MLK Quote

MLK Quote

Nature's Inspiration Movie

http://www.flickspire.com/m/HealthierL433/NaturesInspiration -- Nature's Inspiration Movie: The photographs in this short video are from award-winning photographer, Ken Jenkins, and they are breathtaking. However, this video is much more than beautiful photographs! Peggy Anderson has compiled beautiful quotations from the likes of Emerson, Thoreau, and many others that truly capture the beauty of nature and solitude. Absolute must watch for nature lovers.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Story of My Life in 2017 and Root Vegetables (Yacon)

When did I write last for this blog? I do not even remember. Was it in 2016? 2017 passed by so fast that I can almost tell what I did for each day as the last eleven months seemed like just the last eleven minutes. This was a crazy year for me. I had to apply for a promotion to Associate Professor, and which involved writing essays and letters, collecting documents, and acquiring reference letters. I got the promotion but could not enjoy it much as my father has developed dementia, it seems. He already had Parkinson. Now the disease is deteriorating to dementia. So, we are thinking of bringing him to live with us. Our house didn't have any full-bathroom in the first floor. Since he will not be able to climb stairs, so we have remodeled our house, built a full-bathroom and the remodeling is still going on. I had so many plans for the garden this year but nothing happened as we are spending our time, money and energy on remodeling our house. I also received a grant from the university for a research, and from August till November 13, I was busy with that as our work got accepted for presentation and publication. Thus, lots of work. And, we also did other things for which lots of paper work needed to be done. I will write about those later if they become successful. And on top of all these there are also teaching, mentoring, advising, committee work, family work and all sorts of other things. But slowly everything is winding down, and thus I found some time to go into the garden and pick up whatever the garden produced. I didn't do anything for the garden -- no weeding, no watering, no planting -- but my dear garden still produced. So, today I will talk about a kind of root vegetable that I grow -- Yacon.

I grow quite a few root vegetables -- potato, sweet potato, taro, yacon, ginger, turmeric, garlic and onion (though I am not sure if garlic and onion are considered root vegetables or not) along with beet, turnip and radish (which I grow them not all the time but now and then). Here are some sweet potato and taro that I harvested this year.


Yacon is a root vegetable much like potato or Jerusalem Artichoke. It is from the Andes (Peru). It is very crunchy and has a sweeter taste (the taste is a cross between pear, pineapple, Jerusalem Artichoke, Guava). The plant, can easily grow as tall as eight to ten feet, and produces sunflower like small flowers. The plant behaves very much like a Jerusalem Artichoke plant (I have talked about JA here ). However, Jerusalem Artichoke can survive snow and below freezing temperature. It in fact needs cold to become sweeter. Yacon will die as soon the temperature freezes. You then need to harvest it. Here is the picture of the dead plant that I harvested. It might not be clear in the picture but perhaps you can understand how tall it can grow:



There is a certain procedure in harvesting Yacon. Yacon is a perennial plant. It has a mother-crown and then all the storage tubers that grow from it. We can only eat the storage tubers (I am not sure if the mother crown is edible or not), and then need to plant the mother-crown for next year's harvest. The mother-crown looks reddish in color. The edible storage tubers are chrome/pale yellow/white in color as shown in the pictures below.



I harvest the tubers. Then, I take a pot, put some soil in it; put the mother-crown in it, and cover it up with soil. I leave the pot in basement. When spring comes, I put out the mother-crown in a raised bed in the garden. It initially grows slowly; then suddenly it starts growing fast with huge (like really huge) big leaves and a thick stalk. Nothing bothers this plant. All it needs is some sunshine. Online says that it needs lots of compost. I have not experienced that yet (may be my garden soil is rich?). The tubers are full of inulin, the compound that fights against diabetes. Thus, it can be eaten by people, unlike potato, suffering from diabetes. It can be eaten raw, or fried, boiled, or baked. The only drawback of this vegetable is that it does not last long, once harvested. So, you need to cook it very fast or it will rot within 2-3 days.

