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www.potatogrower.com 17 - 4,6,8 Row conventional and 5,6,7,9,10 row bed Planters - Use the versatile 700 sack Crop Cart to fill Planters - Plant and cultivate in a single pass with the rear 3 point hitch attachment Planting Spudnik.com 149918Spudnik12h.indd 1 10/23/15 1:24 PM Today, potatoes only grow on about 60 acres of Tucker ground, but that grounds yields 14 varieties. The Tuckers were even granted the privilege of naming the Adirondack Red and Adirondack Blue cultivars because of their cooperative work with plant breeders at Cornell University in developing the varieties. With the diversification in product has come a diversification in Tucker Farms' customer base. While they still supply seed for commercial growers (many of whom are indeed looking for new and exciting varieties), the Tuckers now sell seed from their website to home and market gardeners across the United States in packages ranging in size from 24 ounces to 50 pounds. The Tuckers have also cultivated solid relationships with chefs at about a dozen high-end restaurants in the nearby resort town of Lake Placid, as well as with chef instructors in the culinary arts program at neighboring Paul Smith's College. "We've been working with [plant breeder] Walter De Jong at Cornell," says Steve. "When new varieties come out, we buy a small lot of them and test-market them with the restaurants and the college, and they tell us if they're satisfactory or not. "It helps a lot to meet the people who are actually cooking your product." Agritourism has also played a key role at Tucker Farms in recent years. They have you-pick strawberry and pumpkin patches, but the big draw is the Great Adirondack Corn Maze, which featured a Mr. Potato Head themed pattern for the 2015 season. The Tuckers see it as a chance to give folks a firsthand look at the merits of the ag- based lifestyle they enjoy. "People will drive two hours to go through the maze," says Tom. "This is actual involvement where families participate as a team to do something and work together, and there are very few things left in our society that provide that for families." IT'S ALL GOOD The weather man was right: It did snow that weekend in late October, further delaying the potato harvest at Tucker Farms. But all was eventually safely gathered in, and the Tucker family remains happy and thankful to be doing what they do. "It's a pretty enjoyable way of life," says Tom. "It's definitely a way of life, not just a job." PG STRONG WORK ETHIC Don Tucker instilled in his sons a love for the land and a willingness to work from dawn to dusk.