Sudden Oak Death has been an issue recently here in Northern California, destroying trees in our beautiful woodlands. Apparently, it's caused by Phytophthora ramorum, and it's related to the cause of the Irish potato blight, Phytophthora infestans. It kills our beautiful oak trees amazingly fast. It makes me reluctant to use oak firewood, because I might be contributing to the spread of this disease.

I have read that Irish potatoes before the blight, were particularly nutritious, close to being a "perfect food" - far more nutritious that the potatoes we have nowadays. Is that just hogwash, or is there truth to that? Are there potatoes nowadays that are closer to "perfect nutrition"?

-Joe-