Monday, August 17, 2020

Sweet Potato Snacks

The Sweet Potato saga continues. If you have followed the sweet potato story through this email, here is a brief review and the latest chapter. We started the Sweet potatoes grown in grow bags as an experiment. I wanted to know how they would perform, and the kids wanted to be involved, so we dove in. Soon after planting, we realized they were a little to close to the corn, and hence shaded as the corn got taller. One lesson learned. Also, it seemed the soil that we put in the bags left a little to be desired. When the corn was harvested that gave them plenty of light. I added some compost and a proper fertilizer, which caused the little sweet tater vines to really take off. We realized that the bags dry out pretty fast, which is a bad combination with hand watering. So I added a drip irrigation line over the top of the bags. Finally, it seems like we have everything going our way. I thought we have fertility, water, light, and thriving plants, If we have enough of the summer season left for the plants to produce potatoes we should be good. Although I did know that we probably have very little room for any more "issues". Well, we have issues. Specifically a couple of 4-legged ones. Two days ago I noticed the tops nipped off of the top of a few plants. Yesterday I noticed the tops completely eaten out of all the plants. Last night I saw the doe (in the picture below) and her fawn coming from the field where the potatoes are. Grrrrr. The picture was taken under the muscadine vines, which she also probably plans to consume. I think the sweet potato plants will pull out fine, but I'm not sure they will be strong enough to get a lot of potatoes. I also have to spend some time today creating a deer deterrent. 🤔 I don't plan to give up till the first frost.

Life Lesson: Not all projects in life work out just the way you wanted. Don't quit at the first stumbling block. Fight for the outcome you want. Do all you can do. The reality is: With hard work and creativity many efforts will be successful, but some will still fail despite your best effort. If you look yourself in the mirror and know you did everything you could do, be proud of that. Don't dwell, but acknowledge the lesson learned. Then move on to the next project. Life is meant to be lived looking through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror.