Guest blogger Ralph Perkins and the inception of Tuberville

Greetings from Tuberville:

My name is Ralph Perkins. I was asked to join you all as a guest blogger this week with some details about how Tuberville got its “roots.”

In 2004, there were a number of influences that helped start the plan in motion. My daughter had turned 4 yrs old and we were starting to talk about how things grow and where food comes from. My father was looking for a small plot to grow vegetables for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, and I was interested in the popular debate at the time of how the internet was influencing our ideas of community.

At work and with friends I shared these thoughts. Two people in particular, Marc Robbins from Phoenix, AZ and Tim Carroll from Chicago, IL engaged me in discussion and before I knew it, we were talking about creating an online community tied directly to a physical community, working together to produce a real, tangible product that could have a definable impact on those around us. That is a very wordy way to say we decided we should grow something.

So I went to my pop and asked him what he thought we could grow. He took inventory of all our assets: “you don’t have any fence, you don’t have any water, you aren’t going to be out there harvesting every day… we might want to look into potatoes.”

So with the lofty ideals of internet community buzzing around on one side and the pragmatic logic of a 5^th generation Vermonter moving us forward on the other side, we tilled enough soil to plant 6 rows of potatoes in the spring of 2005. That fall, Peter Perkins delivered 1,460 pounds of potatoes to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf.

Through word of mouth, other people in Colchester and Milton offered to help with the planting and harvest. A St. Michael’s graduate, Kelley Ouellette, offered to build a web site for us and all of a sudden we had our first presence in the digital world.

Over the past five years, we have learned and grown as a group. Our Tuberville community has expanded as people nearby and far away have joined Tuberville and shared their talents and passions and in doing so have made Tuberville stronger and able to supply more food to neighbors in need. It is amazing to see six thousand pounds of potatoes and know they are going for a good cause, but it is also amazing to see people sharing what they are good at.

The original premise of people online being able to be an integral part of the project has evolved into the Sharecropper 3.0 and CSA.2 programs and more and more we are looking at Tuberville as a genuine community. That is to say, we welcome anyone who wishes to participate. We want to design opportunities for anyone to excel at what they enjoy doing, and we believe there is a way to achieve this and help others at the same time.

Hope all is well,

-Ralph P.

Production Manager / Tuberville

 

 

How to make potato vodka

Potatoes can be used for a variety of things but did you know that you can make vodka from potatoes? Vodka is a popular alcoholic beverage. It is colorless liquid that consists mostly of distilled water and ethanol. Both water and ethanol are purified through several processes of distillation, which may come from fermented substances of rye or wheat, sugar-beet molasses, and potatoes.

Items you will need
♦Potatoes
♦Pressure cooker
♦Water
♦Distilling kit

*2.2 lbs. of potatoes produces one liter of vodka

Peel the potatoes and chop them into small cubes then place the potato cubes into a pressure cooker. Add enough water to completely cover the potatoes Then cook potatoes in the pressure cooker until the potatoes are dissolved in the water
Allow the potatoes to cool then strain the dissolved potatoes to extract the potato juice.

Purchase a distilling kit online or at beer and wine making stores in your area. A distillery removes impurities from your extracted potato juice and gives you a pure potato vodka. You can add food coloring if you want to make it more colorful or flavors to spice it up.

Science experiments with potatoes

My friends and I were talking about how much fun science is and I got to thinking my readers may enjoy trying a science experiment or two. The following are three of my favorites. Having fun and learning at the same time is the best!

Insulating potato

Questions to ask before the experiment begins:

• Why do hot things cool off?
• Why do cool things warm?
• How can you slow the cooling or warming process?
• Can you stop the cooling or warming process?
• What is an insulator?
• What types of things are good insulators?
• What is a good way to organize data that will be collected in this lab?

Materials

• Potatoes
• Thermometer

Insulating materials:

• Aluminum foil
• Saran wrap
• Cloth napkin

Procedure
Your goal is to find out which material will keep a hot potato warm the longest.
If you are using thermometers or temperature probes, carefully poke the potatoes with a big enough hole that a thermometer will fit snugly down into the middle of the potato. You can do this without a thermometer if you do them all at once and use your sense of touch to determine which is the warmest.

Ask an adult to help you heat some potatoes in the oven or microwave. You can either do them one at a time or all at once depending if you have more that one thermometer.

When the potatoes are hot, immediately wrap all of them. Wrap each in a different material and leave one uncovered.
√Record the temperature of each potato as you wrap it.
√Check the temperature of the potatoes several times at equal time intervals until they have all cooled off.

