Potatoes, gardening and healthy Irish women

Jennifer said:

post 91257 I know it's a bit time consuming to make, but what about potato protein soup/potato juice for those with a really compromised gut? Wouldn't that be safer and more nutritious than supplemental amino acids? Also, if I remember correctly, the potato juice would also bind to the already existing toxic byproducts (ammonia was it?) circulating in the system so we can dispose of them, right?

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Trust a female to be so practical. Your are a goddes among us women. Yes the humble potato. Thank you girlfriend for reminding us that the potatoe water which is rich in keto acids is perfect for hypothyroid, low metabolic and catabolic state. The yellower the potato, the more protein. As peat says, he finds that the less supplementing, the less problems. So true. I had a major breakdown, physical and mentally. I have lost weight from 112 kg to sitting now at 87 kg that is a whopping 25kg. My fat % has go from 48% - 35%. No exercising because I was unable to walk. I can run, jumping, exercise if I want to, now know not mandatory to losing weight. I rebuilt my body, thyroid function, metabolism just with foods based on reading Peat. I am finding that the less supplementation, and the more focus I place on nutrient dense, good quality foods the more stressproof I become. While my other menopausal girlfriends are dragging themselves around like a piece of old rag. If I continue at this rate, I am going to be an arse keeping, dynamo of an old woman - a fearless matriach of my family. No f****ing elder abuse for me. I ain't coping any ***t from my kids, siblings, mother, husband and stupid and dangerous neighbours. Yeah, love me some potato water. Definately, does reduce ammonia and toxic metabolites.It should be mandatory for all age-care residents. Make sure they 're homegrown or organic.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

I meant arse kicking. Yes I do definately want to keep my arse though it is shrinking by the week.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

Ella said:

post 106554 Thank you girlfriend for reminding us that the potatoe water which is rich in keto acids is perfect for hypothyroid, low metabolic and catabolic state.

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I still haven't got around to trying the potato juice properly, but I've started saving the water from boiled potatoes to add to my soups, just like my mother did.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

Tara, keeping it simply is the way to go. If we complicate it too much we never get around to doing anything. I always slice the potatoes thinly and cook them well with plenty of filtered water. I serve mash to the rest of the family and bottle the water and keep in the fridge. Like you, I add it to soups, an other meals. During the day, I just drink it like a tea with plenty of salt and add the gelatin broth with it and it does just fine when I am too busy to have lunch. Luckily my family love plenty of potatoes, so I always have plenty on hand. I am currently collecting all sorts of potato varieties and have just harvested my first lot. Peat says the protein value of potatoe is more than milk and eggs, so I will be growing a ton of them. I won't be able to grow enough the way my family demolish them. Organic potatoes are about $7.50/kg in Australia, so it is a worthwhile pursuit. My temperatures, pulse rate, and % muscle comes up nicely when I am drinking the potato water. I tend to prefer it to OJ as I tend to react to too much OJ but absolutely no issues with potato water. I do what Peat does to get extra Magnesium, cook up a big batch of leafy greens and beet greens and mix the liquid with my potato water. I was so relieved to find out that potato starch is ten times bigger than rice starch. Potato is my go to starch now. In the past, the humble potato was overlooked for more exotic vegetables but now it get centre place on my dinner table.

Hey, it kept those Irish gals fertile and they were extremely tough women having to contend with poverty, a hoard of snotty nose kids hanging around their legs, the moronic Catholic priest putting the fear of god in them, coping a bashing from their drunken husbands, while the priest remindered them to be dutiful and better wives. Thank god for the potato.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

Ella said:

post 106756 Thank god for the potato.

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:)

I had at least 4 different varieties growing in my back yard a couple of years ago. And yams and lots of silver beet and various other greens, and courgettes, and the chooks kept us in eggs.
But I left my last crops (and eggs) in the ground when I learn of possible soil contamination. Haven't yet worked out whether to spend thousands on thorough soil testing - other factors involved in where I'm living, too, as well as budget constraints. So for the meantime we are only eating the fruit, not the veges.

