This week and next week, people of all ages in Aroostook County are getting their hands dirty — the annual potato harvest has begun.
For generations, the harvest has been an all-hands-on-deck effort to dig up all the potatoes patiently grown by County farmers. Whether by hand or by mechanical means, it remains a major part of the County’s economic backbone — so much so that high school students in some districts each year are granted a few weeks off in order to help out.
We’ve gone through our archive and found some classic Bangor Daily News photos of the harvest throughout all its stages — picking, processing, bagging and then shipping them off.
Did you harvest potatoes as a kid? Leave your stories in the comments.
