(Photo above: Ashanti and Sarahlee Lawerence, photo courtesy of High Desert Food and Farm Alliance)
This year represents Rainshadow Organics 4th Annual Great Potato Harvest. Rainshadow Organics is teaming up with Whole Foods, High Desert Food and Farm Alliance, and the Sisters Interdisciplinary Environmental Education Program. On Thursday, November 10 from 8am-8pm all community members are invited to come to the Whole Food’s Holiday Market, meet farmer Sarahlee Lawerence, and stock up on some outstanding spuds. Sarahlee Lawerence and the Rainshadow team will have their Purple Viking Potatoes available for purchase outside of Whole Foods! This is a bulk buying event with 50 pound boxes of potatoes for $50 (that’s $1 a pound). Feast locally this fall!
Additionally, Rainshadow has donated 20 tons of potatoes as a fundraiser for the Interdisciplinary Environmental Education (I.E.E) Program at Sisters High School. “If students sell all the potatoes, IEE could get upwards $20,000 for their program! Help them meet their goal! We have so many potatoes we are asking 800 families to swing into action and buy a 50-pound box of organic potatoes at a wholesale price of $50,” says Rainshadow Organics owner Lawrence.
The potatoes that will be for sale are heirloom, organic varieties. Viking Purple potatoes are a purple skin, white-fleshed potato that is particularly outstanding as a masher with incredible fluffiness. They hold together great in soups and stews. They roast, bake, and boil splendidly. Their skins hold their color and are full of nutrients.
Worried you won’t be able to go through 50 pounds of potatoes? Potatoes will keep in a cool, dry place for a few months. Or find a friend, neighbor, or colleague and share a box with them – what a way to build community.