My soups are usually pureed veges (onions, greens, sometimes mushrooms, garlic, ginger) + beef or mutton or occasionally chicken stock + potato water + salt + sometimes a little drizzle of cream. Most evenings for dinner.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

Tara, what has your soil been contaminated with? Don't give up on nurturing your plot. Microbes and worms do a wonderful job in bioremediation. It also depends on pH of the soil whether the contaminate is bioavailable to the roots of the plant. Have you been quoted on the soil tests?

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

[offtopic]http://permaculturenews.org/2014/04/10/bioremediation-industrial-pollution-utilizing-fungi-bacteria-plants-reduce-oil-pollution-ecuadorian-amazon-basin-world/[/offtopic]

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/kabe ... iation.htm



It's important to keep growing plants and not let the soil lie dormant. I would plant some deep rooting trees that can be used as firewood when mature and then collect and contain the ash in an area of the garden where you can grown ornamentals. If you know what sort of business or industry was on the land prior, you should be able to pinpoint what sort of contaminates you are dealing with. Then it is a matter of finding the right vegetation, weeds, organisms, trees, herbs etc. It may be too slow for huge sites for remediation but feasible the homegrower. You can construct raised beds with clean soil. Worms are easy to keep.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

Ella said:

Jennifer said:

post 91257 I know it's a bit time consuming to make, but what about potato protein soup/potato juice for those with a really compromised gut? Wouldn't that be safer and more nutritious than supplemental amino acids? Also, if I remember correctly, the potato juice would also bind to the already existing toxic byproducts (ammonia was it?) circulating in the system so we can dispose of them, right?

Click to expand...

Trust a female to be so practical. Your are a goddes among us women. Yes the humble potato. Thank you girlfriend for reminding us that the potatoe water which is rich in keto acids is perfect for hypothyroid, low metabolic and catabolic state. The yellower the potato, the more protein. As peat says, he finds that the less supplementing, the less problems. So true. I had a major breakdown, physical and mentally. I have lost weight from 112 kg to sitting now at 87 kg that is a whopping 25kg. My fat % has go from 48% - 35%. No exercising because I was unable to walk. I can run, jumping, exercise if I want to, now know not mandatory to losing weight. I rebuilt my body, thyroid function, metabolism just with foods based on reading Peat. I am finding that the less supplementation, and the more focus I place on nutrient dense, good quality foods the more stressproof I become. While my other menopausal girlfriends are dragging themselves around like a piece of old rag. If I continue at this rate, I am going to be an arse keeping, dynamo of an old woman - a fearless matriach of my family. No f****ing elder abuse for me. I ain't coping any s*** from my kids, siblings, mother, husband and stupid and dangerous neighbours. Yeah, love me some potato water. Definately, does reduce ammonia and toxic metabolites.It should be mandatory for all age-care residents. Make sure they 're homegrown or organic.

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Got an email update of this post and had to respond. Woo-hoo! Go Ella! Awesome job! *high five* Though, I would say you already are an arse kicking, dynamo of a woman!

For the last 2 1/2 months, I've been consuming almost 3 pounds of potatoes daily as my main protein source. Knowing what Ray has said about the high quality of their protein and how their juice facilitates the proper digestion of other proteins by healing the intestines, they seemed like a great option. My only hurdle was the heartburn I normally get from starch and the fact that I was done living on a liquid diet so I wasn't about to go juicing them again.

Attempting to avoid the heartburn while still being able to chew my food, I went with baby creamer potatoes (immature potatoes) since much of their sugars haven't converted to starch yet. This worked like a charm! They digest like a dream for me. I eat them mashed with maple syrup, salt and a tiny bit of coconut cream, whole with organic ketchup or roasted in the oven with herbs. Yum!

The only caveat for me was having to double my calorie intake because I was losing fat fast. I shrunk in my waist and got my hiking legs back. Lots of muscle definition. Anyhow, just wanted to give you props, Ella and wish you luck in your campaigning to get the humble spud to its rightful position as a powerhouse of nutrition. Anecdotally, my grandmother grew up during the Great Depression and often talks about how she ate meals of nothing but mashed potatoes. To this day it's a favorite of hers. She turns 91 this November.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

Jennifer said:

post 107018 For the last 2 1/2 months, I've been consuming almost 3 pounds of potatoes daily as my main protein source. Knowing what Ray has said about the high quality of their protein and how their juice facilitates the proper digestion of other proteins by healing the intestines, they seemed like a great option. My only hurdle was the heartburn I normally get from starch and the fact that I was done living on a liquid diet so I wasn't about to go juicing them again.

