Thanksgiving Tradition: Harvesting Potatoes

Digging potatoes from our yard for our Thanksgiving meal started by mistake. A few years ago a section of our yard turned into a jungle. It was November and after the usual 3 week stretch of non stop rain, the patch was quickly turning into a yellow mushy mess. I'll admit it. . . it was an eyesore. Armed with yard waste bucket and shovels we marched outside during a rain free moment. Imagine our surprise while pulling up plants we discovered potato gold below the surface. Those glorious potato volunteers! Now the kids were engaged! A treasure hunt.

Every year since we designate a spot in the garden or flower bed and plant potatoes. Water them a bit and then ignore them. That is our motto. Then, right before Thanksgiving we all march outside and start digging around for our potato treasures.

How Much Did I Eat?

Halloween is not a pretty time in our house. Our kids are master candy collectors and this year ended up with a huge amount of candy. I admit, I sampled a bit of their candy the day after and was feeling quite proud of my control until I reached in my pocket and discovered it FULL of candy wrappers. I was amazed. How did this happen? I must have suffered from a massive memory block! My first thought was that I picked up the empty wrappers as I passed through the house and put them in my pocket. Then I noticed the wrappers were from my favorite candies. So busted!!! Then there was the movie night candypolooza with a mound of wrappers to show off. Thank heavens the candy is nearly gone.

There is a lesson here, for me at least. That my brain convienently does not track how much I eat. I need visual cues (such as candy wrappers). For me eating healthy is about 1) limiting access to sweets and fatty foods, 2) keeping healthy veggie snacks convienient, 3)recognizing correct portions and sticking to it when I sit down for meals.