Some things in life never seem to change. The passing of the seasons is one of them. My husband and I like to try get our potato crop in on the Easter weekend. I am not sure of the reason why, but it seems this is the traditional time to do so.
Fortunately, this year the weather cooperated with that goal. After some extremely cold weeks this winter, late winter snows….some more cold weather…some drizzly weather (I will not say rainy because for us it wasn’t enough to really qualify as rain), another bit of snow….we finally came to the Easter weekend.
This was a glorious Easter weekend as weather goes. The days kept getting warmer and the wind finally started to slow down. By saturday, my husband decreed the ground was ready for the tiller and we could put some seed potatoes into the ground.
There is something about tilling the ground early in the spring. The smell of dirt, the excitement of the chickens over that newly tilled ground (that is another whole story) and the promise of a good crop of potatoes from those small cut up seed potatoes.
It is an act of faith putting those small pieces into the ground. It is faith in the fact that the rains will come when they should, the sun will shine as it should and with lots of care the crop will be successful.
There is something symbolic about planting potatoes on Easter weekend. When you stop and think about it, it is almost spiritual. The fact of putting those seed potatoes in the ground brings to mind how Christ was buried and rose again.
Maybe that is why I like getting my garden started on Easter weekend. I like to claim the promise of life to come….both in my garden and in life. I love the assurance that God is in control and all will be right with the world.
May this weekend find you claiming the promise. May you find joy in the everyday things that are put before you. May you have time to dig in the dirt, plant a few seeds, and know that the rest is out of your control, and may you find great comfort in the fact that it is not all up to you.
Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection,
not in books alone,
but in every leaf in springtime.
– Martin Luther
The Chicken Grandma 
Farmers’ Easter — love it! Surely you stay closer to the Lord because of your association with the earth and growing things.
We had church outside for Easter. We were cold at the beginning of the service, but with the sun beating down, we removed coats at the end. No matter what the weather brought, the old message was declared anew, brightly shining in our hearts. He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
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He is Risen! Hallelujah! What a comfort that is.
We have been having indoor services for a long time now and Easter service did not disappoint. Later Lar and I went to a place called Palisades State Park in SD….beautiful afternoon for seeing the beauty God made.
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We’ve had indoor services since it got cold last fall. There are some people who won’t come inside, and Pastor is trying to meet their needs. I told John today that if I quit going to outdoor church, he can explain to people that I am more afraid of cancer than COVID. In the mirror this morning, I saw that half my face was red — minor sunburn!! David had the same thing.
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LOL. Lar and I got a bit burned yesterday afternoon at a state park.
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It’s hard to remember to watch the sun when you’ve just taken off your mittens and furry hats.
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Hello Faye. I think of you often. We had a big snow storms and below zero temperatures that killed several plants in our yard, but now Spring is in full bloom. Such a great way to bring Christ into your story. Your dirt is so black compared to our reddish brown dirt here. We planted some of our pot containers this weekend. The garden is tilled and ready for the larger plants to go in the ground. Good luck with your potatoes.
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We had two big snow storms while we waited for warmer weather. They tell us we will be getting rain this week and I really hope so as we are very dry around here.
I am hoping to plant some herbs in containers. My husband wonders why but I figure I can dry them and use for cooking and soap making…win win.
I will be looking forward to photos of your containers!
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Fresh herbs are great for cooking. Soap making sounds interesting. We are not dry here – our ground is very wet from storm after storm. Have had several tornadoes in Arkansas this year, but not in our area.
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Love the smell of fresh turned earth and fresh cut grass. Welcome Spring. Love you Miss chicken.
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Those are two of my favorite smells! Praying for some rain this Spring as we are quite dry. Love you to Beverly.
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I would gladly share some of our rain.
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Sounds like you have been getting way too much of that.
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So good to have you back. I miss your stories of the farm and your life on it. We’ve had a an early spring this year too and even got to 80 yesterday. No planting for us, just lots of family time, which reaps a great harvest!
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Thank you so much Kathy. I have missed being here.
It was warm enough yesterday that we went to a State Park with no coats on! It was almost hot as we are not used to that yet.
No family time for us this Easter as 2/3rds of our kids are 400 miles away. We did get to see them all in the last couple weeks though and loved it.
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Nice to hear you had the weather you needed to do the thing you wanted!
We seem to be having an early spring here, but late April to early June is a much more safe and realistic time frame for most garden planting here! No point putting anything into ground that is too cold and wet.
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Potatoes are fairly safe to plant here at this time. They might get nipped by frost but seem to be able to take it. The rest will go in much later as I really don’t want to spend my time covering them and uncovering them when they give a frost warning.
It was just so satisfying to “play” in the dirt.
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Thank you for this post which is full of hope and the joy of Easter. I love the way traditions develop, like your planting potatoes at Easter. In Western Australia our farmers are hoping for the first autumn rain. We sweltered on Easter Sunday with a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius.
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I had to google what that temp would be for us as we don’t do Celsius. It WAS hot by you! We did have low 80’s on sunday and thought that felt almost to hot as we are not used to it yet.
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We are getting ready to plant potatoes this week. We are a little hesitant because it is so early but the weather has been so nice we are going to chance planting some. I think we will hold back some of the seed for a couple of weeks though just in case. We too had lovely weather for the Easter weekend.
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We have had our potatoes nipped by frost in the past but they always seem to pull out of it. I am hoping for the same result if that happens this time around! We are now hoping for some rain.
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I hope you get some rain. We have had a pretty dry winter and spring. The ground is still moist but the US drought map shows us as abnormally dry. So we could use some rain as well.
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I just talked to my sister today…guess what she told me her goal of the day was…to prepare her ground for her potatoes. Great minds, and gardeners, must think alike. I hope you grow the best potatoes ever.
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I think, as gardeners, we are just eternal optomists. There is something exciting about tilling that ground and planting something. The shine does sort of wear off mid-summer when it is really hot and humid and the weeds seems to grow a foot overnite LOL. I hope your sister’s potatoes do great also!!
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I was sooo happy to see your post-I have missed you and worried a bit. I know this is a busy time for you, but it seemed so long, that i couldn’t help myself. Stay safe and well! love Michele
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LIfe has just gotten a bit “weird” lately. My dad was in the hospital for a bladder issue for a few days, then went home and the meds they put him on made him pass out and fall so he was back in the hospital another 10 days…Now it is a round of dr. visits and would specialist visits (due to pressure sores) etc. My mom does not drive so one of my sisters and I are the drivers. He is slowly improving but I think it will be a long road as dad is 88.
It IS good to be back.
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I like this Easter/potato planting lesson. Put good seed in the ground and new growth with be multiplied. The faith of a farmer. I liked your little bit about the excitement of chickens to see new soil turned up. What a soft bug finder field!
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The chickens love newly tilled ground. We have to fence the garden quickly after planting potatoes or the girls will start digging them right back out in their search for bugs.
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i love this, but i love your heart, more … your heart that *sees* š
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I kind of feel a bit like those seed potatoes…put aside during a long cold winter and now ready to do what I was made for. This year has been “odd” and I am ready for spring and life to come.
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i love that analogy š š š
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I know lots of people who do this! We were a bit late and did it the weekend after, but at least they’re in now. It still feels very cold for doing much in the garden.
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My potatoes and peas are actually up now! I do need to get in there to hoe the weeds out but they keep giving us frost warning and I know from past experience that if I hoe and it gets to cold they will freeze….so I am just sitting tight and waiting.
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