These sweet potatoes are from one plant in a row from the Newton Church of the Brethren Sharing and Caring Community Garden.
Raising sweet potatoes was a new experience for church members. While checking to see if the sweet potatoes were ready to dig the church members said they were surprised to see they were pushing out of the ground and seemed quite large.
The larger potatoes are six and a half to nine pounds. The total weight including the smaller ones from one plant is 26 pounds.
This is the second year the church sponsored the garden.
The community garden is growing, starting with two, 20 foot by 50 foot areas last year and adding three, 24 foot by 50 foot areas this year.
The garden started with four families from the church last year. That increased to 10 families this year, which was six families from the church, three from the community and one Newton family partnering with one of the church families sharing the plot.
The garden is an opportunity, opening windows to the community, a news release from the church said.
Both years had fairly good rainfall. In general, this seemed to be a poor tomato year with the heat earlier in the season.
However, more than 325 pounds of tomatoes were taken to the Newton Food Bank this year. Families with a personal plot harvested produce for themselves and shared their excess Sunday morning with church members, neighbors and friends. A large portion of the community plot went to the Food Bank.
