Althouse: Meadhouse potato harvest!

July 11, 2025

Meadhouse potato harvest!

At 10:35 this morning.

55 comments:

Old and slow said...: Freshly dug new potatoes really are much nicer than store bought.; 7/11/25, 11:34 AM
NeggNogg said...: I did not know you could grow potatoes in containers. New ambition unlocked.; 7/11/25, 11:39 AM
n.n said...: Meadhouse and Meade. Now I know the source of the discrepancy.

Have you tried Meadhouse tomatoes? They may be a hot house in the summer.; 7/11/25, 11:49 AM
rehajm said...: nom nom. We grew potatoes on our 17th floor balcony and they were not at all afraid of heights and delish. Here in the southeast most grown stuff is gone by. Sure you can get tomatoes and peaches and a melon but they taste late season. I miss summer cukes the most 🙁; 7/11/25, 11:51 AM
n.n said...: It's like potato and potatoes. The 'e' is silent, but changes the flavor of the couple.; 7/11/25, 11:55 AM
Rusty said...: Not too shabby for container grown. I grew tomatoes in 5 gal. buckets and didn't do too bad. It makes you wish for a quarter acre to plant a garden.
That concrete patio has seen better days. Pavers would look good in there.(hint)
I'd volunteer to come over and help Meade break up and remove the concrete, but I don't want to.; 7/11/25, 11:57 AM
R C Belaire said...: You know, one can buy like 5 lbs. of potatoes for $1/lb. these days. So easy -- and keeps those illegals busy and away from the pot farms...; 7/11/25, 12:06 PM
Eva Marie said...: It takes all kinds. I really like the concrete. I wondered if it’s as old as the house. However its true pavers would also look good.; 7/11/25, 12:09 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Never had Freshly dug potatoes. I know snap peas straight from the garden were 10x better than the ones in the store.; 7/11/25, 12:10 PM
ALP said...: Meade and I harvested potatoes at the same time today. Big difference - mine are volunteers. Apparently, I did not harvest all of them last year. Planted watermelon in this particular bed, and there's too much competition.; 7/11/25, 12:12 PM
tcrosse said...: I used to work with a Soviet émigré who had been a chemistry grad student in Minsk. The whole department had to go help with the potato harvest every year. As a chemist, her job was to run the illicit still to crank out vodka for the gang.; 7/11/25, 12:16 PM
Quaestor said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/11/25, 12:22 PM
Quaestor said...: There are many crops, mostly fruits, that can't grow from seeds because the chromosomes are mismatched. Most of your favorite apple varieties are like that. They can only be reproduced by grafting; the seeds inside the apple you buy are sterile and inert. An apple seed that can germinate and sprout is likely to be from a fruit so tart and hard as to be mostly useless for anything except making cider. (Johnny "Appleseed" Chapman wasn't the ascetic apostle of wholesome and nutritious treats portrayed in children's stories. He was in the liquor business.)

I wonder if potatoes are similar. There are dozens of cultivars grown commercially in North America, and hundreds more if you surveyed potato growing in Peru and Bolivia. How many of those only grow from "seed potatoes" as opposed to actual potato seeds?; 7/11/25, 12:24 PM
Original Mike said...: "Tender, like a baby."

I've never eaten baby.; 7/11/25, 12:32 PM
Meade said...: No Spotify? Here it is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3h7FRV98FfY?si=KJm5JGZugoGHmUhS; 7/11/25, 12:33 PM
bagoh20 said...: Gruesome dismemberment of a living creature.; 7/11/25, 12:37 PM
Iman said...: OT: Drago Watch… hope he’s recovering and doing better each day. 🙏; 7/11/25, 12:37 PM
Mary E. Glynn said...: Wow. She mocks the size of a man's potatoes and his output. The honeymoon is definitely over here. Leave him alone, ann!; 7/11/25, 12:44 PM
Leland said...: We've been picking figs off the tree for the last 4 weeks.; 7/11/25, 12:46 PM
Wince said...: Meade doing the work that Americans won’t do?; 7/11/25, 12:57 PM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Reminded me of "Der König überall (1886)" (The King Everywhere) by Robert Warthmüller. I'm sure Frederick would approve.; 7/11/25, 1:02 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Iman, what happened to Drago? I tried e-mailing him a few weeks ago but got no reply.; 7/11/25, 1:06 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Looks like enough potato for a bowl of tots.; 7/11/25, 1:06 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: The Meadhouse dinner scene as interpreted by Van Gogh; 7/11/25, 2:13 PM
Indigo Red said...: I used to grow container tomatoes of several varieties, but stopped when more tomatoes were stolen than I harvested. Potatoes are fun because they can't be seen growing. It's a total surprise that you got some at harvest.