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This is wonderful. I see a lot of us gravitating towards the potato and for the same reasons, great stuff!

Famotidine and calcium carbonate as needed has been helping me with the heartburn. Along with a course of antibiotics and keeping stress as low as possible.

Good to see you, Jennifer.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

Hi Charlie!

Luckily, all that potato eating and I no longer get heartburn, but I'll keep your suggestions in the back of my mind in case it ever returns. Thanks! :)

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

I have problems with starch - do you think a heavily boiled potato could possibly work better? I havent eaten starch in months bc it fks me up every time. Im curious about this potato protein soup though!!

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

Jennifer said:

post 107018 Lots of muscle definition. Anyhow, just wanted to give you props, Ella and wish you luck in your campaigning to get the humble spud to its rightful position as a powerhouse of nutrition. Anecdotally, my grandmother grew up during the Great Depression and often talks about how she ate meals of nothing but mashed potatoes. To this day it's a favorite of hers. She turns 91 this November.

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Thanks Jennifer for that awesome response. Great to find someone who is appreciative of potatoes potent value. Maple syrup on potatoes sounds divine. I just got out of bed and looked at my legs. I don't think, I have ever had the muscle definition I have now, especially in my thighs. Not even in my teens and I have been athletic since primary school. It really scared me to see so much weight come off because in the past I would torture my body by exercising more and restricting calories. Going into menopause, I was packing on weight at the rate of 2kg a week. I was under crazy stress, working a rotating shift of days, afternoons and nights. No set meal breaks, just grabbing foods when I could. No bloody wonder my body broke. If it hadn't, I would never have been pushed to find out why? I was never a PUFA consumer due to my research work. I was familiar with PUFA's immune suppressing ability in transplant patients and the lipid peroxidation damage in eye tissue. My husband was also a lipid chemist, so we were both fairly emersed in the research. Reading Peat's work help me to connect many dots. Coming from my research background it was very easy to understand Peat's perspective and I don't understand why people find his work controversial. No that's wrong, yes, I know very well the reason why: greed, power and vested interests.

I am heartened that he has managed to continue his work educating and researching and has managed to gain a worldwide following. It is reassuring to know that these ideas will be implanted into a new generation of scientists. We need the public to support them so that they are not dependant on grant money from the industrial/medical/food complex. They will not start their careers like I did completely clueless and lead down countless dead pathways. It makes me really angry about the wasted years.

How do you thank a man that has taken you from crayons to perfumes - "To Sir with Love". In my case, "How do you thank a man that's taken you from genes, vaccines, stem cell therapies and organ replacements to thyroid, carrots, potatoes and sugar. The milk, retinol, adrenaline, cortisol, PUFAs and indigenous microorganisms were already a major focus of my research well before I found Peat. I was struggling and confounded though on how they were interrelated, though there was plenty evidence that they each played a role. Peat was able to elucidate so easily and eloquently providng a unifying theme.

Back to tatters. As Peats says, starch needs to be completely out of the diet for those individuals with bacterial overgrowth. In saying this, many people do tolerate potatoes better than other starches. I would ditch the rice for potatoes. If eating potatoes causes problems, then it is best to drink the potato water. Just the water from boiling the potatoes to death is beneficial due to the antimicrobial peptides which have been shown to be thermostable. Once the bacterial and fungal populations have been reduced then eating potato should protect against breeding them back up. Having the grated carrot ensures that their populations are controlled. I would use the carrot and bamboo fibres first and then gradually introduce potato. Potato water from the begining should help along with the carrots/bamboo. A food is valuable when it works on many levels. I assume that people are aware that Nestle has a patent on the production of the purple sweet potato being turned into a breakfast cereal.

http://www.fruitnet.com/fpj/article/160 ... ato-patent

Please don't eat this crap, grow your own or find a good supply. They should not tast bitter or off.

