A Year in the Life of a Sweet Potato
Why did Honey’s Harvest Farm grow three varieties and over 4,000 pounds of sweet potatoes in 2024?
Sweet potatoes are one of our biggest crops here at Honey’s Harvest Farm, and our customers love them as much as we do! Not only are they delicious and versatile, they are also packed with nutrients, even more so because they are grown regeneratively in living soil.
Here are just a few examples of nutrition and health benefits from the varieties that Honey’s grows:
Beauregard Sweet Potatoes (brownish skins and orange flesh):
High in beta carotene, a plant-based compound that converts into vitamin A in the body; vitamin A is important for a strong immune system
Known to relax the muscles, steady the nerves, and balance cognitive function
Japanese (Murasaki) Sweet Potatoes (dark pink skins and cream colored flesh):
Full of fiber
High in vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorous
Promotes heart health by supporting supple and strong arteries
Stokes Purple (Okinawa) Sweet Potatoes (Purple skins and purple flesh):
3 times higher in anthocyanins than blueberries (anthocyanin is an antioxidant that reduces inflammation)
High in copper and iron
Contains chlorogenic acid, which lowers high blood pressure and prevents blood clots
Popular in the blue zones of the world
Freshly harvested Japanese sweet potatoes. Living soil produces, on average, 10 times the volume per plant of potatoes grown conventionally.
First, we must remember to save some of the best sweet potatoes from which to “grow the new plants for next year’s crop”. Last year’s tubers are planted in living soil in the greenhouse in late February and each potato can grow dozens of sprouts, which become the “slips” or sweet potato starter plants. Our sweet potato slips are gently peeled off of the mother tuber and are planted one by one in May after the last frost, directly into raised rows of living soil. Keeping deer, pests, and weeds away from the tasty little slips is the main focus of the next five months! Once they take hold, these little plants grow rapidly over the next few months, vines spreading everywhere! In October or November, right around the first frost, the underground jewels are harvested. Once harvested, the sweet potatoes spend up to one month in our curing hoop-house with warm temperatures and high humidity–a process that increases their sweetness and shelf life. After they cure for two weeks to one month, they are ready to enjoy!