We Done Dug It!

Starting closest to the road

We hit pay dirt almost immediately!

Moving right along.

The weather was hot but not broiling, making it a perfect day for a great team to do a tough task. Sue and Bill Kleppinger, Josh Marlan, Pete & Mary Alice Steurer, Randi Goodnight, Dani Waters, Irma Allison and Sharon Willen were a coordinated and effective team. Some identified the row hills, zeroed in on tubers, cut vines and harvested, while others ran the produce back to the sorting area and the trash to the brush and bags for disposal.

Finding

Exposing

Harvesting

Whew!

By the time we got almost to the top of the sweet potato garden, we had smiles on our faces. Nothing left to do but sort and divide a healthy harvest.

Almost Done!

What a Haul!

Select this link to see how

 Dazzling Cooperation Makes Easy Work

We pulled 157 pounds of sweet potatoes. Not up to last year's 250 pounds, but much more than we anticipated. You can re-read the last post on how to cure and store. We're told the vole damaged spots on the potatoes will heal and they can be stored, cooked, and eaten. If you choose, you may cut away some areas close to damaged spots, but only just before using the potatoes. Right now, the less handling, the better.

I believe MaryAlice is delivering a box to Al & Joyce, Irma took Ashley and John's, and the boxes for Terri & Doug, Irv and Su, and JoAnne & Burt are on the Willen's front porch. Enjoy! See you on the 27th at the Jordans' for a 5 PM Harvest Potluck.

Harvesting and Curing Sweet Potatoes

It's TimeTo Dig for Gold!

Content from  The National Gardening Association Editors

When to Harvest Sweet Potatoes?

Gardeners in North Carolina, the biggest sweet potato-producing state, time their plantings so the roots will mature by late September and early October. This gives them time to harvest before the first frost, so the potatoes are in storage as the weather turns cool.

Frost and cold weather can hurt sweet potatoes at harvesttime even though you might think they're insulated underground. When frost kills and blackens the vines aboveground, decay can start in on the dead vines and pass down to the roots. If your sweet potato plants suffer a frost one night, cut the vines off right above the soil first thing the next morning. This may let you leave the potatoes in the ground for a few more days without injury.

Try to dig the sweet potatoes on a dry, overcast day. Leaving them in direct sun for long can open pathways of infection that will damage the crop in storage. Dig gently around the hills, starting from a few feet away, so as not to slash any wandering roots with your shovel or fork.

Let the potatoes dry on the ground for a couple of hours. If you dig late in the day, don't leave the roots out overnight; you risk damage from cold weather and moisture. Don't wash the potatoes after the harvest, either. Sort any badly cut or bruised potatoes to eat first (they won't keep) and sort the rest according to size in boxes or baskets to cure before storage.

Let Them Cure

Curing can be done in 10 to 14 days by keeping sweet potatoes in a warm, dark place with some ventilation. The temperature should be 80 deg to 85 deg F with high humidity. Under these conditions, bruises and wounds will heal quickly, sealing out rot organisms.

After curing, put the containers of sweet potatoes in a dry, well-ventilated area at 55 deg to 60 deg F with a relative humidity of 75 percent to 80 percent. Under ideal conditions, you can keep a mature crop until the next early harvest. If you can't store your sweet potatoes under these conditions, you may want to cook and freeze your harvest.

Sweet potatoes bruise easily and can suffer quickly when handled in storage. It's best not to pick through them too often.

A Bountiful Year

How did our garden grow in 2015?

We picked zucchini and yellow crook neck till we ran out of recipes. Likewise, we could hardly keep up with the pole beans, in spite of the usual cast of insect predators. We boiled, pickled, roasted, and froze beets, then planted a second crop.

Never tasted cucumbers as good as those we grew this year - thin skinned, sweet, and crunchy. Yum! The bell peppers seemed to have come to us with an ingrown disease, but with the able care of the Harris family, we were able to harvest some. The jalapeño and banana peppers took in the sun and produced the heat.

The okra also did well and we learned how to make spicy fried okra poppers. Double yum!

We're still waiting with fingers crossed for the sweet potato harvest (late September, early October, just before first frost). Hoping the deer, rabbits, moles and all other varmints stay the heck away from our tasty tubers.

And did I mention flowers? Flowers graced our sign (thanks to Su Snyder). But the ones that attracted most attention were those in the gardens closest to the road (Su's and Ashley's) as well as Catherine's sunflowers in a spritely line at the back of the garden.

