Potato Harvest

 

Today i dug up 5 gallons of potatoes. I wonder how many pounds that is? One thing i know: It's heavy.

Now for the cleaning and sorting. After washing, i want them to dry out and for their skins to "heal." I know from past experience that sending them straight to the 55-degree basement will cause them to mold. So the potatoes need to dry out for a few days, yet not be exposed to the sun lest they get sunburn--their skins turn green. 

So i put each batch in a flat, cover it with a dish towel, and store it under the dining room table for a few days. We are not expecting company for dinner any time soon, so no one will know.

Digging potatoes is like searching for buried treasure. The Buddha's teachings are a treasure that will feed us for the rest of our lives.

Meanwhile, i have enough potatoes to last me several months.

Aloe for Sunburn

After a week on the beach in Aruba, i have a slight sunburn. Pinkish skin that doesn't turn tan overnight is re-exposed to more sunshine the following day. I need aloe, but i forgot to bring aloe gel from home.

Here I am on an island with an aloe factory, and it takes me a week to realize i can just break a leaf off of an aloe plant in the landscape and rub the pale green gel directly on my burned skin. Instant relief!

Aruba aloe is a bigger plant, and the leaves have more spines than our houseplant aloe, but the inner succulence is the same.

The Dharma teaches us some hard lessons. But if we continue past that spiny first noble truth that suffering exists, we come to the sweet inner truth that heals our constant, niggling dissatisfaction.

I'm applying more aloe to my sunburned skin.