Another successful potato day and like last year’s another half a ton of seed potatoes (that’s over 3,300) were sold! There was a good stream of customers all day! Some were new to growing potatoes and others were old hands just looking for a new/different variety to try out. The first potato to sell out was the Organic Sarpo which have great resistance to blight and virus’s, don’t get slug damage and can tolerate a drought – these factors combined mean that they strive well and good without the use of chemicals which is brilliant! They also keep very well because they have a long dormancy period!
As well as the recipe books on sale a delicious lemon cake was handed out for free. It was made from a recipe in the book and with potatoes rather than flour! Can you believe it? Especially great for those with a gluten allergy and for those that don’t you really wouldn’t know the difference! It was divine!
Councillor Phillip Booth said about Potato Day: “Potato day is held to encourage more people to grow their own and learn about the many different varieties of potatoes. There is also an issue of food security that we will be hearing more about as oil prices climb and harvests suffer from the changing climate. 40% of the food we eat is imported: if more people grow their own then we can be less reliant on food imports from other countries.”
Down to Earth would like to say a big thank you to all who volunteered their time and effort and made the day the great success that it was! Working with Transition Stroud on this event was pleasure and we hope to collaborate with them again! We’d also like to thank Chris Evans from the brilliant Dundry Nurseries (Cheltenham) for supplying such a great variety of potatoes.
All potato seeds left over were passed on to the Stroud Valleys Project Eco shop so if you missed out on the day pop in there and see what’s on offer.