FredSonoma are you doing grated carrots every day? If starch is problematic, then even a heavily boiled potato will cause problems unless you are able to extract only the water and exclude the starch. I would start by removing the starch and then test how you go reintroducing potato but only after you have adequately established the grated carrot into the diet. Charlie's experience is testamount to patience and persistance.

Carrot fibres actually work very rapidly.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

Wow, the women here are kicking the guys in the arse, for sure, LOL.

Jennifer, great to hear from you and how well you're doing. I think of you when I hear some songs! Though Guy Clark may not be you. I love that guy's voice, I Don't Love You Much Do I w/Emmylou Harris can mend a broken heart.

Ella, your comment about Irish women staying fertile through all that Ireland went through really resonated. I wouldn't be here today if they hadn't! And my Mom gave me just about zero epigenetic negatives as far as I can tell, bless her.

Tara, FWIW I emptied a BCAA cap into a sake cup and all the AAs seemed the same, very powdery. I added 1/8 tsp of glycine, which is like very small salt crystals, stirred it up and then shook it around, the glycine did separate out. There ain't no easy way out, as the song goes.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

I did the raw carrot every single day for like the first 3 months but I've only been doing it every few days recently... guess I need to get back on it! I never felt like it really did anything but it's hard to say... But I will start doing it again!

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

FredSonoma, FWIW I did carrot salad religiously for three months in the beginning, just like you, and never got a thing out of it. I've since thrown out 95% of the carrots I've bought, including $4 worth of fresh autumn local grown carrots yesterday. Whatever shape my gut is in, carrots don't make a difference.

But I am thinking I might be using alcohol to keep gut bacteria down, hard to know.

Amino acid supplementation for people with poor digestion

Ella said:

post 106756 Tara, keeping it simply is the way to go. If we complicate it too much we never get around to doing anything. I always slice the potatoes thinly and cook them well with plenty of filtered water. I serve mash to the rest of the family and bottle the water and keep in the fridge. Like you, I add it to soups, an other meals. During the day, I just drink it like a tea with plenty of salt and add the gelatin broth with it and it does just fine when I am too busy to have lunch. Luckily my family love plenty of potatoes, so I always have plenty on hand. I am currently collecting all sorts of potato varieties and have just harvested my first lot. Peat says the protein value of potatoe is more than milk and eggs, so I will be growing a ton of them. I won't be able to grow enough the way my family demolish them. Organic potatoes are about $7.50/kg in Australia, so it is a worthwhile pursuit. My temperatures, pulse rate, and % muscle comes up nicely when I am drinking the potato water. I tend to prefer it to OJ as I tend to react to too much OJ but absolutely no issues with potato water. I do what Peat does to get extra Magnesium, cook up a big batch of leafy greens and beet greens and mix the liquid with my potato water. I was so relieved to find out that potato starch is ten times bigger than rice starch. Potato is my go to starch now. In the past, the humble potato was overlooked for more exotic vegetables but now it get centre place on my dinner table.

Hey, it kept those Irish gals fertile and they were extremely tough women having to contend with poverty, a hoard of snotty nose kids hanging around their legs, the moronic Catholic priest putting the fear of god in them, coping a bashing from their drunken husbands, while the priest remindered them to be dutiful and better wives. Thank god for the potato.

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Ella thanks for your compelling and alluring tales of the humble potato!

I need no persuasion of the benefits. I am curious (live in Oz too), which variety you favour?
thanks

