From Sack to Skillet

by Richard Kordesh

It takes months to grow them, a little over an hour to wash, slice, and cook them, and twenty minutes to eat them!  

I refer to the potatoes we grow in dark sacks alongside one of our raised vegetable beds. When I served them on a recent Sunday dinner for my adult kids, these potatoes - fried with our garden’s red onions - disappeared in a hurry.

Yet, any sense of being rushed dissipates when one is reminded that each step from sack to skillet yields its own bounty. The initial insertion of a few spuds into the bottom of a partially filled bag signals the first step. 

During the following weeks, we gradually load the bag to the brim to cover each succeeding upsurge of plant growth. As this buildup occurs, the potatoes expand within, out of sight. The dirt eventually reaches the top; green shoots and flowers extend from these burlap containers, creating a newly colorful complement to the surrounding floral display.

When the plants droop, it’s time to spill open the sacks. Out fall the dirt and the fully formed potatoes. The “wait’ was event-filled; every phase of growth gave forth its own gifts to the eyes and hands.

When a dad or mom can keep the children close to, and engaged, in this slow-moving production in the garden, each ultimate bite at the table evokes for young ones the sights, the smells, and other sensations brought forth over the spring and summer by these vegetables’ progressive formation.

Guest blogger Richard S. Kordesh is the author of Restoring Power to Parents and Places and has worked professionally in the community development field for 35 years. Visit Richard's website for more.