Sweet Tater… Fresh Dug Up

This color, reserved for fall is like no other and I am drawn to it. The sweet potatoes come out of the ground bright orange and fade throughout the day, while sun bathing, to prismacolor terra cotta. As I was digging for the goods, I found one of my nephews man dolls. Strange to see a wrestler in in tight pants a foot beneath the earth.  How did he get there?  Is it a sign?

Today was the 1st real fall feeling day. The ground is now dotted with yellow walnut leaf. Not too many for us to mourn – just enough to enjoy laying in a hammock and watch them fall from great heights.  The taters will cure in the shade in temps of about 75-80 degrees for a few weeks at which point we will move them into the root cellar.

All shapes and sizes

You can start your own sweet potato slips in the late winter by allowing your taters to grow in a moist mixture of very loose soil or decomposing hay.   They will put out little roots which will grow into beautiful dark green vines. Keeping a dozen or so of them moist and warm in this manner
should give you enough to plant a 20′ x 4’bed w/ 1′ spacing.  In late spring, when the soil temps are up and it is a steady 65-70ish out, you twist off the vines and transplant them directly into your beds.

Sweet potatoes are a nutritional All-Star — one of the best vegetables you can eat in my opinion.  They are loaded with beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin B6 and vitamin C; fiber, thiamine, niacin, potassium and copper. They are also a good source of protein, calcium, vitamin E.

Eat ’em up!