We had a great Thanksgiving dinner from locally sourced ingredients (mostly). The turkey is from Rocky Ridge Ranch and it was great. The highlight of the meal was our tri-colored mashed potatoes from this year's garden harvest. We used purple, red and white fleshed varieties, mashed them separately and then combined them into one of the funniest looking Thanksgiving side dishes ever. It's hard to believe, but no artificial colors were used, just the natural color of the potato flesh. It was a bit confusing though. My eyes told me I was eating Grandma's jello chifon salad or Neopolitan ice cream but my mouth indicated they were lucious warm mashed potatoes.

We've got enough potatoes to see us through the winter (250 lbs +) and I highly recommend them for the home garden, but don't grow Yukon Golds or Russetts. There is nothing more discouraging than working hard to grow vegetable varieties you can buy in the store for pennies on the pound. We always go to Northwest Seed and Pet in the early spring and load up on a bunch of different varieties; pink, purple, and fingerling. If you have to choose one I'd go with the fingerlings. They are more prolific than the purples and the flesh is smooth as silk. There are different varieties of fingerlings but every one we've tried has been great.

Tradition says to plant potatoes on Good Friday.

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