This fall we grew potatoes for the first time. We messed up every step along the way: we planted them too late; we didn’t buy starts, instead relying on sprouted potatoes from our pantry; we planted the potatoes whole instead of cutting them up; and we were away for the first frost and didn’t insulate our potato crop with the frost cover.

Coming home from vacation, we found our potato plants completely dead. Could we even still harvest the potatoes? We had no idea what to expect below ground.

To say we were pleasantly surprised would be a gross understatement:

The toddler was gleeful as we found more and more potatoes:

In true Miss Leyba fashion though, she was completely focused on the task at hand and wouldn’t consider smiling for a photo. Removing potatoes from the ground is serious business!

See, a lovely little purple potato crop.

Now my daughter is talking nonstop about dinner and how tasty these potatoes will be!

Too bad we’re having Noddle Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing tonight instead. (Already prepped and ready to go!)

I suppose we’ll be eating potatoes with dinner tomorrow…