Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 4 POTATO GROWER 4 POTATO GROWER Old Potato Sack Finds A Home by Ted Kreis, NPPGA Marketing and Communications Director In September NPPGA received a letter from Wisconsin with a photo of a 100 pound burlap pota- to sack. Grace Jones explained in the letter that she had found the bag while cleaning out the base- ment of an old two-room school- house near Mifflin, Wisconsin. Mifflin is located in the extreme southwest corner of Wisconsin, not far from the Iowa and Illinois borders. Her family had bought the old schoolhouse many years ago and converted it into a home where they resided for over 50 years. Grace asked us in the letter if we had any use for it, because it was clearly marked as being from the Red River Valley. Grace enclosed a photo of the bag and when we saw the packing shed's name on the bag, we knew right away where the bag needed to go. "Big Daddy" was the brand, grown and packed by Wes Holtman Potato Company, East Grand Forks, Minnesota. We knew the late Wes Holtman was Greg Holtman's father, and Greg is still in the potato business sell- ing spuds for Associated Potato Growers in Grand Forks. I delivered the gunny sack in person to Greg at Associated's office. Greg’s face lit up as he reflected on happy memories of days gone by working with his dad on the family farm during the heyday of the chip potato business in the Red River Valley. Sadly, Greg said his dad passed away in 1981 leaving him to run the 2,400 acre seed potato operation when he was just 25 years old. The gunny sack also brought back memories of stacking those 100 pound sacks in a warehouses and boxcars, backbreaking work Greg said. Thankfully the burlap sack has given way to the 2,000 pound