While on vacation in July we did a lot of driving about on country roads. The farmers often put up signs by their fields so we can tell what is growing - if we can't tell by looking.
Potato season is in full swing right now - hundreds and hundreds of acres of Washington potatoes. Washington is second in growing the most potatoes in this country - with Idaho only a little bit ahead.
Massive rows of potatoes. Potatoes are grown in Eastern (hot) and Western (cooler) Washington.
The blossoms of a far away potato field
Potatoes being watered with gigantic Rain Bird sprinklers
Potatoes near and potatoes far
Beautiful pink blossoms tell us that these will be red potatoes
This must be a very good year for potatoes
Just lovely!
I saw a sign as we whizzed by on one of the busier roads - it was by a potato field and it said "strawberries" - but traffic was too heavy to stop and get a picture.
That reminds me of another sign I missed - it said "Nothing Allowed Here" - and I think they were serious.
Cabbage!!
Corn - lots of corn grown here too
And a hand painted sign pointing us to a lavender farm
This is a great climate for lavender and there are lavender farms nearby, on the San Juan Islands and in Sequim. Many of the towns have lavender festivals every year too - and you can buy any kind of lavender product you could think of - even lavender cookies and lavender ice cream.
You can smell the lavender on a warm day, long before you reach the farms.
And of course, strawberry signs - hundreds of acres of strawberries are grown here too. Washington is 4th in the nation for strawberry production. We do our best to eat all that we can.
I think I'll cook some potatoes with our dinner tonight - and strawberries and ice cream for dessert. This is a wonderful place to live.
Coming from the Midwest, it's very refreshing to see crops other than corn and soybeans. I had no idea that potato plants had flowers on them - so very pretty to see a field like that! But that lavender - oh my word - how wonderful it must be to have that fragrance in the breeze. What a sight to behold.
ReplyDelete~Lindy
Great crop photos and I love the signs. When I am Queen of the World, every crop everywhere will have these kind of signs. I hate being on a roadtrip and not knowing what's growing.
ReplyDeleteThis was a delightful trip!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love that there were signs telling you what crop was planted (some of us city folk are plum ignorant at times (very sad, but true)
I never knew potato plants have blossoms like that. How pretty! I love the lavender fields!
ReplyDeletePotato blossoms are gorgeous! They remind me of my first home. :). Aroostook County in Northern Maine is a big potato grower, but of course not as big as Idaho and Washington. The Pacific NW is a beautiful, bountiful place to live! I didn't appreciate it out here nearly enough when my husband and i moved here from Maine in '95. I was too homesick. But now, even though i miss my family, i love love love it here! Beautiful post JoAnn!
ReplyDeleteLove all the signs and the flowers on the potato plants which surprised me!
ReplyDeleteA lot to like about this post--educational as well as fun. The soil is such an unusual color--looks light and volcanic. And I didn't know the pink blooms mean red potatoes. Growing up we were always eager to see those blooms because it meant new potatoes to eat. Yum! Wish all the grain farmers would post signs--know vegetables but not grain. And I hope you knew about the lavender fields so you could roll the windows down!
ReplyDeleteWe have Ontario potatoes but I would be hard pressed to say where, exactly.
ReplyDeleteAnd I never thought about them having blossoms :)
I need some butter!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've seen potato crops before, and never knew they blossom. I've seen a few fields around here where I really have wished they'd post signs. It's nothing I've recognized and wonder if it may be fallow or something to add nutrients to the soil (they do that in Calif. with mustard).
ReplyDeleteWell labelled.
ReplyDeleteThose are beautiful fields and so nice of those farmers to put up a sign for everyone! The potato fields are amazing - I'll have to show my Hubby what the fields look like before the potatoes are turned into potato chips! The lavender fields are just so pretty! Love that big strawberry sign. xo
ReplyDeleteLots of Lavender up here too - heavenly!
ReplyDeleteWe went one year to the islands - Price Edward Island among others - and McCain's grew field after field of potatoes for oven chips. Whenever I buy them I always think of those fields.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine the smell of that lavender.
Who knew that potato plants could be so lovely full of blooms! Lavender is my favorite scent and I was fortune to be able to visit a lavender farm in Squim many years ago.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a abundant year then. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat photos - love the lavender.
ReplyDeleteAll so very pretty.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely! Fresh lavender, strawberries, potatoes - fresh!!!
ReplyDeleteI have actually never viewed large pototo ( OR lavender ) fields before. Just lovely!
ReplyDeleteWonderful signs and shots of the crops... reminds me of a sign on a fence line in the Skagit Valley which said 'Pasture,' it made me laugh! Thanks for sharing on RBH this week!
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