Good harvest, Meade!; 7/11/25, 2:33 PM
Original Mike said...: "Potatoes are fun because they can't be seen growing."

Someone needs to invent transparent soil.; 7/11/25, 2:39 PM
Sydney said...: I planted potatoes in cardboard boxes this year. Waiting a bit to harvest them, but the idea is that you don't have to dig. You just pull the sides of the box away. Looking forward to seeing how they do.; 7/11/25, 2:54 PM
Big Mike said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/11/25, 3:19 PM
FullMoon said...: YANCY

"Drago said...

I am taking the time to thank the many commenters, of all political stripes, who have wished me the best as I continue my recovery from quite serious liver surgery.

Thank you.

I will continue to keep the Althouse commentariat up to speed generally on my status and next steps.

I will also reiterate the case workup of my procedure will show the courage and willingness to assume risk by the incredible surgical team will be the difference between me being on a more routine recovery regime (which I am on currently) and a more disatrous 30 day countdown to certain demise!

More to come soon....
5/29/25, 11:42 PM "; 7/11/25, 3:27 PM
Christopher B said...: Quaestor, from a quick Google your supposition is correct. If you plant potato seeds you will not get a plant genetically identical to the parent plant unlike planting seed potato pieces. That is likely important to the prevention of various potato diseases.; 7/11/25, 3:41 PM
Rusty said...: Inman. I didn't even know he was ill.(I thought he was banned.) Some friend I am. Keep us posted on his condition. He is missed while he recovers.; 7/11/25, 3:42 PM
Original Mike said...: I fear the worst for Drago.; 7/11/25, 3:43 PM
paminwi said...: Thanks for the Drago update. Speedy recovery Drago!; 7/11/25, 3:45 PM
Colleen Brown said...: Ann, you are lucky to have Meade!; 7/11/25, 4:04 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: Shorts?; 7/11/25, 4:15 PM
Original Mike said...: "Ann, you are lucky to have Meade!"

Don't let it go to your head, Meade.; 7/11/25, 4:24 PM
n.n said...: Meade adds seasoning to Althouse to grow Meadhouse with an eye above the ground.; 7/11/25, 4:33 PM
Mary E. Glynn said...: I almost pity the lil guy the way you mocked him here.; 7/11/25, 4:58 PM
Dave Begley said...: Sell them at the farmers' market for $10 per pound.; 7/11/25, 5:13 PM
Ann Althouse said...: “ Ann, you are lucky to have Meade!”

I know; 7/11/25, 5:33 PM
Mary E. Glynn said...: Ann Althouse said...
“ Ann, you are lucky to have Meade!”