BingDing, I am so sorry you had to throw those carrots out. Have you ruled out some sort of nasty pathogen or had a stool analysis to work out which populations are out of balance, deficient or over represented? I have also seen huge improvements in hormonal balance and liver detoxification pathways and increased conversion of T4 to T3 with carrot and bamboo shoots.
The first step to improving health is removing stress. Just reducing strenuous exercise alone produces a favourable response in hormonal profiles. It takes time and patience for improvements and consistency. How much carrot at one sitting were you doing and how many times a day? It is what you eat that influences your gut flora. For example, simple sugars, monosaccharides and di-saccharides feed your indigenous e. coli population. E. coli are responsible for the synthesis of folic acid, Vitamin K, essential amino acids, tyrosine, phenyalaline and tryptophan. Prescription medications and supplements cause disturbances and imbalances to our indigenous flora. People are taking probiotics and prebiotics sanctified as being beneficial for gut health. But are they really??? A huge population experiment as far as I am concerned. Overgrowth of lactobacillus is problematic and FOS inhibits E. coli populations. Over representation of lactobacillus leads to metabolic acidosis and neurological dysfunction, depressed conscious state, confusion, aggressive behaviour, slurred speech and ataxia. Bifidobacterium spp. increases passive intestinal permeability to small and large molecules.
FredSonoma, did you include some oil with the carrots? Endotoxins are fat soluble. Minimum of 100 gram twice a day and around 200 gram/day seems to show most benefits from a hormonal perspective. For bacterial overgrowth, you need to be eating zero starches, filtered orange juice and easily digestible delicious foods;. gelatin broths etc. etc. No strenuous gym work or crazy workouts. Digestion needs to improve to allow faster transit of food. Stress needs to be minimised. Good sleep hygiene.
Moss, I grow Dutch Creams and Pinkeyes and I am gradually increasing the Royal Blues. I have not grown Bintje which is an older variety of the Dutch Cream but will source for my next crop. My favourite at the moment is the Purple Majesty which my Irish friend grows. The colour of the flesh is unreal. Can you imagine purple mash? I will try and secure some Purple Majesty from her so that I can include them in my next crop and slowly increase them. The problem is getting the varieties. Usually, when I come across a new variety, I will buy a few and allow them to sprout and use them for my seeds. They are too expensive to buy from seeds, so I increase my crops slowly. They recommend to buy certified seed potatoes to prevent disease. I never trust bought seeds. I find if you do rotational planting and nurture the soil, disease is not a problem using your own saved potatoes for seeds. I like the shape of the Kipfler but every time I buy them I am disappointed. They tend to turn green, so I find them a bit over-rated and expensive. I will try growing them to see if home-grown and leaving them in the ground until required reduces this tendency.
I want to grow purple skinned, white flesh sweet potato. I love these and thought they could only be grown in warmer climates like Queensland. I have been reading that people are growing them in Melbourne. So if I plant them now, it takes about six months, so should have some for winter??? I slice these thinly, layered onto a baking paper lined tray, coat with coconut oil, sprinkle salt, pepper, chilli flakes, cumin and roast. They last quite well, over a week in the fridge. I also make them into chips with sour cream. It is really satisfying knowing that you are eating the highest quality of food without the enormous expense. I have managed to cut the food bill in half which is huge savings as I feed a lot of people in my household. I am looking at cutting food expenses further. Growing potatoes goes a long way in stretching the budget. This means that I can afford to eat seafood for the whole family regularly and perhaps reduce our milk consumption. I find I don't need to supplement. I do a lot of functional tests and I see the improvement in the results from liver/hormone/mineral/toxicities. No-one wants to know that potato juice or carrot fibres are beneficial, but as soon as the active molecule is extracted and placed in a capsule, people fall all over themselves trying to source. Well there is a hell of lot more in food than just molecules.
If people are not getting any benefit from the grated carrot, then they need to investigate further. Stress is a huge factor. Emotional, psychological, physical, relationships, financial, neverending demands place a huge burden on the system. Sometimes food and nutrition is not enough. Good nutrition can make us more resistant to stress but you need to turn off the stress. That may mean ending a relationship, quitting your job, running away from your children or divorcing your parents - not easy options. Gardening is a far better option. You can just switch the brain off, feel the sun on your face, exercise your muscles, sweat out some toxins and earth yourself. The reward for all this toil is a lovely bounty of goodness that nourishes your body.

What's your fav potato? Here's a video of the Purple Majesty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5t0F1z2jXA

Where do you live in Oz land?

BingDing said:

Jennifer, great to hear from you and how well you're doing. I think of you when I hear some songs! Though Guy Clark may not be you. I love that guy's voice, I Don't Love You Much Do I w/Emmylou Harris can mend a broken heart.

