for outside decoration until Thanksgiving.

Before leaving Ripley, we stopped at Farmer's Feed and got 5 lbs of raw peanuts for the squirrels. They were $1 a pound, and we didn't think that was too bad of a deal. Now if I can just catch them in the act, I'll take some pictures to share with you.



I was good, though, and when we stopped at Fruth Pharmacy to get milk, I never bought any of the 90% off Halloween items. Nor, did I purchase any of the 75% off Fall items.

A person has to draw the line somewhere.

Have you got any good deals lately?

BIG POTATOES AND THE WEST VIRGINIA BANANA

I'll get to the most interesting post first-----the West Virginia Banana, or as they are more commonly called, the pawpaw.

Pawpaws have been around for a long time. DeSoto in 1541 found the Native Americans cultivating it east of the Mississippi River and Lewis and Clark depended on it during their travels. Thomas Jefferson planted it at Monticello and George Washington enjoyed it as a dessert.

The best way to eat it is to bite the top off, squeeze the fruit out, and spit the seeds as you go. And there are a lot of seeds! These big seeds, as seen in the picture below, were taken from one small pawpaw.


The ripe fruit has a very short shelf life of 2 or 3 days. A tropical fruit far from the tropics! They have three times as much vitamin C as an apple, twice as much riboflavin and niacin as an orange, and about the same potassium as a banana. They have been called the "poor man's banana."

I remember going to my Aunt Gracie's as a child and picking them in the woods behind her house.

They are pungent and I can only eat a few before I tire of them for the season. You might say it's an acquired taste, you love them or you hate them.

My two younger sons went pawpaw searching and only came back with a few. I believe it was a little too early to pick them yet, but they were anxious to find some. Maybe they will try again later. Below are three I'm holding in my hand.


As you can see they aren't a very pretty fruit. Some old timers wont eat them until they turn entirely black.

Here is a fun site I found to read about pawpaws.


NOW, on to our big potatoes.

We've grown red potatoes in our garden the last couple of years. We hate dealing with the potato bugs, but love home grown potatoes, especially the red ones.

We're still digging them out of the ground. I sent my son to the garden Sunday to dig some for me to cook, he came back with these:


Here's the biggest one by itself. You don't have to peel many of these for a bowl of mashed potatoes!


Hope you enjoyed my post.

Let's have an informal poll.

Do you like pawpaws, or would you rather eat the red potatoes?