1. What type of material kept the potato the warmest?
2. Is there any relationship between the materials that worked the best?
3. How can this help you to keep potatoes warm the next time you want to serve them at a meal?

Potato Clock

Questions to ask before the experiment begins:

• What is a potato made of?
• What is electrochemistry?
• What is a chemical cell?

Materials

• 2 raw potatoes
• Heavy gauge copper wire
• 2 large steel nails
• Various pieces of connecting wire (with alligator clips if possible)
• Small (single LCD display digital clock

Procedure
√You will be powering the clock using the potatoes as batteries.
√Try different ways of hooking up the potatoes to each other and the clock.
√Keep track of what combinations produce some voltage and what ones don’t work.
√Think about how a battery works when you try to hook up your potato.

1. How long did your potato powered clock run?
2. Could you use more than two potatoes?
3. How would it change if you used more than two potatoes?
4. Can you use other fruit/vegetables to make the clock run?
5. What fruit or vegetable or combination makes the clock run the longest?

Floating potato
Questions to ask before the experiment:

• Why do some things float?
• What is density and does it have anything to do with controlling what floats?
• What is solubility?
• How soluble are salt or sugar in water?

Materials
√Water
√Potato slices, 3 about 1 inch slices
√3 beakers or glasses, tall and skinny will be the most dramatic
√Stir rod or spoon
√Salt or sugar

Procedures

• Your goal is to make one of the potato slices sink, one of the slices float, and one of the slices be suspended right in the middle of the beaker.
• Ask an adult to help cut your potato slices out of a raw potato then fill one of the beakers or glasses about three-fourths full with water and put in a potato slice.

What happened?
How can you make something else happen in the other two beakers of glasses?

Hint: You might want to use your salt or sugar.

Make one of the slices float and one of them be suspended half way down the beaker of glass that you are using.

Thinking about it

1. What was different about the three beakers of glasses that allowed the potatoes to float or sink?
2. Why didn’t the water spill out the top of the beaker or glass when you added the sugar and salt?

Four fun potato recipes that kids love

Happy New Year and welcome to 2011! While I was surfing around on the internet the other day, I came upon some fun recipes that I thought kids would not only like to make but like to eat. They hail from the United Kingdom so some of the measurements are in metric. I was going to convert them but I thought it may be an opportunity show how to convert measurements (you know, one of those teachable moments that they talk about). Have fun putting them together and then eating your art work!

Potato Sailboats

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 8
Ingredients

• 16 potato wedges
• 4 cherry tomatoes
• 1.5 ounces of gruyere cheese cut into slices

Method

• Cook the potato wedges in the oven according to the packet instructions.
• Arrange the wedges on skewers with slices of cheese in between.
• Return to the oven for couple of minutes to melt the cheese.
• Remove from the oven and decorate the top with a halved cherry tomato.

Baked Potato Dinosaurs
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients

• 4 small to medium baking potatoes
• olive oil for brushing
• 250g cauliflower cut into florets
• 10g butter
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 125g milk
• 75g granted Cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• Stoned black olive

For the decoration
Method
1. Prick the potatoes in several places, place in a circle on kitchen paper on a microwave tray and cook on high in the microwave for approx. 15 minutes or until tender.
2. Meanwhile, blanch the cauliflower in a pan of lightly salted boiling water for about 5 minutes.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook, stirring for one minute.  Whisk in the milk a little at a time, bring to the boil and cook stirring until the sauce is thickened and smooth. Stir in half the cheese until melted and season with salt and pepper.
4. Drain the cauliflower, chop into pieces and mix with the cheese sauce.
5. Cut one-third off the top of the potatoes using a sharp knife. Scoop out most of the potato flesh leaving a shell about ½ cm thick all around.
6. Mix the potato flesh together with the cauliflower cheese. Cut the tops of the potatoes in half to make two wedges – one for the dinosaur’s neck and head and one for the tail.
7. Pre-heat the grill. Pile the cauliflower cheese mixture back into the potato shells and put these onto the baking sheet together with the wedges for the dinosaur’s tail.  Sprinkle the stuffed potatoes and the tail wedges with the remaining cheese and cook under the grill for a few minutes until golden.
8. Arrange the potatoes on serving plates. Push the dinosaur’s neck into the potatoes and attach the grilled wedges for the tails.
9. Use the peppers and olives as desired to make the potatoes look like dinosaurs

Clown Frittata
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients

• 12 oz potatoes, peeled, sliced and cooked
• 6 medium Eggs 6 medium
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the face

• 2oz Red cheese, grated (Red Leicester)
• 1 Mushroom
• 1 Red pepper
• 1 small Green pepper
• 1 small Tomato

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C 350°F
2. Lightly oil a shallow, oven proof dish.
3. Arrange the cooked slices of potato in the dish.
4. Beat the eggs together with some salt and pepper then pour over the potato.
5. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes until the egg is just starting to set.
6. Using the cheese, mushroom, peppers and tomato make a clowns face.
7. Increase the oven temperature to 200_C, 400_F, cook for another 10 minutes.
8. Serve immediately.

