I'm no stranger to gardening or growing potatoes. Our little farm in Oklahoma had a quarter of an acre garden plot that provided our family with fresh veggies, including potatoes. Gardening in the high desert of Oregon is a whole new ballgame! LOL Not only do you have to contend with below freezing temps that can last well into June, but you also have to deal with the problem of having no topsoil. Our home sits at the edge of an ancient caldera (extinct volcano), so our ground consists of rocks and smaller rocks :)
Since we just finished our back deck, we decided to try our hand at gardening in pots, and so far so good! The photo above, is our first attempt at growing red potatoes in a half wine barrel and they are looking great! We'll have to wait a while to see if there are actually any potatoes though :) If this experiment is successful, I'll write a follow-up post with details on what we used inside the barrel.
Update!
Well, our great potato experiment wasn't very successful. The plants bloomed and began to die, as was expected, but when we dug them up, we only had about 6 normal size red potatoes and about 15 tiny ones. I cooked them with a corned beef and they were quite tasty, as they should be considering how much we invested to grow them! :) Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
This is a new style of necklace for my Good Dirt Jewelry shop. A while back, I blogged about a really neat antique Tibetan amulet I had purchased. While I never found anyone who could tell me who the deity is, I still found it captivating and thought it would make a unique pendant. I've always been fond of the bolo style of necklace and I thought this amulet lent itself nicely to be displayed in this manner. I finished off the tips with wooden beads and copper wire.
