I Yam What I Yam

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There's a gentleman and his family that we go to church with and they pickle quail eggs in pint-sized jars.  Growing up, when you'd go into a local convenience store, these were always placed predominantly by the checkout counter - jars of beautiful little quail eggs swimming in a highly seasoned brine.  Oftentimes there was a gallon sized jar next to it with pickled pigs feet!  The pigs feet were not very appetizing to me, no sir.  Not at all.

Back to the pickled quail eggs...  So the gentleman from our church asked me if I might have some extra jalapeno peppers that I could sell him to season some of his quail eggs EXTRA HOT.  I have two varieties - one variety is hot, while the other is milder but large.  Those are great for stuffing with cream cheese and chorizo when we make poppers.  Anyway, I told him that I didn't have any to sell him, but I had a lot to give him.  He lives right down the road and when Tricia was in the hospital, he came by and fed the animals.

So Sunday after church I walked out and picked a produce bag full of peppers for him.  The walkway between the peppers had been overgrown with sweet potato vines that I had recently clipped and thrown over the fence for the cows to eat.  There is nothing they like as much as sweet potato vines!  While I was picking jalapenos, I saw a nice-sized sweet potato in the walkway.  I left it there for a few days until Tricia pointed it out and I pulled it. 

Isn't she a beaut!  That is about as perfect of a Beauregard Sweet Potato as I've ever picked from the garden - growing right in the walkway!  Our sweet potatoes never have to be planted.  They come up on their own each year (like weeds do).  One time probably 10 years ago, we composted some scraps and a sweet potato grew and each year since then, we can count on sweet potato slips popping up out of the ground in the early spring.

I have planted another heirloom sweet potato cultivar called "Golden Wonder" a couple of years ago and now those come up volunteer as well.  Usually in October when the first signs of fall appear, we'll dig up the sweet potatoes and cure them in onion sacks hanging from our garage.  If the vines are any indication of a successful crop, we are going to have a bumper crop of sweet potatoes like we've never seen.  I'm telling you the vines are thick and lush and beautiful.  I've caught the cows coveting the sweet potato vines.  I think I actually saw them marking off the days on a calendar until October as they know they will get a gargantuan amount of sweet potato vines to eat.  We always joke that the next day, the milk will be extra sweet from the sweet potatoes.  We'll be sure to post about the sweet 2017 potato harvest.