Monster Mash
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients

• 750g peeled potatoes
• 1/4 pint milk
• 8 sausages
• 1 Can of baked beans
• 4 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cucumber

Instructions

1. Cut the peeled potatoes into even sized chunks and place into a pan, cover with boiling water, add a little salt, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain the potatoes, return to the pan and push the potatoes to one side. Add 1/4 pint milk and heat gently until the milk is almost boiling. Remove from the heat, season and mash until smooth.
2. While the potatoes are cooking grill 8 sausages and heat a can of baked beans.
3. Pile the mash onto either one large plate or 4 individual plates and surround with the heated baked beans. Halve the grilled sausages and push into the top of the mash for ‘hair’. Place 2 halves of cherry tomatoes as ‘eyes’ and arrange pieces of cucumber or pepper as ‘teeth’. Finally add a carrot for the ‘nose’!
4. Serve immediately to your mini monsters! (or children)

For more fun recipes: http://www.lovepotatoes.co.uk/kids/

Potato jokes

The folks at Tuberville sometimes have a quirky sense of humor. The jokes we tell can be corny and silly but often times they still make us laugh. Here are a few silly potato jokes, a story and a riddle.

• How do you describe an angry potato? Boiling Mad.
• What do you call a baby potato? A small fry!
• What do you say to an angry 300-pound baked potato? Anything, just butter him up.
• What does a British potato say when it thinks something is wonderful? It’s mashing!
• Why did the potato cross the road? He saw a fork up ahead.
• Why didn’t the mother potato want her daughter to marry the famous newscaster? Because he was a commentator.
• Why wouldn’t the reporter leave the mashed potatoes alone? He desperately wanted a scoop.

“I think” said the sweet potato, “therefore I yam”

Q. Why do potatoes make good detectives?
A. Because they keep their eyes peeled.

One night, the Potato family sat down to dinner–Mother Potato and her three daughters. Midway through the meal, the eldest daughter spoke up. “Mother Potato?” she said. “I have an announcement to make.”
“And what might that be?” said Mother, seeing the obvious excitement in her eldest daughter’s eyes.

“Well,” replied the daughter, with a proud but sheepish grin, “I’m getting married!”

The other daughters squealed with surprise as Mother Potato exclaimed, “Married! That’s wonderful! And who are you marrying, Eldest daughter?”

“I’m marrying a Russet!”

“A Russet!” replied Mother Potato with pride.

“Oh, a Russet is a fine tater, a fine tater indeed!”

As the family shared in the eldest daughter’s joy, the middle daughter spoke up. “Mother? I, too, have an announcement.”

“And what might that be?” encouraged Mother Potato.

Not knowing quite how to begin, the middle daughter paused, then said with conviction, “I, too, am getting married!”

“You, too!” Mother Potato said with joy. “That’s wonderful! Twice the good news in one evening! And who are you marrying, Middle Daughter?”

“I’m marrying an Idaho!” beamed the middle daughter.

“An Idaho!” said Mother Potato with joy. “Oh, an Idaho is a fine tater, a fine tater indeed!”

Once again, the room came alive with laughter and excited plan for the future, when the youngest Potato daughter interrupted. “Mother? Mother Potato? Um, I, too, have an announcement to make.”

“Yes?” said Mother Potato with great anticipation.

“Well,” began the youngest Potato daughter with the same sheepish grin as her eldest sister before her, “I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to you, but I am getting married, as well!”

“Really?” said Mother Potato with sincere excitement. “All of my lovely daughters married! What wonderful news! And who, pray tell, are you marrying, Youngest Daughter?”

“I’m marrying Peter Jennings!”

“Peter Jennings?!” Mother Potato scowled suddenly. “But he’s just a common tater!”

• A skin have I, more eyes than one. I can be very nice when I am done. What am I? A potato

If you have any potato stories, jokes, riddles or puns, please email them to tommy.ballard @gmail.com.

Until next time,

Tommy B.

