-Erika Rumbley

In recent weeks, the Langwater crew has spent long afternoons unearthing sweet potatoes. After lunch we pile into trucks or hoof it out to the field, and find our place patiently filling crate after crate until the sun sinks behind the stone wall and the high tunnels are aglow with the last crimson light. It’s a surprisingly complicated process, bringing those auburn, sugary roots to your table. At Langwater Farm we grow Covingtons and Beauregards, traditional orange sweet potatoes, along with a handsome blonde variety named O’Henry. Their path to your plate begins in June when we lift the soil into raised beds covered with plastic mulch. The mulch warms the soil and we plant ‘slips’ (rooted stems) deeply into the earth below. The sweet potato field is weeded with hoes and with tractors for many weeks until the plants’ vining inclination takes over and the field is full of sprawling green growth. And then we wait. In September we tested a few plants, forking their ginger masses out of the soil. Not quite yet. We decided to give them a few more weeks to size up in the ground. On the cusp of October we took the plunge and began the annual sweet potato harvest. It goes like this- 1. Mow down the sprawling vines. 2. Come through with a weedwacker to cut vines even shorter, right to the ground. 3. Unearth the roots with the potato digger. 4. Crate sweet potatoes by hand, sorting as we go and giving a clean cut to any rough edges. 5. Carry crates out of the field onto a truck or tractor. 6. Cure sweet potatoes in a warm greenhouse, allowing sugars to develop. 7. Enjoy! Roast, steam or fry these awesome, nutritious roots. If you’re like us, you’ll want to eat them right away even though they’ll be even better in January…