--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original
Message-----
From: YankeePerm <
YankeePerm@aol.com>
To:
akivaw@hotmail.com <
akivaw@hotmail.com>;
daemon@listserv.oit.unc.edu<
daemon@listserv.oit.unc.edu>;
permaculture@listserv.oit.unc.edu<
permaculture@listserv.oit.unc.edu>
Date:
Wednesday, 31 December 1997 3:03
Subject: Sweet potatoes as leafy
forage?
>Ok, I was digging sweet potatoes (Ipomea batcas)
yesterday and looking at
the
>zillions of little roots that never got
big in amongst the hand-fillers and
>thinking, there is a use for
these. In the past, we had rabbits and we fed
>them to the
rabbits. For various reasons unrelated to the pleasures
of
eating
>rabbit, we have not got any yet at Barking Frogs
Farm.
>
>However it occurs to me that I can place the little tubers
under mulch in
the
>pasture, which is often wet, and grow the leaves as
forage for my steer
(soon,
>I hope, to be joined by a few Asian water
buffalo). I'm not sure how much
>forage the tubers will stand.
I'm also not sure if I allow them to
>"perennialize" if I will
be breeding the little root borers that ruin sweet
>potatoes when grown
repeatedly from roots (vs "slips")
>
>I'm thinking that
these will go well in wetter parts of the pasture (well
we
>have an
acre under water at the moment--not there!). One produces slips
by
>putting roots in a wet environment. Storage roots are important
only to
the
>extent that they enable the plants to survive grazing
cycles.
>
>Does anyone have any experience using sweet potato LEAVES
as forage? How
>about water spinach? (either I reptans or I
aquatica)
>
>The present sweet potatoes are part of a year long
cycle I use here for
>bringing land into cultivation. First I grow
Andean (white) potatoes by
>throwing cut pieces on the ground and covering
with mulch. I generally
>broadcast a bit of bone meal to help the potatoes
repell Colarado potato
>beetles. As I harvest the white potatoes, I
transplant sweet potatoes after
>them (They are very unrelated).
Generally, I supplement the mulch over the
>growing season as it melts
away rapidly in our hot, humid climate. Being
near
>our poultry
house, the sweet potatoes got a bit of litter from coop
cleaning
>as
well. Now, digging the sweet potatoes I'm cutting through
remaining
tree
>roots so that less competitve plants might make a go
here. Next can come
>anything, legumes, greens, etc. It is an
easy way to move into garden
spaces,
>particularly when one first
occupies a site and there is SO much to do. We
>have gotten quite
respectible crops of both white and green spuds.
>
>So, now I want
to hear from folks who can tell me about sweet potato as
>forage. I
don't need to reinvent any wheels!
>
>For Mother Earth, Dan
Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982),
>Elfin
Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
>consulting
and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now correspondence
>courses via
email. One is now underway. Next Live program:
Paraguay,
>8/10-22/98. Internships available. Copyright, 1997, Dan &
Cynthia Hemenway,
>P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL 32192 USA
YankeePerm@aol.com>
>We don't
have time to rush.
>
>A list by topic of all Yankee Permaculture
titles may be found at
>
http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalog.html>