Happy holidays from Tuberville

If you’re anything like me, you are still racing around trying to get things done before company arrives! Yesterday the tree finally went up and is decorated. There is firewood in the box and food in the refrigerator. Cookies and Cornish hens are in the freezer waiting to be thawed (not unthawed).

Folks here at Tuberville understand just how fortunate we are and know how many others out there that are not. We are committed to our mission and will continue our support of the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf and Milton Family Center, the Vermont Food Bank, the Ronald McDonald House.

We appreciate our volunteers and donors and are looking forward to another healthy crop in the next growing season. Are you still looking for last minute gifts? Would you consider a donation to help purchase seeds to plant this next season and help feed our neighbors?

A gift in someone’s honor, memory or name can be a wonderful present for someone. Donations can be made by going to http://tuberville.org/ and clicking on donations.

This may be more than you needed to know about Mr. Potato Head

Did you ever play with Mr. Potato Head? I’m wondering now what the object of MPH? Was it a game or just a time waster? Anyway, this is what I learned about MPH.

It is an American toy consisting of a plastic model of a potato which can be decorated with a variety of attachable plastic parts such as ears and eyes to make a face.

The toy was invented and developed by George Lerner in 1949, and first manufactured and distributed by Hasbro in 1952. It was originally produced as separate plastic parts to be stuck into a real potato or other vegetable. A plastic potato body has been part of the kit since 1964.

Over the years, the original toy was joined by Mrs. Potato Head and supplemented with accessories such as a car and a boat trailer. The character has appeared in film and on television, and has acted as spokespotato for several causes.

Lerner would often take potatoes from his mother’s garden and using various other fruits and vegetables as facial features, he would make dolls with which his younger sisters could play. The grape-eyed, carrot-nosed, potato-headed dolls became the principal idea behind the plastic toy which would later be manufactured.

In the beginning, Lerner’s toy proved controversial. With the war and food rationing a recent memory for most Americans, the use of fruits and vegetables to make toys was considered irresponsible and wasteful. Toy companies rejected Lerner’s creation.

Mr. Potato Head

Original 1952 MPH came as boxed set. Mr Potato Head was born on May 1, 1952. The original toy cost $0.98, and contained hands, feet, ears, two mouths, two pairs of eyes, four noses, three hats, eyeglasses, a pipe, and eight felt pieces resembling facial hair. The original Mr Potato Head kit did not come with a “Potato Body”, so parents had to supply their own potatoes for face-changing fun. It is said that a number of the original accessories reflected certain features of the members of Lerner’s own family.

In 1953, Mrs. Potato Head was added, and soon after, Brother Spud and Sister Yam completed the Potato Head family with accessories reflecting the affluence of the fifties that included a car, a boat trailer, a kitchen set, a stroller, and pets called Spud-ettes. Although originally produced as separate plastic parts to be stuck into a real potato or other vegetable, a plastic potato was added to the kit in 1964.

About this time, Hasbro introduced Oscar the Orange and Pete the Pepper, a plastic orange and green pepper with attachable face parts similar to Mr Potato Head’s. Each came with Mr Potato Head in a separate kit. Oscar and Pete were later discontinued, but Funko revived them as bobbleheads (along with a Mr Potato Head bobblehead) in 2002.

In 1975, the main potato part of the toy doubled in size and the dimensions of its accessories were similarly increased. This was done mainly because of new toy child safety regulations that were introduced by the U.S. government. This change in size also increased the market to younger children, enabling them to play and attach the facial pieces easily. Hasbro also replaced the holes with flat slats, which made it impossible for users to put the face pieces and other body parts the wrong way around. In the 1980s, Hasbro reduced the range of accessories for Mr Potato Head to one set of parts.

• In 1986 Mr Potato Head became “Spokespud” for the annual Great American Smokeout and surrendered his pipe to Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in Washington, D.C.
• In 1995 Mr Potato Head made his debut in Hollywood with a leading role in the Disney/Pixar animated feature Toy Story.
• In 1999, Mr Potato Head starred in the sequel to Toy Story, Toy Story 2.
• In 2000 Mr Potato Head was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame.
• In 2001 Mr Potato Head starred in his own comic strip.
• In 2006, Hasbro also began selling individual pieces as sets to add to a collection instead of having to buy an entire Potato Head set with a body. Some of these themed sets included Mermaid, Rockstar, Pirate King Princess, Firefighter, Construction Worker, Halloween, Santa Claus, Chef, and Police Officer. In the same year, Hasbro introduced a line called “Sports Spuds” with a generic plastic potato (smaller than the standard size) customized to a wide variety of professional and collegiate teams.
• In June of 2010, Mr. Potato Head appeared in Toy Story 3.

