Sweet Potatoes in Our Paradise Gardens
Here I am jubilantly holding up one of the sweet potatoes we harvested from our median in midtown KCMO. We decided to take a different tack this summer with that useless strip of land between the street and the sidewalk, the area that just sits there needing to be mowed week after week. My husband and I planted the whole thing with sweet potatoes, which is one of our favorite vegetables — decorative, delicious, and highly nutritious. We divided it into three sections using two pathways of stones, so people getting out of cars had somewhere to walk besides tromping on our crop.
Normally, we can expect to find doggy doo and trash on our median several times a week. There was none of the former and little of the latter throughout the summer. People seemed to recognize that something special was going on and out of respect kept their dogs on a tight leash as they passed by. If I was outside, they’d ask, “What is THAT?” “Sweet potatoes,” I’d say. “Cool,” they’d say, or “Way to go!” Sweet potatoes are super easy to grow, and the twining leaf is pleasant to look at.
We got well over a bushel of sweet potatoes out of our plot. As a friend and I were digging them out this fall, we became the neighborhood attraction. Kids wanted to help out (and did). People walking on the sidewalk stopped to admire and chuckle. One guy drove around the block and returned with his cell phone camera. “Did you get those out of the ground?” he asked incredulously. Then he asked if I minded standing next to the bushel of sweet potatoes so he could take a picture and put it on his Facebook page.
We also grew sweet potatoes at the Rainbow Mennonite Church Community Garden, which we helped to start, and as a result we ended up with over two bushels in our basement. What did we do with all of them? We gave some away. We made pies. As always, we enjoy them just baked and with a little butter.
This year, we’ve discovered a fabulous recipe for black bean-sweet potato burritos that has become a favorite. Just heat some onion, 3 cups of diced sweet potatoes, and spices until tender, then mix in a can of black beans, roll into 8 flour tortillas with some shredded cheese, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes!
Diane Eickhoff
Food Not Lawns KC Participant