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Thanks, BingDing! :) I love that song and remember it being used in a Nature's Own bread commercial. I like Guy Clark's version better, though. I think he's great! Come From the Heart and Stuff That Works are two others I really like.

P.S. I'm loving your signature!

Ella, sounds like the forum has quite the knowledgable lady on their hands. That's great that you have a husband who was also a lipid chemist. No one else around me really shares the same fascination with the inner workings of the human body so when I start rambling on about such topics, I'm usually met with blank stares. LOL I'm very interested in hearing all about your research so I'll be sure to stalk your posts to find out more about it. Haha!

Aww...I just went to post this and saw your comment, Ella. I was going to ask if you or Moss had ever had a Dutch Cream. I can't get them here and have wanted to try them ever since watching a YouTube video of Freelee (the banana girl) saying how great they are. My favorites are the Japanese sweet potatoes. They have a magenta skin and white flesh. Are those the ones you want to grow, Ella?

Jennifer, I am quite a geek and a bit an embarassment to my children. They learn this stuff whether they like it or not - osmosis. My 20 yr old daughter has been going out with a boy (first ever boyfriend). He asked her if he could meet the parents. She told him, he would never get to meet us. His dad is a plumber and I think she is stressed over the flavour of future conversations when the parents need to meet. I am just as fascinated with plumbing as I am with chemistry or biochem and our bodies. Her boyfriend is majoring in anatomy and physiology, so she has reasons to be concerned. It's not easy beening green . Well, I was everyone's little darling when it came to looking for genes, or developing vaccines, something that can be commercialised or patented but you find that you are no longer sexy when it comes to recommending real foods to solve problems. I fought real hard to put nutrition on the agenda for my disease of interest. No-one wants to know unless you can extract the molecule of interest (refer to Nestle's purple sweet potato) and commercialise it. People, then jump all over you and just as quickly discard you when they suck you dry. When you recommend growing and eating the actual food, then that's kinda boring. Where's the sense and money in that? Things are changing though. It took my breakdown, to force me to stop jumping hurdles and using my creative energy to make other people rich.
Yes, they are the Japanese sweet potatoes. Are you able to grow them and in what sort of climate? I am currently looking for ideas in turning them into desserts. The Japanese use them for desserts and very Peaty too with sugar, cream and eggs. Great way to bump up the calories for growing children and teenagers and yes also those coming off starvation diets. Nothing scares those people more than calories. Those Japanese don't look too obese to me. I don't eat the orange ones after reading peat and my early research has been on the retinol molecule. Retinol was the reason I also studied milk and was outraged that mothers were feeding soy, nut, rice milks to growing children and teenagers. I am stoked with the current research on retinol (vindicated again) and I call it a molecule for the 21st century. A molecule that is working on that many levels should be prized. But hey, how long have we known about retinol? It all gets swept under the carpet until a vested interest comes along and decides that there is squillions to be made. Retinol was the reason I found Ray, because no-one was talking about retinol except Ray. Retinol research was really on the nose when I was looking into it. Why did I want to research retinol? Didn't we already know that it is toxic and tetragenic? Join the crowd because there is more money and excitment in being a gene hunter? Yeah more like hype.
The Dutch Cream are not easy to find here in the supermarkets either. Originally from Holland but cheaper here in Australia. Good sources of vitamin C, Dutch Creams also contain potassium, niacin and dietary fibre. The high starch content will be problematic for those individual dealing with SIBO so I would stick to the potato water.
Have you tried to source online through the growers?

Ella said:

