I yam what I yam, as the saying goes.
But sometimes even in the world of sweet potatoes, there are unexpected surprises.
Take Cleta Spears, for example.
This past spring, Spears, of West Somerset, planted “two little sweet potatoes” in a wooden basket outside her home, less interested in their tuberous tastiness than their potential to grow a “pretty vine.” That’s all 83-year-old Spears wanted out of her efforts.
What happened next came as quite the surprise.
“I was shocked,” she said — several times over.
“They just shocked me.”
The “they” to which she referred was the bounty of sweet potatoes that had grown up over the months. “Half-a-bushel” in number, estimated Spear’s daughter Linda Fisher, and each healthy and heavy.
“She was making kraut last weekend and decided she’d look in (the basket) and see if her potato grew,” said Turner. “Her basket was completely full of sweet poatoes. She had to dump the basket over just to get the potatoes out because they were all wedged together.”
Added Turner, “She was tickled to death.”
The sweet potatoes fared better than the vine itself. “I cut the vine off to get rid of it because it was brown and dying,” said Spears.
Ironically, she’d already gone to the store to buy half a bushel of sweet potatoes. Now she has plenty for the upcoming holiday.
“She has a great harvest now for the Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole she always makes,” said Turner. “She said she has enough for Christmas too.”
Spears sounded more overwhelmed by her surplus of ingredients. “It’ll be too many (sweet potatoes) for just one dish.”
She hasn’t done anything with them yet; “They’re in the garage on the table.”
Well, they did do one thing with the sweet potatoes: They made them social media stars.
“(Turner) put a picture of them on Facebook,” said Spears. “It got over 164 likes and Facebook comments.”
All Spears had was “regular potting soil.” She said she didn’t use Miracle-Gro or anything to it.
Turner suggested she might have just got the timing right.
“(Spears) thinks she stuck those in the basket at the correct sign,” said Turner. “She accidentally got it at the right sign for it to go so well.”
Turner said that Spears has always been good when it comes to growing plants.
“She’s got a thumb-and-a-half for growing things,” said Turner. “One of my brothers said, ‘Ive got four acres and I can’t grow potatoes like that.’”
Added Turner, “She learned it from her mother.”
Indeed, Spears said, “All my life, from the time I (was a child), I remembered my mother always let me help her in her garden. I never had any trouble growing things.”
While the sweet potato harvest has been the toast of the family’s Facebook community, it might have been more appropriate on the app known as Vine. After all, that’s what the whole planting project was about for Spears.
“I just watched it grow, and thought it was really beautiful,” she said — “and then it shocked me.”
November 01, 2020 at 02:52AM
https://ift.tt/34JhVU5
Sweet! Potato bounty grows from Pulaski woman's vine planting - Commonwealth Journal's History
https://ift.tt/2rh4zOj
Potato
No comments:
Post a Comment