There is a difference between a sweet potato and a yam. They aren’t even related yet sweet potatoes are often mistakenly referred to as yams. Sweet potatoes are actually the root of a morning glory vine. A yam is the tuber of a vine grown in Central and South America.

Yams are quite toxic if eaten raw. Sweet potatoes are a good eaten raw and I know for a fact that they will give you a stomach ache if you eat too many. But they are not toxic.

Somehow the word candied just seems to pair with yam. Oh, well, henceforth, it will be Candied Sweet Potatoes around here. Maybe someone should ask the USDA why they require the word yam to accompany sweet potato on package labeling.

When I was growing up on the farm here at Big Mill we grew lots of sweet potatoes.  My father’s favorite was Hayman, an heirloom sweet potato. They are pale green in color and produce fewer potatoes per acre, but locals declare they taste better.

Everyone saved seed potatoes so we never had to buy the plants. We raised acres of sweet potatoes and folks came from all over to buy my father’s Hayman potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are harvested or dug in the fall. After we dug the potatoes they were cured with a low heat. The potato house is my favorite of all the barns here at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast.

I do believe the Hayman sweet potatoes are sweeter.  

This old Dodge farm truck hauled bushels of sweet potatoes to the potato house (right of truck). Chloe is sitting on the truck. The goat really did eat the windshield wipers.

Sweet Potato Fries

• 2 large or 4 small red sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Wash and peel the sweet potatoes. Slice each sweet potato into large steak fries. Spread on a cookie sheet in a single layer, leaving a space between each fry. Toss with the oil. Sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and turn each fry. Return to the oven and bake 15 more minutes or until the fries ae tender and crisp. If you want the fries to be crispier, bake longer.

Serve hot. Oh, these are good!

Yield: 3 servings

Heirloom Hayman sweet potatoes have a lighter colored skin and a pale green flesh. 

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‘Bet you never even heard of Dinner on the Ground. Sadly, it has been called a fading tradition. It seems these days I look up and things I thought would always be there are gone or leaving.  Dinner on the Ground is one of them.

But for now they are still with us.  For many years it has been the tradition of southern, country churches to have a week-long revival that ended on Sunday with a great celebration and homecoming.

Folks came from everywhere for this big feast.  Dinner on the Ground only happens in the fall and often we attended several special events throughout Eastern North Carolina:  Macedonia, Piney Grove, Maple Grove and Smithwick’s Creek Primative Baptist.

My favorite of the foods was fried peach jacks, and I knew right where to find them. Fannie H.* and Miss Mintie both made wonderful jacks. Miss Mintie’s daughter-in-law Charlotte, keeps up the tradition. 

One year someone actually made homemade moon pies. You could find collard greens galore, Brunswick stew, cornbread, fried chicken, banana sandwiches (for the children), sweet potato pies, barbecue, succotash, all kinds of pickles and more cakes than have ever been in one place. Lots of sweet tea is always served. 

Every southern woman must have a deviled egg plate, and this is a time when you should use it.  

There will be much declaring and reckoning as in "I declare it is hot and I reckon it was cooler last year."  "Bless his heart" will be heard many times.  

After church is over folks rush out and spread the feast on a table made of chicken wire that is strung between tall oak trees. If the trees aren’t positioned just right, then a tractor will do just fine. There are often two or three tables made of chicken wire that are each a block long. Every family spreads a tablecloth over a spot (same spot every year) and puts the food out. Then folks graze up and down the table, visiting and eating.

I am glad to have enjoyed these wonderful events. I am also happy to live in the "country" where we love and linger with our traditions. The church of my youth still has Dinner on the Ground; and for that I am very happy.

All of the photos were taken at the same church, almost sixty years apart. Photo at right is my dad Ops, taken in 1948 or ’49, at Macedonia’s Dinner on the Ground, after all the food was taken away.

That is my mother Chloe loading the car. Photo below is my brother John and me (with the very short skirt). Maybe some traditions will stick around.

(Photo credit: Barney Conway, Jr. for the color photos. I figure Barney’s dad took the old black and whites.)

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