Yam News from Greenbelt, MD

Doug Love has been growing sweet potatoes in his garden in Greenbelt, MD. since 1997. He finds that they weed the rest of the garden for him, and when he weighs his crop, he measures the few square feet they grew in, and converts the numbers to Tons per Hectare, to impress the Third World.

Sadly, the 1998 crops was largely lost due to leaving them out to freeze. For the next 2 years they were cured in our old oven. We get a new oven in 2001, but it is too hot to cure them. In 2002, along with the record-breaking crop, we grew a huge 8" long sweet potato that we named "Yam-I-Noor". In the picture, Foxy the Doberman is shown for size comparison.

Asteroidal or African Sweet Potatoes?

2003's sweet potatoes were dug just after a remarkable display of Leonid Meteors. Although these meteors are never known to have been large enough to hit earth and become meteorites, there is other specious evidence that the mighty "Yam Imam" could be extraterrestrial in origin.

It sort of looks like an asteroid. Although they were grown in black mulch, they are especially dark-skinned, which may indicate either a meteoritic fusion crust, or an African origin. As our references below indicate that common U. S. commercial sweet potatoes are clearly from North America, they are more likely Native Americans. Or meteorites. One contraindicator: the Yam Imam has roots.

I asked meteorite expert George Gliba to comment on whether any edible meteorites have yet been found:

Local Meteorite Collector and Meteor Observer, George Gliba notes:

"I would say a yam that looks like a meteorite would be more edible that a meteorite that looked like a yam. Unless, of course the meteorite was from a comet, like the parent comet of the Leonids, which would be high in organic material, but perhaps not as tasty as a yam. However, as a meteorite has never been found associated with a comet from a meteor shower, including the recent Leonid storm, nobody really knows for sure.

So, because there was a storm, and not just an ordinary meteor shower, just before the suspiscious metorite looking object was found in the yam patch, the truth will have to await further research. An oven bake followed by a taste test might have resolved the issue, unless the body of the parent comet has the same composition as the yam, in which case all bets are off".

GWG

The 2004-2005 crops were a total loss. No decent-size sweet potatoes grew, with all the rain we had. We buried a Right-wing pundit in the garden in 2006, and had a great crop. We gave most of them away, but again didn't cure them, so they didn't keep. The 2007 crop was so-so, and most wasted away in the pantry because we didn't cure them. The 2008 crop was poor, with only one decent-size sweet potato. Most were worm-eaten. But the ones we ate for Thanksgiving were good. The 2009 crop from 6 hills and 24 plants bought from Shumway's was pitiful; the largest was only a few inches long. At least I learned how to cure them.

Gladstone and Mrs. Passley helped with the 2007 crop

Yams or Sweet Potatoes?

Yes, I know they're not "yams". (See the references below for deep discussions of yams vs sweet potatoes.) But it's easier to make up names for Yams such as those above, rather than for Sweet Potatoes.

References:

North Carolina SweetPotato Council

Bright Harvest Sweet Potatoes

Illinois Extension Service (Thanks for the picture at top!)