I had a busy three-day weekend, mostly devoted to gardening. Today, Tuesday, my body is wrecked. There’s not a gym workout in the world that compares to getting potatoes planted.

I started the weekend with a trip to the annual Swamp Supper a few miles down the road. It’s an event held by local churches for boys and men with live music and lots of wild-caught/hunted foods. A few of the things I ate this time were:

• Grilled deer burgers
• Fried alligator tail
• Salt pork
• Fresh-cut french fries
• Barbecue (two different kinds)
• Buffalo wings
• Fried quail

It’s always a fun event. There are other things that I didn’t get around to like frog legs, rabbit, gumbo, and more this year.

After resting for a couple of hours, I planted out a bed of onions and cabbage. To be honest, after eating all that meat, it’s probably a good thing I switched my focus to some veggies.

On Sunday and Monday, I completed the process of planting 12 rows of potatoes from a 50 lb. sack. I was actually a couple of weeks behind on this, but I was sick when I wanted to plant. Then, the following week, it was too wet and rainy.

This year, I’m cutting my gardening way back so that I can focus more on work. Potatoes are my main calorie crop though and last into the winter. All it takes is about $35 worth of seed potatoes and fertilizer to make sure there’s enough food to eat most of the year. The harvest from this planting should yield 6-8 months worth of potatoes for 4-6 people eating 3-4 days each week. Of course, that will vary from household to household, but it should give you an idea of the importance of this planting for me.

Perhaps Mother Nature will be kind this year and provide a bountiful harvest.