My First Potato Harvest

On Saturday October 10, 2009 I got to experience my first potato harvest in my life. It was really an awesome experience. I had seen it happen when I was driving by but never up close and personal. Randy was so excited to show me how it all worked. Randy's uncle Bart is a potato farmer so we went to his farm in Firth. Jared, Randy's brother was driving the spud truck. I got to ride in the spud truck with Randy and Jared. We drove along side the tractor that was pulling the combine that was putting potatoes in the back of the truck. After the truck was full we left the field and then drove to the cellar where the potatoes are stored.
I got to watch the potatoes unload from the back of the truck. (Now I am going to explain the process of how the potatoes are unloaded but I don't know technical terms so just bear with me) The potatoes go up a conveyor belt, separated from big and small. The small one go into a bigger truck that are taken away to a factory, the big ones are the ones that are stored in the cellar. The big ones then are taken onto another conveyor belt where all the weeds and roots are taken out. Then finally the are taken onto yet another conveyor belt where they are piled into the cellar. They fill the cellar all the way to the top leaving about two or three feet from the roof and all the way across. Let's just say the cellar holds A LOT of potatoes!
It was a ton of fun and I had a blast. It was cold but that didn't stop me from having fun. Randy answered all my questions and I am glad he was there with me. We also got dinner of chili and cinnamon rolls, compliments of Bart's wife. They were way YUMMY! I just want to say that potato harvest is a blast and I can't wait until next fall!