Five Little Potatoes And How They Grew

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let's begin.

This is the tale of Five Little Potatoes and How They Grew.


Anyone remember this? It was a vase we were given one Christmas (by someone who obviously had no idea what to give us, sheila whispers sotto voce). It sat in the basement for a while because none of us knew what to do with it. It was big. And breakable.

I'm not Martha enough, evidently, because Martha WOULD know what to do with it.

Anyhow, a while back the kids had some projects entered in a Science Fair and this featured in the twins' section as a Guess What This Plant Is exhibit. At the time no one could guess what it was (well, someone did but that was only after she'd exhausted 30 other guesses). To put you all out of your misery I'll tell you that it's a potato. One we grew last year. It sat in the basement, forgotten under a box of onions, until I saw the sprouts peeking through. So we planted it on a bed of sand, let it sprout some more, and took it in to the Fair. It was a hit. A mystifying hit, but a hit nevertheless.

So, we planted the potato, we took it to the Fair, we brought it home again. Exit Everyone's Interest.

Since then it's been sitting on the back deck in the sun, getting more and more crowded in its little home. Today I took pity on it, perhaps in part because of Richard's repeated "Jeez, just how long are you going to torture that thing?" comments, and planted it in the garden. And when I carefully shook the sand off the roots in preparation for sinking it into its new hole, what should I find but these...

Dinner!