July 6, 2017
I have this dream of getting off the grid and growing all my own food, even hunting if need be, but more than likely I will be a 100% vegetarian. A few years passed and I learned the hard lesson that sometimes you cannot grow your own food, mother nature just will not cooperate!
This year we are blessed with rain, sometimes to much, but with the mild Winter that central Alabama had was not good because the pests are out early and attacking everything in its path. I lost a couple fruit trees and a few crops, zucchini, yellow squash and half of the tomato plants.
With no peaches I began to call the peach farmers around Alabama only to find out they were also hit hard and had few peaches and they have a hefty price on them!
Next I drove 45 minutes away to the Alabama farmers market to see what they had that I could use to stockpile.
The only food I seen that I could actually stock up on at a good price was sweet potatoes, so I bought a 20 pound box for $10. When I got home I took them all out of the box to make sure none was beginning to rot and all of them were perfect and I counted 51 sweet potatoes and that averages out to .19 for each potato.
I worked in the evenings on canning and freezing the sweet potatoes. And as always I baked a couple for dinner after smelling the sweet potatoes cooking, I could not resist.
The first night - July fourth, I home canned 7 pints and made two quarts of mashed sweet potatoes for pies.
Night Two - July fifth, I home canned 7 more pints and I baked 12 sweet potatoes and froze those.
So all together I got 14 pint jars of sweet potatoes in light syrup, 2 quarts freezer bags of mashed sweet potatoes for that fast pie and 12 baked sweet potatoes for a quick out of the freezer dinner when needed. Over the several days I had the box in the house we had 3 baked sweet potatoes one night for dinner and 2 deserts made with them.
For a total of 33 meals with sweet potatoes. And that averages out to around .30 per cooked sweet potato serving. Not to bad in my book.
Do you love`em or hate`em? Sweet potatoes that is.
Note : Yes I know syrup is misspelled :)
Note : Yes I know syrup is misspelled :)
By Andria Perry
Photos by Andria Perry
Mother Nature plays a very important roll, we never know what she will give us and how other creature will react. I hope your crop this year will be plenty. Many Blessing to you, the flowers and the trees.
ReplyDeleteThanks Brenda.
DeleteWow! You are always productive Angie. I have never heard of canned sweet potatoes. I love eating sweet potatoes and I didn´t know that you can plant that there. I hope you will be successful with your gardening and more. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I am stocking for the upcoming winter.
DeleteNo peaches in ALA! yikes. No not much of a sweet tater except for holiday meals :)
ReplyDeleteThere are but to expensive!
DeleteWe'll have to see what the next month does, but we could very well have bumper crops, God willing. We had an abnormally harsh winter and it has been quite hot recently...over 100 degrees for the last 5 days and tomorrow could push 110, with lows in the mid 60's. High humidity, too (for here, anyway; humidity is topping 60%. Usually, when it gets hot here, the humidity drops to about 15%.) There are heat advisories up and it is uncomfortable, putting it mildly, but the tomatoes, zukes, peppers, and our other crops are loving it. Our zukes are now blooming and the onion blossoms are drawing in wild honey bees and bumble bees, so the crop should be great. Area apples, cherries, apricots, choke cherries, plums, strawberries, and blueberries are packed. The only problem with the fruit trees is that everything is going to get ripe all at once, so anyone canning is going to need to go at a fervent pace.
ReplyDeleteI am proud that you and your area are getting a good food crop this year. I may have to buy but that just supports my neighbors when I do.
DeleteI haven't had a garden in many years - just don't have the time. My father always had the most amazing garden. He grew Aspagus, Tomatoes and squash. I happily consumed everything but the squash!
ReplyDeleteMy dad did too and not a weed in it!
DeleteI love sweet potatoes. I love them in any form.
ReplyDeleteMe too and I have to limit myself because of diabetes. But there are times I need to fix dinner for Tony and I do not want any, this is an awesome quickie.
DeleteThat's a great price and lots of meals for all the sweet potatoes! I love them but at the store they usually cost 99 cents a piece! I'd be interested in how you prepare them for the freezer!
ReplyDeleteI plan to write how I did it all in just a few days :)
Deletegood for you for getting so much put up!
ReplyDeleteWhen I figured how much food is needed for a year it was a lot, so think one vegetable per day per family member, for one that would be 365!
DeleteLove sweet potatoes. Even add them to boiled dinner and clam boils. They are so good for you!
ReplyDeleteWhen they come back in around November I wont pay their high prices because I already have mine!
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