FORK & SHOVEL

Oh! Tommy Boy’s Organic Farm grows more than 50,000 pounds of 14 varieties of gourmet potatoes in the historic potato growing region near Valley Ford, California. Dry-farmed potatoes are the best-tasting potatoes you can find and cost more because the yields are at least half of irrigated potatoes. Dry farming uses the natural soil moisture to grow crops instead of irrigation. Deep loamy soils and careful soil preparation make it possible to grow potatoes in the coastal areas of Northern California. The farm was originally started in the 1850’s by Tom Kirkland Sr. who began dry-farm potato production around 1926. Tom was known affectionately as the “potato king” and grew up to 20 acres of potatoes each year. In 1976, Tom Kirkland Sr. retired and his grandson, also Tom Kirkland, took over the farm. Tom revived the tradition of dry-farmed potatoes and introduced Sonoma County to more than 20 varieties of gourmet potatoes. After Tom and Heidi Kirkland retired from farming in 2009, Nathan Boone from First Light Farm CSA stepped in to continue the dry-farming tradition to grow 14 varieties of gourmet potatoes.