I have an intimate relationship with the potato patch behind my usual bench on Han-Xi West Road. I watch the potatoes being planted, grown, and harvested. The potatoes are planted during the winter in these fields; the rest of the year, two crops of rice are grown.
Taiwanese potatoes are especially creamy with thin edible skins. They are great for making home fries, french fries, baked or mashed but my favorite dish is the boiled potatoes with ham steak for St. Patrick's Day (I have yet to find corned beef in Taichung) and with Taiwan carrots, cabbage, and beets in borscht. 
My favorite time of the year is harvest time, usually around the middle of March. At this time, I am always invited into the fields to pick my own potatoes, free of charge. Mind you, the mechanized potato picker has already combed through the crop and the hired hands have picked up the potatoes the machine missed and put them all into boxes. Some potatoes have been injured by the machine and are unsalable, however, with the dented part cropped and the potato washed, it tastes just as good. Be on your guard, however, for potatoes with green patches on them. That is some kind of birth defect that makes the potato poisonous and inedible. 
During potato harvest leftover, there is something that makes my mouth water and can be found in abundance. The Taiwanese don't care for the tiny potatoes and leave them all. I, on the other hand, know that the little spuds roasted in olive oil with a touch of salt and garlic is fantastic. If you live in Taichung or rural Taiwan in the countryside, there must surly be a potato patch somewhere in your neighborhood. I suggest you bring a bag with you and hang out around harvest time. The Taiwanese farmers are friendly and I'm sure you will be invited in to pick your own beauties. 
The action doesn't stop after all the potatoes are picked. The patches go through a period of redistribution of soil, a time that is perfect for pooling up rain water into ponds; a perfect drink for egrets on their spring rounds starting families and looking for grub for the youngsters in the nests. You can see flocks of egrets in the fields at that time looking for the worms that come up for air. It is a beautiful sight seeing them on the lookout, their long white, black or pinkish gray heads stabbing down to grab dinner. This period of time is short-lived however. Every farmer wants to be on time to convert their fields to rice paddies before the plum rain season starts.
The fields are flattened and cleaned so by April, the action picks up again. Rice planting tractors and farmers enter the flooded fields and plant rows of rice seedlings automatically. I always used to wonder how the farmers were able to plant such strait lines of rice sprouts until I realized they come prepared like that in sod. All the machine does is lay the lines down. Over the past few years, I noticed the fields behind my bench were being left fallow or planted late. I thought perhaps there was an illness in the family or, as sometimes happens, the farmers grow flowers to bring nutrition to the soil. This winter, the field remained untouched while all the surrounding fields were being planted with rice paddies. What the heck was going on!? Then, one day I got my disappointing answer.
As is the case all along the Han River, with flood lands that are owned by the Taiwan Sugar Company, once the old folk who rented on their land pass away, the houses are raised and only buildings grow. Ivy and Washington Academies are built on such land rented from the company. The Tze-Chi Hospital is, too; built on land owned by the government and rented long term, usually fifty years, for a very low price I hear. More and more, factories and aluminium warehouses are popping up on land beyond the dykes that used to be homesteads and fields of vegetables. It seems like my familiar potato patch is being leveled to make the foundation for a building; another piece of nature is slipping away. As sad as it seems, the lands around the Han River are built upon. There is the MRT light-rail train yard at Song-Tzu Road, soon there will be a Costco there, too, not to mention the Highway 74 extension planned. My little piece of nature near Beitun, what made the outskirts of Taichung so desirable to live and ride a bike in, is becoming another part of the city.www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.
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