Potatoes!!
What a great day we’ve had. Spent five hours at Garden Organic Ryton at the Potato Day. We got there at 10.30 and had to park in an ‘overflow’ carpark, which was really nothing more than the farmer’s wheat field opposite the main carpark.
The main potato tent was absolutely heaving, but I scrummaged my way through and emerged triumphant with a whole heap of fab sounding seed potatoes:
Witchhill
Winston
Organic Premiere
Salad Blue
Wilja
British Queen
Shetland Black
Pentland Ivory
Golden Wonder
Highland Burgandy Red
I can’t find a description for Pentland Ivory, and I’d never heard of them, but they were highly recommended by a lady I got chatting to and I decided half a dozen tuber would be an interesting experiment.
We had a lovely, if slightly expensive, early lunch in the Restaurant there. Absolutely everything is organic and there’s nothing limited about the food and drink on offer there. Then we went into the Heritage Seed Library tent and I did the seed swap thing and got some great new varieties of beans and a couple of winter squash, leek, kale and sprouting broccoli. Took the kids into the children’s area and did potato printing (what else? 
) used some magic maize, went digging for potatoes in a big sand pit soil, cut up egg boxes to chit more potatoes - got to bring some Sarpo Mira home for nowt. The highlight of the day for them, though, had to be a set of original Spud Guns. I found them first, mind and the educational lady that was supervising had a good giggle when I pounced on them with much glee and giggling. We all had a great time.
Then we had to pause for tea and scones, before making out way out through the shop, of course. I left Mom and the kids by the doors and went to retrieve the day van from the field. Which by this point had become a quagmire. Luckily, there were two little tractors doing sterling duty hauling cars out of the mud so I got a very ignominious backwards tow out of the field - the van doesn’t have a front towing eye! Oh I miss my Land Rover…
Got home to find my lovely brother had made a roast chicken dinner, watched Shrek 3, fed the kids, watched the rugby and now it’s all quiet, small ones are asleep and I can start drawing up my allotment plan. 
