Yam come back now. Here.

Earlier this year I threw some of the stalest sunflower seeds I had ever tasted out on our balcony for the birds to eat them. Maybe the birds thought the seeds were stale too and instead of eating them, just let them drop into the dirt filled planters below.


It wasn't long before an army of sprouts appeared; popped out of the dirt, the opened seed pods looked like little helmets. It was such a hot summer, and even more so with the sweaty neck brace I had to wear. But because I was stuck at home, the plants were watered daily; it turned out to be a good sunflower summer.

One Saturday in July, Ken took me to a new Korean market. The discovery of several varieties of yams and sweet potatoes was the inspiration of a great idea - oven baked sweet potato chips!

Oblivious to the fact that our air-conditioning was working non-stop to keep us comfortable I bought home 6 yams to slice and bake in a 400* oven. Luckily, the oven wasn't preheating because it would have only made me feel more cross. I had to ditch the great idea when it became clear I was not able to bend my neck enough to see the knife on the cutting board. Forgotten in the "potato basket" kept in a dark, not so  well air-conditioned space, the yams sprouted. And in a very short time!

The sprouts were long enough that they poked out of the sides of the basket and even looked like little plants. I cut them off of the potatoes, along with a small amount of the tuber then stuck them yam sprouts in my planters. Turns out, they also liked daily watering and I had some pretty luscious sweet potato vines for months.
Yesterday was the last day for those babies..
                                  
look what was buried under the frost

                                                                                                    YAMS!

NB. sweet potato photo from honkeydonley.wordpress.com