It’s really more fun than you might think. You rummage around in the dirt with your hands and come up with big beautiful potatoes. Leave the spade in the shed or you'll just wind up with hash.
Tattie lifting is great for getting in touch with one’s Scottish roots (Scottish tubers?). Being a
little bit Scottish myself, I once spent an autumn in the tiny village of Nethy Bridge in the Highlands, where kids got days off from school to 
participate in the potato harvest. As I recall, it looked 
like they were having a good time of it. (Here is where I wanted to insert a video of Ewan MacColl singing "The Tattie-Lifter's Song" but it seems no such video exists on YouTube. You can hear a little bit of the song here on Amazon... track 15... perhaps a little bit goes far enough).We had a g
ood time, too.Alekka and her friend Suzie were excited about digging up the buried treasure.
We had forgotten which plants were which, and potato plants all look pretty much the same above the ground. When all was done, the garden yielded a big box of lovely russets, red skinned potatoes, and yellow fingerlings.
In case you're wondering why anyone would bother growing potatoes when they can get a ten pound bag for two dollars at Safeway, you might feel differently after tasting the fresh ones. Homegrown potatoes actually do have a flavor - earthy - and an excellent texture.
Check out this fine example from our garden, just before it was scrubbed, baked, and served up steaming at the dinner table – great chieftain of the tattie race!
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