Potato fields are a separate topic in Kopar science. Firstly, potatoes are planted in sandy loam soils, which means that if the field was not flooded with fertilizers in the past, the finds in these fields will delight in their preservation. Secondly, this is flat, compacted soil after the field has been harvested, which means that you can dig the deepest and shallowest signals. Thirdly, in the fall, when farmers have already sown some fields, and others still have unplowed stubble, potato fields are ideal places for digging and exploring new places. And, fourthly, you can dig up more than just coins in a potato field, and I’ll tell you about this in more detail.
This was three years ago, then in the fall it was difficult to find good places to dig. And I had to travel around the area quite a bit during reconnaissance. And then I see that a tractor of a foreign brand is leaving the dirt road, well, one that is twice the size of our MTZ-82. And the trailer on this tractor has a load capacity five times greater. And in that trailer, at the very top with a slide, there are potatoes. “Mmm, it’s not easy.” I thought, and I turned onto that road, drove about five kilometers and came to a field. This field seemed promising to me, since it was located practically on the border of a very large and rather old village, the first mention was from the time of Ivan Kalita.
So, I went out with the device and walked across the field with a shovel, and in the field itself there was an unprecedented excitement. So to speak, an attraction of unprecedented generosity. Various cars, cars, Gazelles, walk-behind tractors with trailers, even gypsies with cart harnesses. There are at least twenty groups in total. And, all the potatoes are dug up after harvesting with combines. The fields in the area are leased from a local agricultural holding, and here every year, either potatoes or beets are planted. And as a harvester, it turns out that the combines skip a little in harvesting. The combine operator can skip a whole row along the entire length of the field and level it with a wheel. And, if you find such a pressed row, then dig as many potatoes as you are greedy enough. Locals call such trampled rows veins by analogy with a gold mine. People are digging, the tenants “potato owners” are not at all against it. For them, this is a natural, predictable loss.
I walk across the field with a metal detector and realize that this is not what I’m doing right now. On the one hand, I still have some extra potatoes left over every year. From the arc side, the sweet smell of freebies hung in the air. I see that someone has turned this matter into a business. People arrived in a gazelle with their cultivator, found a vein and started collecting it. These people quickly picked up three dozen bags, loaded them and went, possibly to sell.
However, I'm holding on. There is a clear understanding in my head that I have an abundance of my own potatoes in the cellar. But then a Gelendvagen jeep arrived on the field. To be honest, I was just as surprised, but why would they??? And there is a picture with a plot worthy of the best comedy series. Three people got out of the jeep, a stocky brother in a tracksuit, a lean man in a rustic style of clothing, and a grandmother. A typical Russian grandmother, wearing a jacket three sizes too big, a colorful scarf and galoshes over a sportier tights. Without further ado, it became clear that the initiator of this trip for free potatoes was the grandmother. Then her husband and son, with great dissatisfaction and undisguised irritation, began digging up free potatoes.
I walk and hold on. I definitely don't need these potatoes. However, greed and love for freebies, realized since my student years, slowly took precedence over reason, logic and rationalism. Well, here it is, these very potatoes, right under your feet and so large, fresh, free. Okay, I succumbed to the persuasion of my own greed. But, within reason. There is always a bucket in the trunk of the car. What if mushrooms suddenly start appearing in the forest or in the plantings, then I immediately move out and collect them. So a bucket in the trunk is like a jack or a wheel wrench.
I filled a bucket. And here, like with that first glass, one is never enough. But I don't have anywhere to put it. There are no bags, it’s somehow not advisable to empty it into the trunk. And then a grandfather is coming towards me on a walk-behind tractor, and in a trailer is a grandmother with five bags of potatoes. They stopped next to me, looking for a new vein. I am a sociable and outgoing person and asked them if they had a couple of extra bags, I could buy them for the price of the store. The child reluctantly rummaged through the sack of sacks and pulled out the three most worn sacks, handing them to me with the air of a benefactor. “Keep it this way, you don’t need money.” And what? I’m not proud, it’s okay, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I picked three bags of potatoes and came home looking like the same primitive hunter who killed a mammoth today.
People say different things about the quality of these potatoes. Rumor has it that there are so many pesticides, phosphates and growth hormones there that the potatoes in the underground glow and talk at night. But, and I answer that when you drink you need to have a snack, preferably potatoes, since they bind fusel oils well. However, over time, I began to grow more of my own potatoes in my own garden, but I invariably dig seeds every year in potato fields like these. My yield is twice as high as that of my neighbors because, according to rural habit, the seeds are renewed once every ten years.
So, what were the finds there? The alert reader will ask. And I will answer that based on the finds in that field, everything is very remarkable, since a village once stood on that potato field. Settlements from that same large village. That village was resettled in the 60s under the program of liquidation of unpromising villages. So, there are very, very many finds there. And I will talk about this part in a separate note. Stay tuned for new articles on our blog, but according to established tradition, I wish everyone good luck and great finds in the mine.
