24 Apr The Great Sweet Potato Harvest

After a summer of growing sweet potatoes, the fall harvest was much anticipated.

We started on a crisp Saturday morning around 9am. As we got to know each other, the excitement for the treasure hunt was emanating. This year we had volunteers from Jamie Kirk Hahn (JKH) foundation day of service, NCSU Agroecology, and the community to help with the bountiful harvest.

Bella Pepper, resident farm dog, keeping an eye on the winding vines during the summer while the sweet potatoes grew beneath the soil.

Here is a peak into our Great Sweet Potato Harvest:

We started off by cutting the vines back and rolling them up to expose the sweet potatoes that had been so patiently growing all summer long with no interruptions.

We had an assembly line going, and those that were not cutting were gathering the greens and moving them into our compost pile.

Then we used a broadfork to loosen up the soil around the sweet potatoes.

“One small step for man, one giant leap for sweet potatoes”

How rewarding it is to find a large cluster of sweet potatoes buried beneath the surface of the soil!

But sometimes, you will take time to dig for your sweet treasure, only to find that it is a rock. The excitement was still worth it.

We found friends along the way

Many hands make for light work

And in the end, we had an ample harvest

“Sweet potatoes for miles and miles”

Finally, we crowned our Sweet Potato Queen!

Written by Lubana Lanewala, Garden Apprentice