Here are some flowers of 2017:



I did not give anything to the garden this year; but she gave me in abundance.

11 comments:

  1. Hello stranger, am glad you were able to figure out where the comments are located. Actually it's basically on the bottom of the post, but maybe you were thrown off by the change in color. Yeah, sorry this is the third blog background this year - wordpress has so many, but the better ones are probably the ones that one needs to pay for.
    The Randomosity, Tue, etc. refer to the memes/challenges (on the bottom) I participate in. Started putting it below the images, because some meme organizers couldn't find the pic relating to their meme.
    I think the two questions you refer to, relate to the "Weekend Journal Page" for art. Am running it for 4 weeks to see if there's enough interest to run a linky list like for All Seasons.
    My questions are: (1)how often a month would you be able to post a tidbit about your process of art & (2)are you uberhaupt interested in participating.

    I haven't even heard of this Yacon plant till now. I love artichoke, so I probably would Yacon too. My neighbors both have diabetes - I'll mention it to them. Hope you stay for a while with your blog, since it's interesting to "talk" to you. If you do, please remember All Seasons (still from Sunday through Wed. evening) - Cheers

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  2. Great to see you KL and Happy Thanksgiving. I am so sorry to hear about your Dad and I am amazed at everything you have done to your house so he can live with you. You sound very very busy and I understand you not blogging much. I am kind of just keeping Nature Notes going for now...I don't grow any veg but we were able to had much more garden space this year in the front yard which I haven't even really blogged about yet. More plants, less lawn...raised some butterflies..monarchs and spicebush and spent time with my toddler grandson when we can make the trip.....Michelle

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  3. Am back, just to read the story of your life! Lots of good, but also difficult things to handle. We had just two weeks ago a family of 4 for a few days overnight, of which the mother was diagnosed with dementia. Just having had this experience, it's full time care! With your work at the same time, don't feel guilty if you need to hire a caretaker, because he probably also needs physical therapy, someone needs to keep track of his meds, etc.. Wishing you much wisdom and strength for the coming time! Awesome you had that grant:):)

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  4. You have a very interesting blog! I see you also care for animals and other. Very nice photos also! Take care! Ps: I live in northen Sweden and there I took the photos from my kitchen window :)

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  5. Sad about you father. I'm sure living with you would help him.

    Seems like you have a very productive garden, growing roots that I like, especially sweet potato.

    As to your question. Yes, I feed birds all the year round but with niger seed only that most birds like but squirrels don't. Squirrels destroy feeders to get to what they want.

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  6. Such beautiful and interesting flowers and vegetables!
    It's good to see you posting again. Even though it means much work and commitment, your home is surely the best place for your father. Remember to take care of yourself too! Big hugs!

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  7. KL, I think your father will be better living with you, it's a kind decision. I've never grown and eaten Yacon, thanks for sharing your experience with us.
    Have a nice weekend!

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  8. Hello, KL! I am sorry to hear about your father. I am sure he would be better off living with you. I have never heard of Yacon, it has a great health benefit. Looks like you had a great harvest, sweet potatoes are my favorite.Thank you for visiting my blog and for the comment. Have a happy day and weekend.

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  9. Sorry 'bout your dad.

    Now, that yacon root sounds really good. Unique blend of flavors. I'm gonna have to look for it at our specialty grocers in town. Do you bake it, boil it, add it to soups, how is it prepared.

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  10. Congrats on the promotion.

    So sorry about your dad but he's lucky to have you care for him and I know he deserves much more time than we do here in blogland, no matter how much we miss you :)

    I've never heard of Yacon but it sounds really interesting!

    Isn't it great how nature keeps on giving to us even when we fall behind in tending to it!?

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  11. Glad you found time to blog in between all you are doing as it is a very informative and creative one ~ Dad being most important for the most part ~ You are gem to be taking care of him so well ~ many healing hugs to all ~

    Happy Week to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)



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