I know
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That's your problem.
You always know the most about everything, more than anyone else you know the best and if not how to get it... and you mock people. Never thought you'd treat your man that way, but wow. Watch that thing and cringe. I don't even like meade and I feel bad for the boy...; 7/11/25, 5:59 PM
Mary E. Glynn said...: You're a mean lady at heart. To animals, to women, to your husband even. Why? Were your neglectful parents mean to you? Default survival mode? Mr. Cohen made you mean? hm. And here I thought you were just angry at me. It's not me at all. It's you. You're mean at heart.; 7/11/25, 6:01 PM
Mary E. Glynn said...: I once grew potatoes -- white potatoes in my Rice Lake, WI community garden. The grocery store sold onion bulbs and seed potatoes in the produce department every spring -- very rural, and Rice Lake has a potato company up there so it's very fertile... LOTS of potato bugs in a community garden that eat the leaves. You have to powder them. But... it was a decent harvest. More mature in the ground. I'd never let my lady tape though. Even with a spade and carefully overturning it, you nick some. No harm, no foul, but that narrator was ready to pounce on any imperfection or to mock the enterprise. Ugh. To be around that negative attitude all day/year? You two are made for each other!; 7/11/25, 6:05 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I also fear the worst for Drago given that comment reproduced by Fullmoon was from 6 weeks ago. Like I wrote, I had e-mailed him back in late June and got no reply. Now, the e-mail I had was one from 4 years ago when I invited him to our Discord (where he was a sporadic participant).; 7/11/25, 6:07 PM
Shane said...: Thank you for the video! I’m growing potatoes for the first time. This how/to will make my weekend much better! I have little idea what I’m doing in reality beyond what I researched in the end of April planting.; 7/11/25, 6:08 PM
Mary E. Glynn said...: Eat them tonight!
Share a review. It's the freshness, and that is plenty for two... Buttah.; 7/11/25, 6:17 PM
Mary E. Glynn said...: Yancey Ward said...
I also fear the worst for Drago given that comment reproduced by Fullmoon was from 6 weeks ago. Like I wrote, I had e-mailed him back in late June and got no reply. Now, the e-mail I had was one from 4 years ago when I invited him to our Discord (where he was a sporadic participant).
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Not everybody is who they say they are on the Internetz. Find comfort in that? maybe somebody just retired a sock puppet?; 7/11/25, 6:19 PM
Birches said...: Where's the men in shorts tag?; 7/11/25, 6:35 PM
lonejustice said...: I live on 5 acres of rich, black, Iowa dirt, and my wife and I have a good sized veggie garden. 7 tomato plants, green beans, cucumbers, bell peppers (red, yellow and green), jalapeno peppers, 2 varieties of lettuce, arugula, yellow zucchinis, eggplants, parsley, chives (that's all I can remember for now). We don't grow sweet corn or potatoes because they are so abundant and cheap at the farmer's markets. I sometimes wonder whether the time we spend tilling the garden, buying the seeds and nursery garden seedlings, planting everything, then watering and weeding the garden for the rest of the summer and early fall, is more expensive than buying everything at the grocery store. But for me it isn't the cost. It's the joy of being outside and putting your hands and feet in the warm earth, the exercise, the fresh air and sun, and most importantly, the taste of all the fresh produce you can eat all summer that you know is fertilizer and pesticide free. One of my favorite summer lunches is a BLT made from freshly picked lettuce and tomatoes from the garden. Life it good.; 7/11/25, 7:01 PM
hugh42 said...: Ann, I love hearing your voice during informal conversations with Meade. You are a lot more intriguing and attractive as a partner than as an intellectual foil. Your brains and wit are way out there but this makes you sound like a woman to live with. Keep it up.; 7/11/25, 8:14 PM
Dude1394 said...: Doing the work that Americans won’t. Heh; 7/11/25, 8:26 PM
loudogblog said...: I actually have a couple of big pots in the back yard for red potatoes. They're easy to grow and the toddler really gets a kick out of planting them, watching them grow and harvesting them.; 7/11/25, 10:09 PM
Mary E. Glynn said...: Your brains and wit are way out there but this makes you sound like a woman to live with.
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I'd like to see hugh and dave b. wrestle for meade's wife, myself... lol. I don't understand it. Men are drawn to mean. Go figure!!; 7/12/25, 4:09 AM
JAORE said...: " If you plant potato seeds you will not get a plant genetically identical to the parent plant unlike planting seed potato pieces. That is likely important to the prevention of various potato diseases."
I don't know if potatoes from seeds revert to very old forms..... But in Peru they used to eat clay along with potatoes because of poisoning. They have bred that out of todays spuds... but I'll pass on the seeds. (Hell my doc, Doctor Nofunforyou, says skip the taters altogether.); 7/12/25, 7:35 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Trash Can Potatoes are a thing. My Granddad used to grow them that way; 7/12/25, 11:01 AM