Aug 31, 2023

Set Sail for a Potato Farm with Chloe Burgett

By: Chloe Burgett

Ho thar, matey! It’s me, Chloe Burgett, the illustrator for Potatoes for Pirate Pearl, a wonderful new book written by Jennifer Concepcion that will teach you and your youngins all about POTATOES!

I’ve definitely seen potatoes before, but I’ve never been to a big farm like Farmer Fay has in the book. So to help me learn all about these magical little root vegetables and the farms that grow ‘em, Feeding Minds Press flew me to Utah to meet Tyson, a very knowledgeable farmer’s market grower with fields FULL of potatoes. (Plus, to help me get in the mindset of a seafaring pirate, I dressed up as Pirate Pearl herself! HA!)

Tyson has lived on his farm for many family generations (I saw his children and his parents working during my visit!). He has special equipment for cutting seed potatoes, planting seed potatoes, watering potatoes, and harvesting potatoes. Plus, tractors galore!

Tyson waters his potatoes using surface irrigation. His farm rests on a slow incline, with water pipes at the top of the hill. Water slowly runs down the farm to spread water to all the plants. On Farmer Fay’s farm in the book, Pirate Pearl mistakes her irrigation system as a rain storm! So I chose to draw a different type of irrigation: sprinklers!

While investigating the beautiful little potato plants themselves, I met a Colorado Potato Beetle (the enemy of potato growers!). To keep these pests away, farmers squish the eggs before they hatch, or use insecticides to kill off the bugs. I also met a ladybug, just like Pirate Pearl. And like Farmer Fay shares in the book, ladybugs help the farm by eating harmful leaf-eating aphids. Keep protecting plants, brave little ladybug!

Farmer Tyson grows Golden Potatoes, Red Potatoes, and lots of Russets. They strategically plant every 2 weeks so he can harvest throughout the late summer to sell at farmer’s markets. He plucked up a potato plant that was still growing so I could see the tiny tubers in their natural habitat. Being an artist about to draw hundreds of potatoes, this was my buried treasure!

After my flight home, I packed all of my new potato knowledge into the paintings for Potatoes for Pirate Pearl. But wait - even MORE research needed to be done… In my kitchen! The book includes not only a recipe for Pearl’s piratey hardtack, but Farmer Fay’s delicious potato soup. You’ll also find pages of potato fun facts, and a classroom friendly step by step guide on how to grow your own potatoes!

Potatoes for Pirate Pearl hits bookshelves September 19, 2023, on national Talk Like a Pirate Day! Yarrrr!

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