Guest Post by Cassiodorus

This fall, I harvested potatoes from a potato bag for the first time.  Let me briefly describe my experience – including some pictures – and draw a few broader thoughts about the motivations (and challenges) of our Green Wizards efforts.

I had previously grown potatoes in raised beds, but I was intrigued by reports of growing large amounts of potatoes in a small space by vertical towers.  So, as a garden experiment, I purchased a potato grow bag, which applies the same principle on a smaller scale.  Part of my goal was to obtain potatoes, but I also wanted to use the potting soil in the bag to improve the surrounding soil.  My plan was to grow the potatoes in the potting soil, harvest them, and then spread the soil on the ground to improve the native clay soil for a nearby honeysuckle berry plant.

Did it work?  On one level, yes.  From about five seed potatoes, my potato bag produced almost five pounds of potatoes.  Some potatoes were given to relatives; others were turned into a hearty dish that also used tomatoes from my garden. And the potting soil was adding to the ground, covered with cardboard, and then mulched, improving the grow bed for the future.

As I thought more about my experiment, however, I began to question my economics. The same kind of Yukon gold potatoes are available at my local grocery store for $1.99 for three pounds – or about $0.66 a pound. My seed potatoes cost $1.99 a pound. I turned about five of them (of unrecorded weight, unfortunately) into five pounds. Let’s estimate that my initial seed potatoes were one pound, so my resulting five pounds of yield had effectively turned $1.99 into what would have cost $3.30 in the store. By my efforts, I had saved $1.31.

That does not account for any value of my labor. Or the $14.95 I paid for the potato bag. Or the approximately $18 that I paid for the two bags of potting soil. For the two pounds or so of potatoes in my chowder, I had paid more than $16 a pound – more than double the price of a pound of the nominally more costly shrimp in my dinner. How had I somehow managed to turn ordinary potatoes into an expensive luxury good? Had my Green Wizard spells gone badly awry, that I was now transmuting (Yukon) gold into lead?

Of course, some of this unsightly math is my own fault, or at least my own choice. I could have used free or low-cost materials instead of a purchased bag. I could have used my own (limited) compost or native (clay) soil instead of importing high-quality materials. Yet I still have the potato bag for re-use. And I did accomplish my goal of improving my garden soil. But still, I have to admit: My potato production didn’t make much sense in terms of traditional economics.

And there’s the key: We aren’t talking about traditional economics here. To the extent that my potato growing was an investment, it was in view of a possible future where abundant spuds are not available from an industrial grocer for 66 cents a pound. It’s a preparation for the Long Descent where potatoes might well become a luxury good for some, and where the ability to grow your own potatoes is not an anachronistic affectation but a valuable survival skill.

Unfortunately, even in those terms, my potato bag still symbolizes some serious challenges. According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture estimate, the per-capita American potato consumption is 128 pounds a year. That’s more than 25 times what my potato bag produced. And my beloved wife eats potatoes, too, so for our total household spud requirements, multiply the output of my one potato bag by at least 50.

That’s a significant challenge. I might be able to build a large potato tower (or two, or three) in hopes of getting much higher yields. Perhaps even better, I could diversify with perennial potato substitutes — such as ground nut, Jerusalem artichoke, mashua, oca, yacon, and camas — so that my tubers could reproduce themselves behind my back. But all of this, of course, requires even more planning, cost, and effort (as well as some dietary expansion….).

If my one experimental potato bag had unfavorable economics on the inputs and relatively minor impact from the outputs, why would I bother with even bigger potato projects? For those firmly convinced of the Long Descent, the answer is obvious: Because you like to eat. Yet, for those who still hope that Homo sapiens may yet (somehow, some way) outsmart the approaching ecological limits, the answer is more complicated.

I recall the Archdruid once advised a reader that you could make Doom your hobby. That’s level-headed advice, and it’s a sensible way to approach what might otherwise be an emotionally overwhelming future. I gained some personal satisfaction from my crop, and I would much rather fuss around with my potato bag than, say, take up golf. On the other hand, as my potato bag suggests, hobby-level efforts at production may have to increase significantly to meet one’s personal needs. And that won’t always make economic sense, at least at this time.

Perhaps the real answer is philosophical, or even spiritual. Eighteen square feet of my backyard ecosystem was built up and improved. I did that, with surplus income. It left a better future for our yard and our house. And as a bonus, I even received a few potatoes. That doesn't change the economic calculation of my potato bag. But perhaps it can help explain it.

Cassiodorus is the pen name of a Green Wizard dedicated to cultural conservation.