Hash Browns and Potato Farming

Its curious sometimes what long lost memories will pop into my consciousness at odd times. While slicing potatoes to make hash browns for lunch today, a childhood experience came to mind. My maternal grandfather was a farmer in central Florida who primarily grew potatoes and cabbage. The potatoes from that area were prized by chip manufacturers and I seem to recall my mother saying that granddad grew potato chips on his farm.

During a Christmas break visit, at perhaps age 6 or 7, when we went down for a visit, granddad was preparing to put in next season’s crop. 50 pound burlap bags of seed potatoes were stacked up to the rafters of the open shed that served as a barn. We kids found great entertainment by rearranging the bags at the top of the pile to make ever more elaborate “forts”. While doing this, we looked on as farm laborers (mostly African American women as I recall) sliced each potato into quarters taking care to assure that each piece had at least one eye from which to grow another plant. Nearby a piece of farm equipment made to quarter the spuds sat idle. I inquired about this and was essentially told that the machine was faster than humans, but didn’t do a very good job, making too many quarters without eyes.

Back in the kitchen I made some notes about these memories on the back of some junk mail while the hash browns sizzled in the pan.