Grilled Red Potatoes with Lemon, Dill, and Feta {visit to Black Gold Farms}

I love how grilling brings out another level of flavor and texture to foods. And when you throw your potatoes on the barby…pure awesomeness is your result.

These Grilled Red Potatoes with Lemon, Dill, and Feta have been our go-to potatoes this summer. Sometimes I swap feta for creamy goat cheese, but either way, this easy dish is always quickly gobbled up. It’s pretty, fun, and so very delicious.

There is also something extra special about this particular meal of potatoes photographed for this post. If you follow me on Instagram, twitter, and/or facebook, you probably saw me sharing photos and info from my July trip to Black Gold Farms in Arbyrd, Missouri. When it was time for me to head back to Minnesota, they tucked a couple bags of freshly harvested potatoes, straight from their test plot, into my carry-on luggage. And when I got home, we charred them on the grill to enjoy this dish!

What’s a test plot, you ask?

Read on after this recipe, and I’ll tell you all about it!

After my plane landed in Memphis, I set foot in 3 states in less than 24 hours. From Tennessee, I rode with Leah, a Black Gold Farms family business member, across the Tennessee line to our hotel in Arkansas, and then on to their family farm in Missouri, which is operated by her brother John.

As we were driving, I kept looking for big bold Southern sights to pop out at me. But, truthfully, it looked just like where I came from, for a very long time. But then, further down the line, fields of cotton (top left photo), watermelons (bottom right photo), sorghum, rice, and sweet potatoes were pointed out to me. And stands of pecan trees. And further still, were barbecue joints with people feasting on grits and collard greens. Plus, I saw the largest cotton gin in Arkansas (bottom left photo).

“Brenda, we’re definitely not in Minnesota anymore!”

Black Gold Farms was in full swing when I arrived at their Arbryd, Missouri farm , harvesting both red potatoes and white chipper (as in, potato chips!) potatoes. I jumped at the chance to climb the steps of the John Deere tractor, and devoured my first-ever experience of harvesting red potatoes without a potato fork in the garden.

* top left photo: Lance (tractor operator), Leah (family business member & Marketing Specialist), myself, and Glen (National Director of Produce Sales)

The Arbyrd farm is one of 11 farms scattered throughout the country operated by Black Gold Farms. This enables them to have staggered harvest times throughout the year, producing a consistent supply of fresh potatoes for consumers.

A little family history: The roots of Black Gold Farms can be traced back to John’s and Leah’s (and their brother, Eric’s) great-grandfather in the fertile Red River Valley of North Dakota. Black Gold Farms is a multigeneration family owned operation. Since its inception in 1928, the Halverson family has grown their small North Dakota farm into a global company. While still firmly planted in the rich black soil of the Red River Valley, they are also wholly committed to the additional communities where Black Gold Farms employees live and work throughout the country. 

And these are the facts that initially drew me in when Black Gold Farms contacted me. Because I grew up in a farming family, on the southern fringe of the Red River Valley. And my husband grew up farming just to the west of Wahpeton, North Dakota (where I also lived for almost 10 years), where the Red River forms and runs north, past the Black Gold Farms original homestead, into Canada.

I just had a feeling we’d have plenty to talk about.

And my visit to their farm in Arbyrd proved more than I ever expected.

I am both honored and excited to be partnering with Black Gold Farms,
sharing the goodness of red potatoes at our family tables!

I’ll never look at a bag of potatoes the same way ever again!

It was so incredibly interesting to learn about the Black Gold Farms operation. I saw the whole process, from potatoes being harvested in the field, to being hauled away in a semi truck, all cleaned, sorted by size, and packaged according to each customer’s preference in a variety of bags, boxes, and bulk packaging.

Black Gold Farms is very proud of their practices. I was amazed by their numerous inspections and the huge amount of documentation and paperwork necessary to achieve their own personal goals of exceeding the required food safety standards.

I enjoyed spending time with John and Leah (far left photo), learning about each of their jobs with the family farm. It was also fun to see the family dynamics of these siblings at work…so full of respect for each other, but not without the uncontrollable urge to just be brother and sister.  :wink:

Remember those test plot potatoes I told you about? The ones I used in the recipe for Grilled Red Potatoes with Lemon, Dill, and Feta? Well, there they are in the 3 photos above. Black Gold Farms is constantly striving to provide the very best product with the very best practices. And that means they are always testing new potato varieties and procedures – which is no small undertaking, as trials take several years to complete. Guided by their own agronomist, Black Gold Farms harvested 34 new varieties of potatoes this summer. Cool, huh?!

And I can’t possibly end my trip recap without talking about potato chips!

Black Gold Farms is the largest supplier of chipper potatoes to Frito-Lay. And you just have to know that means ALOT of potatoes come out of Black Gold Farms! Over half a billion pounds annually, in fact. It was great fun to watch the maze of conveyers traveling the potatoes to the trucks at the end of the line, headed for Frito-Lay. It takes a meager 10 minutes to fill a semi trailer with 45,000 pounds of potatoes bound for crispy salted chips.

I’m so excited to share more about Black Gold Farms with you. For sure, there’ll be lots of great recipes using creamy and flavorful red potatoes. So stay tuned!

Are you on Instagram? I do believe it’s my favorite form of social media. I find that it’s a very easy, and a more instantaneous, way to keep up with people.

Confession: I never even took my big camera with me on my visit to Black Gold Farms! Having an iPhone with Instagram and other social media apps allowed me complete freedom in sharing my visit with all of you, in real time. I carried just one small slim device in my pocket…I love it!

In my book, snapshots are worth a zillion words.
And I’d love to have you follow along!
{find me on Instagram at “farmgirlsdabble”}

Disclosure: Black Gold Farms paid for my trip to visit their Arbyrd, MO farm. All photos and opinions are my own.