this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
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Showerthoughts

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It's been 30 years and I still can't get over the fact that the French word for "potatoes" is "ground apples." Have The French never had an apple? (midwest.social)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/showerthoughts
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I grew up on a farm along a small river called the Pomme De Terre and we didn't grow potatoes. But we did have a potato lifter to harvest the 1/2 acre or so we would grow for our own consumption.

There was also a small county picnic area in the middle of nowhere by the same name. And no one knew why it was there.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So you had a potato lifter that just sat there, still and silent, in case you ever decided to grow 1/2 acre of potatoes?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, pretty much. It was a converted horse drawn implement so it was quite old and pretty worn. It did work, but us kids still had to walk behind it to pickup the potatoes it missed.

And when you could muster a small army of 10 kids from 3 families, well you maybe didn't need a potato lifter so much.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

oh, I see you meant you didn’t grow potatoes for the market

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Ah my bad. Back in those days, having a small one row potato lifter was not unusual for a farm where I grew up. Potatoes were a staple food because they could be stored easily until the next harvest. You would grow a half acre, sometimes more just for your own needs. Along with a lot of other vegetables to be home canned or stored.

Self sufficiency is important when you were poor.