post 107232 Moss, I grow Dutch Creams and Pinkeyes and I am gradually increasing the Royal Blues. I have not grown Bintje which is an older variety of the Dutch Cream but will source for my next crop. My favourite at the moment is the Purple Majesty which my Irish friend grows. The colour of the flesh is unreal. Can you imagine purple mash? I will try and secure some Purple Majesty from her so that I can include them in my next crop and slowly increase them. The problem is getting the varieties. Usually, when I come across a new variety, I will buy a few and allow them to sprout and use them for my seeds. They are too expensive to buy from seeds, so I increase my crops slowly. They recommend to buy certified seed potatoes to prevent disease. I never trust bought seeds. I find if you do rotational planting and nurture the soil, disease is not a problem using your own saved potatoes for seeds. I like the shape of the Kipfler but every time I buy them I am disappointed. They tend to turn green, so I find them a bit over-rated and expensive. I will try growing them to see if home-grown and leaving them in the ground until required reduces this tendency.
I want to grow purple skinned, white flesh sweet potato. I love these and thought they could only be grown in warmer climates like Queensland. I have been reading that people are growing them in Melbourne. So if I plant them now, it takes about six months, so should have some for winter??? I slice these thinly, layered onto a baking paper lined tray, coat with coconut oil, sprinkle salt, pepper, chilli flakes, cumin and roast. They last quite well, over a week in the fridge. I also make them into chips with sour cream. It is really satisfying knowing that you are eating the highest quality of food without the enormous expense. I have managed to cut the food bill in half which is huge savings as I feed a lot of people in my household. I am looking at cutting food expenses further. Growing potatoes goes a long way in stretching the budget. This means that I can afford to eat seafood for the whole family regularly and perhaps reduce our milk consumption. I find I don't need to supplement. I do a lot of functional tests and I see the improvement in the results from liver/hormone/mineral/toxicities. No-one wants to know that potato juice or carrot fibres are beneficial, but as soon as the active molecule is extracted and placed in a capsule, people fall all over themselves trying to source. Well there is a hell of lot more in food than just molecules.

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Ella thank you for your great response and video.

Potato country not far from me and some excellent produce from the smaller local growers. I source locally when in season like they are going out of fashion. Sadly, the larger farms are monoculture - orientated and pander to the large food chains/supermarkets. Sourcing peak produce within your budget is essential and if you can grow your own so much the better, speaking of which, I grew my first lot last year (Pinkeyes) and yes I crop rotate, essential and about to plant a new lot. You have whetted my appetite with some of the more unusal varieties. Never heard of the Purple Majesty sound visually surreal and love the sound of your 80 yo Irish bird, what a goer...

Meals will determine which potato I use (many of the common varieties we get here).
Nicola, Desiree and King Edward, New potatoes and of course Dutch creams.

@Jennifer I also use new potatoes or a variety similar. Mash them and agree maple syrup is a brilliant mix with potatoes. I love Dutch creams probably one of my favourites and bake/mash or use them in soups as well.
I make a variation of Roesti, parboil the potatoes, cool then grate and drain (salad spinner works well to get out excess moisture) and season and pat the mixture into small sized pancakes and fry in butter and coconut oil and serve with fresh ripe fruit and Maple syrup or Ginger syrup.

@ Ella, Jennifer & Tara, inspired by you all to keep the potato water and start adding to my gelatin broth, aside from when I make potato soup I cannot believe I have been wasting valuable nutrients all these years!

The local green grocer sells the purple skin white flesh sweet potato and I roast these as well or mash.
More and more my home grown produce (small and humble crop) has change over to Peat friendly foods.
I have grown carrots but to my way of thinking they are relatively cheap to buy I and have the carrot salad daily (yes true) and I get through them quickly now inspired to make way for more potatoes...

Video amused me, I speared several spuds with my first harvest. Is the video local?
I thought FWS only existed in Australia. I laughed at the Funnel web's web in the patch - so organic (no doubt you know, if not, webs/spiders contain Vitamin K).

Ella said:

post 107232 If people are not getting any benefit from the grated carrot, then they need to investigate further. Stress is a huge factor. Emotional, psychological, physical, relationships, financial, neverending demands place a huge burden on the system. Sometimes food and nutrition is not enough. Good nutrition can make us more resistant to stress but you need to turn off the stress. That may mean ending a relationship, quitting your job, running away from your children or divorcing your parents - not easy options. Gardening is a far better option. You can just switch the brain off, feel the sun on your face, exercise your muscles, sweat out some toxins and earth yourself. The reward for all this toil is a lovely bounty of goodness that nourishes your body.

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Agree wholeheartedly and gardening is restorative and strengthening on so many levels.

Ella said:

post 107232 Where do you live in Oz land?

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Country Victoria not too far from Melbourne.