In the unincorporated community of Deep Creek, located a short two miles from Fairchild Air Force Base, the Spokane Hutterite Brethren resides.
On April 21st, local Facebook pages, Reddit forums, Instagram feeds, and news stations were flooded with stories of the ‘potato hill’ off of Wood Road and West Sprague. The messages were shared and viewed countless times across Eastern Washington and drew thousands of people to pick and select their own spuds.
Photos of potato hill didn’t do it justice, the hill was easily over four feet high in the center and upwards of 10 to 20 feet across in areas. The sheer scope of the quantity of potatoes was staggering and it seemed like everyone wanted to be able to say they attended the great potato hill of 2024.
Deanette Fisette, a fellow neighbor who lives in the Deep Creek area stopped by to select potatoes for her family members and neighbors. “My friend texted me a picture and said “It’s just down the road. Are you going to go?!” I was working, but after I was off I saw that it was just down the road and it is so cool!”
Fisette was excited that the Hutterites shared their surplus of potatoes with the community, “Anytime that people give things away for the better good, it says a positive statement about where we live and the neighborhood.” She plans on making a family favorite recipe called Pasties, pronounced “pass-tee”, a traditional Michigan miners hand pie. She takes hamburger, carrots, onions, diced potatoes and salt and pepper and puts the mixture raw on half of a round pie crust. She then folds over half of the dough to make a type of calzone shape. Before baking in a pre-heated 350-degree oven, slice three slits in the top of the dough to allow steam to escape. Bake for about 45 minutes until done.
Local West Plains residents and the surrounding Spokane area were not the only communities to benefit from this charitable act.
Tarrah Stride drove about 100 miles one way from Ponderay, Idaho to select spuds to her liking from the potato hill. “I saw it on the news and social media and thought no I wasn’t going to drive down,” Stride explains about the decision to make the 200-mile round trip excursion. “I thought, “I’m going to go down and get just a few” but then I decided to grab enough for my family and a few friends. I think it’s really great that instead of all these potatoes going to waste, they are opening it up and giving it to the community in this economy. It’s a beautiful way to give back.”
Stride will be canning quite a few of the potatoes she takes back home and will use the small ones as seed potatoes in her garden, adding another generation of this generous act. Her favorite way to serve potatoes for meal time is to keep them simple; diced potatoes tossed in a little olive oil and seasoned with rosemary and baked until fork tender.
The wide-reaching impact this one act of free potatoes had on the region is staggering. On one morning at 8:30, there were already over forty cars lined up in an makeshift parking lot.
There was a sense of camaraderie as containers ranging from pickup beds, garbage bags, clothes baskets, five-gallon buckets and anything else that would contain spuds were filled to the brims. People were laughing and talking with phrases like “I didn’t think there would be this many” and “have you ever seen so many potatoes” were passed back and forth.
One gentleman who drove from Colville shared that he was gathering potatoes for the local food bank and for his son, whose family is food insecure.
According to reporting from Feeding America, for 2022 Stevens County had a 14.8% food insecurity rate with over 46,000 individuals being food insecure. Being able to provide potatoes and a filling carbohydrate to families helps stretch their state food assistance even further.
For community members that do not receive supplemental food assistance, being able to stock up on potatoes will help offset the rising cost of groceries. Potatoes are one of the unique vegetables that can be enjoyed in numerous ways for the three different meals of a day. With summer break from school nearing, families will have to provide additional food for children that would normally either one or two meals while attending school.
For the Hutterites, being able to share this produce is more than just offloading excess potatoes that are no longer needed due to inflation and buyers not being able to purchase the projected season harvest. The potatoes were primarily Russets with Yukon Golds and a few other varieties mixed in.
“We are very glad we could help people out and give them to the community.” One of the members from the Hutterite colony, Isaish, was helping to deliver and unload the full semi-trucks. “I’m shocked! I thought they would go bad, this is amazing!”
The Hutterites live a life with deep religious commitment, tracing their origins back to the 16th century Radical Reformation in Europe. The group was born from the teaching of Jakob Hutter, and at the time was called Anabaptist Christians, and embraced a communal lifestyle. They communicate in Hutterisch, a German dialect, and dress in simple and modest attire.
The Spokane Hutterite colony is just one of over 550 colonies that are located throughout the plains of North America; from as far north as northern Alberta, Canada to a colony near the South Dakota and Nebraska state border. There are over 50,000 Hutterite members in North America.
Today, Hutterites are known for their farming and business operations. The Spokane colony produces much of the region’s corn and potatoes each year and provides locally bred and raised Angus cattle among other farming ventures.
This simple act of giving that speaks to their belief of caring for one another both within their family colony and with the surrounding community. Please share recipes and pictures of the meals that have been prepared using the potatoes to our Facebook page at West Plains Stream.
