Our stay on a Potato Farm in Malin, Oregon

After we left the Reno, Nevada area, we drove through a little bit of California before arriving in southern Oregon.  We were spending the night at a potato farm.

 

  

We were met by the owner, Jan, who told us where to park for the night.  She also let us know that she would meet us the next morning and give us a tour of their potato processing facility.

 

The next morning Jan arrived and opened the back hatch of her car which had a display of some of the products that are made with her potatoes.

Some potatoes are shipped to South Korea to be made into potato snacks.

They also have a local brand of potato chips.

She offered us to take a bag or two of chips.

Then she started to explain the potato growing and processing of "chipping" potatoes which are potatoes grown to make potato chips.

Here are fields of potato plants. 

We were not there at the right time to see the harvesting of the potatoes from the field.  When the potatoes are picked, they are stored in these very large metal Quonset type buildings.

I went inside one of the building to see how the potatoes were stored.

On the left are galvanized steel tubes with holes to allow air circulation.  The tubes are laid horizontally among the potatoes stored in the shed.

The red machine on the right is used to load the potatoes on to a truck.

Once the truck is filled, it takes the potatoes to the processing plant nearby. 

  

The truck backs up to the processing plant and unloads the potatoes.

Look at the truck's name - Spudnik!

 

 

Potatoes entering the facility.

The potatoes get washed....

Then they travel on conveyor belts for more washing...

Then they get bumped around in this machine that has openings for various sizes to fall through.  The different recipients of the potatoes have strict guidelines for the potatoes they will accept and particular sizes is one of them.

The larger potatoes make the bumpy ride all the way to the right.

Now that they have been separated by size they travel on more conveyor belts.....

These ladies were picking out bad potatoes and potato shaped rocks that made their way into the processing plant.....

The work load doesn't appear to be split evenly between these two belts on the right.

There is a rock trying to sneak in.

In the middle of it all was the "brains" of the equipment.

 

There were conveyor belts with potatoes going every direction and at pretty high speeds.  It was fascinating to watch.

This bin had potatoes shooting out from the top right at high speed.

These potatoes were all washed and sized and ready for bagging.

 

The potatoes then take another conveyor belt ride over to the baggers. 

Bagged and ready to be loaded on to a truck to either Lays, a local potato chip making plant, shipped overseas, or possibly In-N-Out Burger!

 

These potatoes were being bagged for In-N-Out Burger restaurants in the Pacific Northwest. 

That is a LOT of potatoes!

 

Jan filled a small sack with some potatoes right off the line to give to us. 

After learning about chipping potatoes, it made us hungry for potatoes, well more like French fries!  We drove in to "downtown" Malin, Oregon.

 

 

We managed to find a place to park the truck and RV near this old gas station which is being converted in to a visitor center once they reach the fund raising goal.  Looks like they have a long way to go based on the sign.

 

 

This was pretty much all there was to downtown Malin! 

We ate at this diner as it looked to be the only restaurant open.

The diner and patrons had a real hometown feel.  The waitress came and sat at our table for a few minutes asking us where we were from, etc.  We got to talking to people at the table next to us and one of them donated items to the local museum as his family had long history in the area.  Real nice local folks!

It did get busier as the lunch crowd arrived.

We really enjoyed our visit to the Gold Dust and Walker potato farm.  Jan was such a gracious host.  It is one of the things we love to do while traveling around the country.  Learning new things and getting to see them with our own eyes.

Next we are headed to the Crater Lake area in Oregon.