Last but certainly not least, tomatoes! Having decided not to risk the variables of weather to grow tomatoes as a community crop, each of our gardeners individually couldn't resist the urge. We wound up with tomatoes here, there, and everywhere. A carload and a half - what a year for 'maters!!!

Once again the High Vista Community Garden fed 22 families and donated about 200 pounds of produce to local food banks. Except for the sweet potato harvest, we're pretty much down to dreaming of next year - except for a gleaning and cleaning.

2015 - A bountiful year leaves us filled with gratitude.

Sunshine+Frequent Rains+TLC=A Bountiful Harvest

From our humble beginnings, our  gardens have grown and grown into quite an impressive farm. In addition to picking produce for our own use, thanks to Mary Alice, Irma, Sharon and others several donations have been delivered to local food banks, totaling well over 150 pounds. Here is today's harvest - another food bank run is on the horizon, so if you're a gardener and want cucumbers, radishes, zucchini or crook neck squash - you don't have to go down to pick, just come up to the Willen's Front Porch Market.

ready for the food bank

July 21 - Sharon picked 'em - for you

the radishes jumped out - come up you want some

I'm cooking these beans right now

Our tomatoes, but I picked the cukes for you!

Zucchini (not too large) for whoever wants them

Fully Committed - June 3, 2015

Thanks to the amazing folks who worked on their hands and knees for some hours over the weekend removing weeds, rock, and clods of grass from the waiting sweet potato hills, today's planting of the slips was a breeze.

Karen & MA with the sweet potato slips

We had so many early volunteers that the work was finished by the time the latecomers arrived, and they weren't really that late (no one was docked). Everyone helped give the new plants a dose of water from the barrel, though the good soaking from yesterday's storm made my boots go schlurp, schlurp with every muddy step.

All our community crops and individual gardens look to be planted - now it's a matter of keeping ahead of the weeds and the bugs. We stand ready to water, but we're counting on the blessing of ample rain and abundant sunshine - all in the right proportions at just the right time in the season.

June 2, 2015

June 2, 2015

Blessings for Our Garden

Every single time it happens, I'm amazed when a seed pushes through the dirt, drinks in drops of water, reaches for the sun, and emerges as a stem, pre-leaves, then leaves, vines, flowers, and glory. I once heard this wise question, "If you came upon a watch laying in the road and it was keeping perfect time, tick tock, tick tock, would you for one second doubt the existence of a watchmaker? Who is the maker behind the bounty of our natural world? Aah, that's the mystery of life, beyond our knowing. But not beyond our appreciation.



Without naming the source of love and wisdom that is providing us the resources and strength and camaraderie to build our garden, we offered our thanks this past Saturday morning. Susan Marlan's inspirational words helped us connect with the spirit of new beginnings as we planted our garden sign and moved forward.

Thanks to Doug Harris for crafting the sign, Su Snyder for painting it, and Jim Goodnight with a little help from Mike Willen for erecting it so people zipping by on Rte. 191 will now know whose little farm is growing. A special thanks to NC Mountain Realty for allowing us to grow in their front yard.

Our Little Acre - well, almost

I don't know anyone that has participated in our High Vista Community Garden to date who isn't having a good time. It is so pleasant to chat while bumping shoulders at ground level. The warm sun, the birds singing. IMHO, the only thing that could be better is if the traffic would halt on Rte. 191 while we're down in the garden, but then all those passers-by wouldn't be benefitting from the lesson of what can be done through a bit of teamwork.

Here are pictures from Sue Kleppinger (of early work on the garden, May 6) and some from Sharon Willen of major planting taking place on May 16. All our community crops are now in the ground except for the sweet potatoes. Karen Donde has agreed to lead that team once we get the call from Jesse Israel Nursery that the slips are in. We hope to bring home 150. Be prepared for another fun day playing in the dirt!

Preparing Sweet Potato Rows

Long shot of the naked garden 

Jerry, Josh, Doug, Mike & Cathy arrive for work

Al points the way

A two-fisted waterer

Bill gets a kick out of being in the dirt

Joyce waters in her garden

Sue and Bill working on community peppers

Mary Alice, Judy, Cathy

Not a shirker in the group

Sue Marlan inspects her work

Peter inspects Mary Alice's work

Terri is queen of the bell (peppers)