Not really a day to look too long at the sky. Very grey and your face is going to get very very very wet. A good day to stand under a tree. Bad weather also doesn’t stop the birds. The weather clearly had put this one in a very grumpy mood.

Today was supposed to be another homeschooling day. The key word there was ‘Supposed’. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That’s becoming a bit of a regular feature now. So let’s just move on…..

Today was also food delivery day. Always funny to see what turns up. Over the last couple of years the range available has shrunk, the unavailability has increased and wow it’s got expensive. Two hours of forensic analysis on the order he managed to limit this weeks shopping cart increase to just under £5. But given the price of diesel, actually not driving to the supermarket has probably saved about a million pounds.

The food then turned up (unlike the school lessons). Some spectacular substitutes this week. Sweet Potatoes unavailable so salad potatoes sent. Turnip not available so organic potatoes sent. No carrots available so some baby potatoes sent. That’s on top of the jacket potatoes, potato waffles and chips that I had already ordered. I guess it’s potatoes on the menu this week, its a good job we like them.

80 thoughts on “Potatoes”

  2. I talked to some of my family about substitutions (two of them work for ASDA) and it seems they are don’t by computer. We ended up with three sorts of swede a couple of weeks ago. I find you can easily have too much swede. Potatoes are better, but three sorts is a bit much. It would be good if the computer realised this. I now send things back every week.

    Good point about the savings to be had from not driving to the shop – saves time too. 🙂

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  5. Speaking of potatoes. The tallest ever potato plant on record is 145 cms, according to Guinness World Records. I am growing a potato houseplant in my living room that is currently at 143 cms and still growing (Just to see what would happen, since potatoes sold in Canada as food are supposed to be genetically altered to prevent the growth of new potatoes, I planted one eye of a potato.) It grew and grew and grew. It wasn’t the best plant to use as a hoyseplant, and it indeed did not grow any potatoes, but it wanted to. The one plant grew to have about ten stems, spindly little things, but it grew far longer than a potato plant in a field was supposed to grow, and it grew taller. When it finally died I would swore it was over 5′ tall, but I never thought about records. The thing is, after the plant died, or so we thought, we cut it off at ground level, expecting that the roots had died too, and we left the pot full of dirt to use for another plant that would soon be needing a larger pot. But before we got around to repotting, another potato started to grow, kind of like a phoenix. That was December last. Three and a half months later it is still growing. Actually, three seperate stalks are growing from just the one leftover root. And this year I wondered about the record. We are so close to breaking it. But all attempts at contacting the Guinness World Records people have failed, BECAUSE I DO NOT DO FACEBOOK. Their record attempts form is ONLY ON FACEBOOK. What the hell kind of a way is that to do business? I refuse to join Facebook just for a potato. But you would think it would be easier to contact than only by social media!
    Rant ended.

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    1. You would have thought there were other ways to contact Guinness World Records, then just by Facebook. I can’t believe they can’t make themselves accessible by email as well.
      Like you, I don’t use Facebook, or plan to.

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      1. What did they do before Facebook? I cannot find a telephone number or an email address related to trying to claim a world record! I even got a friend on Fb to message them, to try to get a form sent out, but they have not answered in about a week. I am not holding my breath.
        Thanks for not using Fb. That warms my heart.

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      2. I would have thought they would have had an email. But for you to find no phone number either, makes you wonder how they did things before.

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      3. Society today has “loose-screw syndrome”! If you sren’t on social media, you aren’t worthy of notice. Succumb to the crowd, or be ignored! I succumb to no one!

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      4. I know I have friends who would love for me to be back on Facebook. But never again will I. I don’t know how many years I was last there, before closing my account and I was only there because of class lessons I was having at the time. The Facebook group being the support group at the time for it. Had I not joined FB for that reason, I wouldn’t have been back at that point all those years ago.
        My friends respect my choice of not coming back. No way will I set up another.
        Others that don’t know me well, have suggested FB. ‘No chance,’ ‘I don’t do FB,’ or ‘no thank you,’ are one of my responses to those that ask.

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      5. I joined Fb because someone wanted to instant message me on it. It was the only IM she would use. Withing dsys I was bombarded with friend requests from all over the world, people I had no way of knowing. What was up with that? And with all the stories of pedophiles using Fb to gain access to children, etc., I wanted no part of it. The account is still there, I guess, I did not look to see if the account could be closed. I just deleted the app from my computer and forgot about it. Who knows how many friend requests it has built up now. There were about a thousand when I deleted it, and none from anyone I knew. I do not understand people’s need to be on it.
        I guess I don’t have that cattle gene!

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      6. Your account is likely to be there still. Unless they close for inactivity. I don’t really know in that. But yes, there was a closing feature, when I was on it. It doesn’t close it straight away, but I think it was 30 days later from you requesting it. I can’t remember now, as been that long. During the 30 days you wait for it to close, should you change your mind, you log into it, I think it was. I couldn’t wait for those days to go by, knowing it would be gone completely by then.

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      7. I thought about it, but I am not going back to close it, even if it is there. That will get Fb administration all excited. I’ll let sleeping dogs lie.

