Yesterday, we spent a blustery October afternoon digging our sweet taters.
I love harvesting root crops. I don't know what is so exciting to me about digging potatoes and carrots, but it just is. Maybe it's the anticipation....you just don't know what you're going to find until you start digging. Almost like Christmas morning.
So yesterday, we started digging and had an afternoon of what could be described as The Agony and The Ecstasy.
The Ecstasy: we dug somewhere around 55-60# of sweet taters out of our little patch.
The Agony: fully half of them had been gnawed on by chipmunks.
The Ecstasy: we grew sweet potatoes that were (I kid you not) as big around as cantaloupes and nearly as long as a loaf of bread.
The Agony: the loaf of bread-sized taters were the ones the chipmunks chewed to pieces.
The Ecstasy: we're totally capable of growing sweet taters in this dirt and in this climate.
The Agony: it's time to eliminate our chipmunk population.
After taking into consideration the destruction by the chipmunks, our Great Sweet Tater Experiment was still a smashing success. Even with our 30# loss, with sweet taters running at about $1/lb, we doubled our investment and should have plenty of taters to last us into winter.
11 comments:
Oh no! I tried sweet taters for the first time this year and have not dug them yet. We also have a problem with chipmonks. Now I'm a bit worried. I guess there's nothing I can do at this point.
We didn't realize we had a problem with chipmunks...until we started digging and then it was pretty obvious. But that's okay. Their days are numbered LOL! Hope you have a better experience than we did!
I'm glad you at least got some! Our gopher issue eliminated almost our entire crop of potatoes this year. We only harvested enough for about 2-3 meals. Very disappointing to say the least, especially since our crop last year was a huge success and therefore we were anticipating even more this year (we doubled our plantings!).
BTW, we had lots of chipmunks, but the 5 cats eliminated them quickly. The problem for us is that the gophers live entirely under the ground and rarely make an appearance above ground where the cats can get to them.
Amy-I'm so sorry! Is there any sort of repellant you can use to get rid of the gophers? Gadgets maybe?
I'm 99.8% sure it was chipmunks that got ours. The Mr. and I have both seen a couple running around...and we had corn and sorghum growing all over the place from the chipmunks burying their seeds.
All total, we ended up with almost 125# of various potatoes, so it was still a very successful year!
I yelled down to my husband (from the loft) what your sweet potato harvest was. He was impressed :-)
I harvested about 12 pounds so far. A bit more to go. This is our first year. ( we know there is an overload of chipmunks here -- but so far they didn't find them)
LOL...this was our first year too, but we're pleased with the outcome, even with the 'munk devestation. It was well worth the time, space and money.
I'm new to your blog, checked it out a bit this morning and like it.
We too grew sweet taters for the first time ever and had a wonderful harvest. I didn't plant but four little sprigs and ended up with at least 30 lbs.
I want to can them, but I read it's best to let them cure for a month or two. The curing lets the sugar do it's thingy that makes them so tasty.
BTW, I know what you mean about harvesting taters and the anticipation. On my blog I described it as a treasure hunt, so much fun.
Sounds a lot like our first sweet potato harvest last year except ours were also all cracked from leaving them in the ground too long. Our first addition to the homestead this year was a barn cat and he's already bringing us little mole presents quite often. (Moles were our culprit) I'll be honest, I cured the potatoes and then cut around the gnawed parts and cooked them anyway, I couldn't bear to throw them out entirely. :)
So sad when critters destroy the food supply.
We were having issues with rats when we first moved here this spring...so dh put out rat-tac (as I'm terrifed of rats and mice)...go figure..and we moved to a little homestead with chickens.
Anyway, we also were having a huge problem with squirrels...but lately we've noticed no squirrels as well as no rats...so I think the squirrels got into the rat-tac as well. But it's elimiated lots of problems.
That's impressive! We have a massive chipmunk problem too, except for when they are getting displaced by squirrels and rabbits. :-S
They do make the small size Havahart traps, but then you have to be willing to relocate or otherwise dispose of the little critter.
Sassy-That's impressive! 30#/4 plants! Great harvest! Yeah, I hear ya on the treasure hunt. There's nothing more exciting than pulling carrots and digging taters!
Quinn-I think we may have inadvertently been adopted by a scrawny little barn cat last week. We've spotted her in the yard mousin...hopefully she can knock out some chipmunks too!
TE-we have snakes and field mice aplenty...but the chipmunks sort of took us by surprise. I guess that's what happens when you feed the wildlife and the wildlife decide to take up residence.
Jennifer-We're going to pick up some traps this weekend; not the havahart type though. It irritates me when people bring their pets/wildlife/rodents to the lake near my house and dump them, so I won't be participating in that practice.
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