Community Garden: Reaping What You Sow

Sheila is the Outreach Coordinator for Ladies Homestead Gathering of Effingham County a local chapter of National Ladies Homestead Gathering whose motto is Empowering Women Through Homesteading.

Sheila has a Bachelor’s degree in Family Consumer Science. She is a breast cancer survivor and strives to eat healthy and gardening provides a great way to do that. Sheila resides with her husband, and daughter in Guyton. She is a member of Zion Lutheran Church and involved in the management of The Zion Community Garden. winter months with fervency like they did.

by Sheila Moon

Tending to one’s garden is much like tending to one’s family.

When I was young, canning really wasn’t much Someday, maybe she will have her own garden, more than a boring chore that I needed to help with if I wanted to have tasty food to eat. I would often hear my grandma talk about how beautiful those sweet potatoes look in a jar shortly after they were canned. Sure, I thought, but they will really taste good when I want some sweet potatoes with ham - especially on my birthday (which is in February).

As time went on and I met my husband, then had my daughter Isabella and I became more concerned about clean foods. I began to ask more questions, and I also began to can with my husband’s and mother’s help.

So just as I waited for my sweet potatoes to mature this summer and tenderly cared for them, cutting back the vines and pulling weeds when I needed too, so did my mother, my aunt, and my grandma patiently wait for me to anchor my roots and take up the mantle of gardening and stocking up for the winter months with fervency like they did.

They all waited a long time, and kept dripping those values of good food and the nourishment of growing your own food on me like a slow gentle rain. As plants mature and grow stronger and bear their fruits and vegetables so did I. Now, I have a legacy of gardening and preparing food for those winter months to pass on to my daughter. family and community to which she will carefully tend so that she can reap a plentiful harvest and life.

Speaking of harvest, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of harvesting the sweet potatoes. Oh yes, the play on words is there because “gritty” is exactly what you experience when digging up sweet potatoes in Southeast Georgia.

To dig them up, go about two to three feet out and loosen the dirt around the plant and then use a pitch fork to gently lift the ground up to be able to see the sweet potatoes that are under each plant.

(I planted 12 sweet potato plants and ended up with about four to a hill, reaping about 48 sweet potatoes in all or almost a 10 gallon bucket full of sweet potatoes.)

After removing them from the ground, they will need to “rest” or “cure” for about one week. They should be placed on a screen allowing airflow around each potato.

Why rest sweet potatoes you ask? Resting the sweet potatoes lets the sugar break down and ensures your sweet potatoes won’t spoil. I like to let mine rest for a week or so. Please remember NOT to wash them or let them get rained on before you get ready to put up your sweet potatoes. This will cause them to rot. After the sweet potatoes have rested it is time to can them.

In preparation to begin canning you will need to wash (do not scrub) the sweet potatoes and then peel them. After peeling them some canners cut them in cubes, some quarter the sweet potatoes, the tradition in my family is to leave them whole as much as possible and dip them in lemon juice to keep them from turning dark after canning. You can use freshly squeezed lemon or the real lemon you can buy in the store either one works.

This time while I am canning my sweet potatoes, I will be making a video to share with my fellow Community Gardeners and my church congregation. This may help others to get inspired to start canning and it will help me get the word out that I have enough sweet potatoes to share if anyone else would like them!!

We do a lot via the internet and video chatting these days. This is how I will be celebrating the holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, this year. My mom and I have committed to cooking at least a few favorites via Facetime together and of course one of those favorites will be my Grandma J’s Skillet Candied Sweet Potatoes (look for the recipe in this issue). Nothing makes a table look better than to fill it with your favorite recipes from loved ones who have passed them on to you.

In closing, I would like to invite all of you to reflect on this tumultuous year on what you have sown and grown. Whether it be plants in your garden, flowers to foster our beloved honey bees or butterflies, or to carefully tend to your family and to foster traditions to pass on to the next generation. Remember to add faith, hope and love to reap all the benefits that these three ingredients can bring to one’s garden and to one’s family!