Pail Potatoes

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground. Genesis 3:19a (NIV)

The soil at our house is mostly clay, sand and stone. To enrich the soil, all of my table scraps are "planted" all year long. We also rotate the crops every season.

Last year was a good year for the beans. We canned one hundred and thirty nine pints. However, the soil is too rocky for potatoes.

Remembering a "hint" I read in one of my gardening books, I found four large pails and asked my husband to drill holes on the bottom and around the sides. I mixed top soil and dried sphagnum moss and filled the pails half full. I dropped three potatoes with "eyes" into each one, and covered them with four inches of soil. Placing them in full sun, I watered them and waited. In two weeks dark green foliage came up. As the vines grew, I put more soil around them until they grew over the rims.

Early that fall the vines died. I dumped the pails into the garden. It was exciting, spreading the soil and picking up the brown treasures. I collected about eight pounds of potatoes.

Jesus said that seed falls to the ground and dies so that when it grows, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24 NIV) The potato eyes grew into roots and vines because the original potato died. We grow spiritually when we die to our sins and live in the love of Christ.

Lord, let us not be afraid to try new things. May the garden of our hearts be nourished continuously with Your love. Amen

(c) 2010
E. Bonnie Ryan