The potato crop is in and it is a beaut. Some easy digging into the hills turned up delicious Yukon Golds, Red Bliss and Purple Peruvians. And if you are wondering why they are not pictured here, the answer is simple: The entire 7-pound harvest was eaten before I could remember to get the camera down from the shelf.

Now I'm sure that those of you who live on farms or grew up on them are laughing hysterically over somebody making a fuss over a 7-pound harvest. But given that this was my big attempt to grow the foods that my two Russia-born boys gravitate toward, I don’t think it's all that bad.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that my kids (and more than a few of yours judging by the response I've had) continue to favor fruits and vegetables common to Russia in their daily diet. That means things like beets, cucumbers and potatoes, potatoes, potatoes.

And so, even before reading Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"--which is a marvelously well-written look at what's wrong with America's food chain--I embarked on an effort to grow a Russian garden.

Mid-way through the growing season, I had a panic attack about the garden's progress, and some of my worries were well-founded. The beets have once again been a dud and, though I continue to battle the rabbits for control of the cucumbers, we should come out about even.

Truth be told, the potato harvest wasn't what I had hoped for. I really wanted to hit some nice round number like 10 pounds (the grow box promo said the testers had gotten 40 pounds of potatoes from one 3' by 3' box, which seemed well out of reach for me). But I broke even on my investment in seed potatoes and I learned a lot about doing a better job next season.

My kids could care less about my worrying. They devoured the whole harvest in a matter of days--and pronounced it absolutely delicious!