Last year we grew some sweet potatoes. For us it was the first time they grew vines and covered the earth.
Then disaster struck in the form of goats on hooves craving their high protein leaves and vines. Once in May and once in July the furry blight descended on the happy sweet potato village. Ruin was wrought but the plucky little plant kept coming back.
The vines came back but the roots never grew big and consumable. The tubers grow big when they can store up energy from the sun, not when they have to focus energy on regrowing solar panels.
The gardeners constructed better walls and defensive measures and the 2021 sweet potatoes grew in peace and prospered.
After pulling the enlarged tubers from the soil you brush off the dirt and inspect. Some of the rejects had worms and these were given to the very happy pigs. The good ones are kept at 90f for 10 days to season and sweeten. Using a space heater and the well house we were able to manage that process.
Taking a cue from the goats natural behavior, we gave them all the discarded vines for supplement feed in the pasture. Great time had by all.