When you're forced to stay at home you suddenly appreciate activities that you didn't really like before. Growing vegetables has been one of our family traditions for as long as I remember (most likely even longer).
And it was also one of my least favorite activities as I had to help my parents every day except of Sunday. You can probably imagine that a young girl has many things on her mind, and growing vegetables is certainly not one of them.
But I had no choice. I remember telling myself that this was only temporary and as soon as I would be 18 I would move out and wouldn't set my foot on the field ever again. And so, I did. I moved out to a big city and got my veggies from the supermarket. Those veggies weren't that tasty, but I was free and this was what counted.
After a while I found myself missing the connection that I had with my food when I was younger. When you plant the seeds, water them, give them the nutrition that they need, and see them growing you appreciate them much more. And I swear that when you grow your produce yourself it tastes much better!
My husband has always wanted to grow his own food, but we do not have a garden in Switzerland, so I suggested that we would try it back in Slovakia. Well, we would only help with the harvest as we can't be there all the time to take care of the veggies while they're growing. He found it a great idea and we started to help my family a few years ago. They were surprised to see me there as they knew that I didn't like it before and until today they keep telling jokes at my expense, but I don't mind.
Our fields are close to this place. There is a creek in the forest which helps us to stay cool in the hot summer months.
Harvesting potatoes is the most challenging 'project' as we only have a small tractor and the most difficult work is done by hand. Our fields are 100 meters long and some 20 meters wide, so it takes a lot of time and it's also physically challenging.
We usually start very early in the morning, go for quick lunch to my grandma's house, then return to the field and work until it's getting dark. Once we're done for the day, we join my auntie for BBQ at her house. She prepares all food for us as she knows that we're exhausted after such day. Depending on the weather it takes us 1 or 2 days to complete the task. When it's too hot, we don't work all day as someone could get sick.
On this photo I am very happy as I scored a spot where I had some shadow from the corn plants. I hope you like my look as it's not only stylish but also very practical against the sunburn. The corn plants protected me for a couple hours and then I had to count on my clothes.
Always protect your hands with gloves! You can easily get nasty cuts on your hand from the sharp roots. It takes ages to heal them as you can't clean them properly while you work.
We were happy with the harvest last year. The potatoes were big and healthy, and the soil was dry and light, so it was easy to pick them up.
My husband found a few heart shaped potatoes that he took home. He didn't want to use them at first but then he realized that they would be wasted, so we turned them into delicious air fried fries.
My cousin noticed that he was collecting the hearts and brought him this one to enlarge his collection. We all were focused on harvesting them as fast as possible, so that we could go home but my husband had other priorities on his mind (like collecting heart shaped potatoes)
The baskets were filling up quickly...
Once a basket was filled, it was emptied into this special large sack. At the end of the day, the guys would collect these sacks from different spots on the field and bring them to the wagon that was attached to the tractor.
Then they would sit on top of the sacks and my uncle would drive the tractor to my grandma's. The ladies would simply walk as sitting on that wagon is not the most comfortable thing to do. And honestly, it feels good to stretch your legs and back when you kneel all day.
Yes, this is how you look like when you drink too much alcohol the night before you're supposed to work on the field. My husband learned the hard way...
And once we got home, we could try them out! My mom baked them in the oven and served them with sauerkraut salad which is the traditional way of eating them. You can also eat them with cheese dip but as we don't eat cheese, we only enjoyed them with the salad. They were delicious!
My uncle gave us a large sack of potatoes to bring back to Switzerland. That was such a lovely gesture! We had potatoes for weeks!
I hope that the situation with Covid-19 will be over before summer and that we will be able to travel to Slovakia and help my family with the harvest again.
Thank you for visiting!
Cheers!
