No one seems to know the exact year it started, but Jim Eidem, Bob Rosenthal, David Pederson, and Dean Nielsen spearhead the project. The job starts with the purchase of 1,000 pounds of seed potatoes. The money for the seed potatoes is donated by the area food shelf and individual donations. The seed potatoes are usually cut by older volunteers in various homes. About one acre of potatoes are planted at the Dean and Layne Nielsen farm, southwest of Hendricks.
Volunteers cultivate and pull weeds during the growing season.
When the crop is ready to harvest, the potatoes are picked by people from the Hendricks community and local churches. The picking is usually on a Sunday afternoon, when the Minnesota Vikings aren't playing football, or after the Vikings game. The volunteers are from ages 5 to 85. One year they had a bumper crop and the yield was 14,000 pounds. Last year, because of the wet autumn, they were unable to harvest the crop.