Until next time,

Tommy B.

Holiday potato recipes and nutritional facts

My friends at Tuberville and I are getting together to celebrate the holidays soon. We’re not celebrating any particular holiday,just any that is important to us. I’m bringing mashed potatoes. I looked on line to come up with a recipe that looked tasty and I found Holiday Mashed Potato Casserole on cooks.com. It looked so easy I figured I could even make it!

The good thing about potatoes is that they have nutritional value. (Pay no attention to the cream cheese in this recipe). A large potato contains 278 calories, 0g of fat or cholesterol, 30mg of sodium, 63g of carbohydrate, 7g of dietary fiber, 4g sugars and 7g of protein. Potatoes also have Vitamins A and C, iron and calcium.

Holiday Mashed Potatoes

5 lbs. potatoes
1/2 c. butter
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 c. half and half (or whole milk)
1 tsp. onion salt
1 tsp. seasoned salt
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Peel potatoes; cook until tender and drain. Mash and beat softened cream cheese with hot potatoes; add cream and blend well. Add butter and seasonings. Put in a 2 quart casserole; brush top with butter and sprinkle with paprika. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

You can make ahead of time and refrigerate. Then just bake for 45 minutes.

I’ll let you know how they turn out. Somehow the cream cheese seems to be okay because it’s a holiday after all.

Until next time,

-Tommy B.

More recipes: http://www.cooks.com

Funeral potatoes

Have you ever heard of funeral potatoes? I hadn’t until I met some friends from Utah that belonged to the Latter Day Saints.  I learned that funeral potatoes are a traditional casserole dish served at their funeral lunches. This isn’t to say that other denominations don’t serve them, I’m sure they do.

This is how it usually happens. Someone calls you and reports that there’s been a death in the ward and could you make scalloped potatoes, otherwise called funeral potatoes, a sheet cake or a salad.  Folks like to gather to visit, eat and talk after a funeral and the food is usually delicious because it is home-made.

Funeral potatoes get their name from commonly being served as a side dish during traditional after funeral dinners. Funeral potatoes are also served at social gatherings and potlucks.

The dish usually consists of hash browns or cubed potatoes, cheese (cheddar or parmesan), onions, cream soup (chicken, mushroom, or celery) or a cream sauce, sour cream, and is topped with butter and corn flakes or crushed potato chips. Other variations include cubed baked ham, frozen peas, or broccoli florets.

Recipe for Scalloped Potatoes (Funeral Potatoes)

• Russet Potatoes
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Fresh Shredded Parmesan or Romano Cheese
• Couple Cloves of Garlic
• Thyme
• Salt

Pour enough whipping cream into a pot to cover all the potatoes you intend to cook. Use 2 or 3 garlic cloves in the cream and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove cream from the heat and remove the garlic cloves. Peel and slice the potatoes with a mandolin or knife to get a uniform thin cut. Place a layer of potatoes in the casserole dish, brush with cream, and sprinkle with salt, thyme, and cheese then repeat with each layer until done.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for one hour. Remove foil and brown the top for 5 minutes.

Recipe from: http://talesofanordinaryhousewife.blogspot.com/2007/10/funeral-potatoes.html

 

What do Alabama and Vermont have in common?

I was reading the news today and could hardly believe my eyes! Alabama and Vermont are tied for highest increase in food insecurity. New numbers from the USDA show that Vermont ranks #1 among the hungriest state in the country.

Federal agriculture officials say that the number of Vermont households running out of food has risen from 12.1% to 13.6%. That means nearly 82,000 Vermonters are now in need of food assistance. And the Vermont Foodbank says that’s a conservative estimate.

The state is ninth in the nation in the percentage of households with “very low food security,” at 6.2 percent. That means at least one member of those households went without sufficient food at times, and eating patterns were disrupted because money and other resources were lacking, according to Household Food Security in the US 2009, a report produced this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Vermont Foodbank distributed 7.6 million pounds of food last year to at least 86,000 Vermont residents.

Enrollment in 3SquaresVT, previously known as the food-stamps program, is at an all-time high, in part because of expansion of eligibility. About 88,000 state residents participate.

People who previously donated food are now the ones looking for help. I was going to write about something funny but this is no laughing matter. It seems Tuberville has a good idea in trying to feed Vermont, one potato at a time.

Resources:

2-1-1

Vermont Campaign to End
Childhood Hunger