Welcome to the December & January video in our Harvest of the Month series. In this episode, Patricia-Marie, our Farm to School Intern, will be taking a look at potatoes! Helping us learn about these root vegetables will be Dig This Produce farm, where the vegetables are grown naturally on a few acres in Spring Creek just outside of Bridgewater, Virginia. In this episode we will learn how to harvest this vegetable, how to identify the many varieties of potatoes, and how to make a delicious Garlic Mashed Potato recipe in the kitchen with Morgan!
Student Objectives:
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Identify a potato as a root vegetable: a potato is a tuber which is an enlarged portion of the root of a plant.
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Understand that tubers store nutrients (energy) for the plant
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Meet a local farmer who grows potatoes
- See how to make an easy mashed potato recipe
As winter begins to set in, root vegetables such as potatoes grow underground. These crops help to feed people throughout the cold months. Veggies like potatoes and onions can last a long time if they are stored in a cool dark space!
This is an eye of a potato. The eye is the sprouting portion of the plant where the shoot emerges. A shoot forms when a potato is left sitting out and signals that the potato is ready to be planted. We call this a seed potato.
You can plant the whole potato with the eye facing the sky, or if the potato is really big, you can cut it up into portions– making sure that each portion has its own eye. Did you know that for every seed potato planted, around 10 potatoes grow? That’s a lot of potatoes!
Potatoes are tubers, which are enlarged portions of the root of a plant. Tubers store energy for the plant!
Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to check out our other Harvest of the Months videos linked on our blog and on our Youtube channel! Also, be on the lookout for more Project GROWS produce to be distributed with the Staunton City Schools meal delivery program.
Download the Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe!
In this episode, Morgan shows us how to make some wonderfully creamy garlic mashed potatoes. As usual, Morgan washes her hands before starting to handle the food, uses safe techniques when cutting with a knife, and recommends that kids make this recipe with an adult.
Keep an eye out for a Roasted Potatoes sample in the curbside school meal pickups in Staunton City Schools and Waynesboro Public Schools this month!