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      8. Updating trying to reach Guinness World Records. I hope this shocks you. Today I remeasured my potato plant. It is now 148.6 cms tall, so a world record setter. So I used a friend’s Facebook. At first, all I could do was message the GWR, so I did. Finally after much searching I did find an application form so I started filling it out. It is a standard form, so does not allow for all possibilities. It requires an EVENT DATE. Since there is no event, as such, I left it blank. Skip ahead to sending the aplication. It cannot be sent without the required event date. Their regulations states applications can take up to 12 weeks for contact. I don’t know that my plant will still be alive in 12 weeks. I entered a date 6 weeks from now. That required switching from a standard application to a priority application. A PRIORITY APPLICATION MUST BE ACCOMPNIED BY AN $800 USD payment. Then they suggest that an EVIDENCE JUDGE should be consulted, $12,000 USD. For a damned potato plant? They got to be kidding! They aren’t. So I tried to go back and change the date to 12 weeks from today. Suddenly the rest of the form grew longer, and had to be refilled from scratch. So I played along, but shortened my description to “a tall potato plant.” More stupid questions, more pressure to change to a PRIORITY APPLICATION. And all kinds of inferences that without an Evidence Judge my application will probably be refused. They think I am made of money. I am a senior living on a fixed income. To buy a judge would take 8 months of pension money. How am I and my partner supposed to survive?
        Okay, I finally finished the standard application, and pressed the send button. Nothing happened. I hit the button again, and again. Nothing happened. I gave up. I have no idea if I was successful in sending the application. It kept asking me about a priority application, and an Evidence Judge. Now I have to wait up to 12 weeks just to find out if my application went through, or who knows how long for them to reply to the Fb messenger gram I sent. If it takes almost $13,000 just apply for a record, I am shit out of luck. That is probably non-refundable.
        The chances are good the plant will be dead by then. No plant, no record. No truth in the GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS! I thought they made their money from sell8ng their books, or subscriptions to their website. No, it seems they make their money off people who want to get in their book. A good business if you can get away with the highway robbery. They will not be getting any money out of me. I don’t have any to spare.

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      13. No longer, unless you refuse to play their games. Sounds like Big Business to me. I put in my application. I will see what becomes of it, if anything. I’ll let you know in June, lol.

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      1. Never tried that, I have one rhubarb plant in my backyard, replanted there a few years ago. It is barely surviving. How much beer is too much? And does it matter if the beer is 10 years old? I have some 10 year old beer in my basement. I have no idea what to do with it. I don’t want to throw it away. But if it helps the rhubarb grow, I will sacrifice it.
        Hmmmm. Maybe the potato would enjoy a bottle too!

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      7. Rhubarb pie is the best. Rhubarb sauce on ice cream is a real treat. Rhubarb juice is a nice change of pace. As you can tell, I LOVE RHUBARB!

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      11. I found make raw spinach into a pumpernickel bread dip. Cut out of the middle of the loaf, leaving the crust whole except a hole at the top. Fill it with spinach dip (recipes online, I guess,) and using the? cut out iddle of the bread sit and munch will watching a goid movie or a gome.

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  6. Apart from growing some potatoes in bins and other stuff (perhaps in baskets), there’s ways of sourcing more affordable food e.g. good ol’ fashion foraging.
    Rule one: NEVER EAT ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT 100% SURE IS SAFE!
    I’m fortunate, that my Mother taught me some knowledge of safe seasonal gathering. 🍃
    How about learning some SAFE foraging with Hawklad? You can do this together via recognised and accredited books you can take with you. I recommend Food for free by Richard Mabey. Checking things and cross referencing stuff can be educational. Perhaps make your own booklet to pencil adjustments and enjoy on your walks. Perhaps call it: “Our Browsings”.
    Rule two: NEVER EAT ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT 100% SURE IS SAFE, NEVER!!
    Not everything that looks plain or lovely 🍇 is edible or safe 🍄 and some innocent things like plain looking like that deadly white fungi will actually kill yer!
    As for the modern online forage of bargain shopping, I occasionally use Approved Food to stock up my pantry. Only when there’s enough stuff there online that meets my specs’ of plant based, not tested on animals… Another good thing to learn and be surprised about is how many foods are accidentally vegan e.g. check out this 🍫 chocolate:

    https://store.approvedfood.co.uk/chocolates/frys_chocolate_cream_bar_49g-30896977-p?pid=30896977

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  7. Lol. Just thinking of a while ago the shower gel subby for the oldest grandie aged all of 7”s mum was Frozen shower gel. He took one look and said, ‘ Seriously? Do I look like the kind of kid who would watch Frozen?’ I am just imagining paraphrasing it to potatoes.

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      1. Lol.. Meant to say, and this is re tatties. Way back I took issue with the standard of learning at the local school. That it was one of these places that just sat there, totally up itself, doing nothing and getting away with it in this semi rural area, was well known. The final straw was when my older girl came home as did all the other kids in that class with a term’s work – a map of the world, with potatoes written on various parts. So I parcelled it up, sent it to the education dept saying what it was, would they please take a look at it, cos frankly I didn’t know potatoes grew in so many places. Inspectors were in that school the following afternoon.

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