Sweet Potatoes

Every year around the end of December, Russel sticks a sweet potato 

in a glass of water in our kitchen window.  As sprouts start to come off the potato 

we pull them off and put them in another glass to start growing roots.  

Then come April 15th we plant the sprouted potato vines into three stacked

up tires that are filled with dirt and manure.   

 Then just before the first frost, we dig (push over) our potatoes.  

We usually get quite a haul as we did this year.  But this year we also

grew one BIG DADDY potato.  The one I am holding is ONE potato

and it weighed 4 lbs all by itself.  Can't wait to slice this bad boy up and make

some tasty sweet potato fries (for 10 people with a potato this big)

 

Also this year is one more new addition.  Elizabeth and I had a first encounter with this 

little lizard when we were planting the potatoes in the spring.  I figured he 

would be gone by harvest time but said knowing my luck he would run across

my hand and scare me to death...lo and behold that WAS his plan.  But 

Russel convinced me that he wouldn't bite me so I picked him up to 

play with him....it was pretty chilly out side since we obviously dig potatoes in the

dark and he was pretty slow moving.  Cute little thing once I knew he wouldn't

bite me.  We put him back in our mound of dirt to bury in for the cold night.  

Then we hauled all our potatoes in for the fall.  

Happy potato eating!