Posted May 4th, 2024

OUR ORDER PERIOD FOR the 2024 growing season IS NOW CLOSED

 

We DO NOT SHIP sweet potato slips!

 

all of our sweet potato slips are organic certified!

Our slips must be accessed by store pick up or through our farm delivery routes.

At this point, our 2024 order has closed.  See below for our tentative slip arrival dates.  If you were hoping to get some slips for this year, give the store a call on Wednesday, May 29th to see what we have available for walk-in sales.

2024 Pricing 

  • 25 slip bundle $6 
  • 100 slip bundle $20
  • 500 slip box $60
  • 1000 slip box $85

If you purchase different varieties, you will be charged bundle price per variety.  In other words, 100 slip bundles of five different varieties will cost $20 x 5 = $100, not $60.  Sorry, but there's a lot more handling involved! 

 

Dates to Remember

  • Friday, May 3rd - ORDER DEADLINE - I need to get numbers to our grower!  ORDER CLOSED
  • Tuesday, May 21 - Early slip pick up just for farmers on the SOUTHEAST ROUTE (May 21), SWSC ROUTE (May 22) and ENC ROUTE (May 24) 
  • Tuesday, May 28 - SWEET POTATO SLIP ARRIVAL FOR STORE SALES  - Stay Tuned!  This date may fluctuate depending on weather and when the slips are ready.   
  • Tuesday, May 28 Evening - ORANGE COUNTY FARM ROUTE - Sweet Potato Slip Deliveries  
  • Wednesday, May 29 - SOUTHWEST FOOTHILLS FARM ROUTE - Sweet Potato Slip Deliveries 
  • Thursday, May 30 - DURHAM FARM ROUTE - - Sweet Potato Slip Deliveries 

NOTE TO FARMERS ON THE NORTHWEST AND SANDHILLS ROUTES:  

Due to the highly perishable nature of sweet potato slips and the timing of the NORTHWEST and SANDHILLS ROUTE in May /June, we are currently unsure as to how to offer sweet potato slip delivery to these locations.  We ask that you consider ordering your slips for store pick up.   If this places a hardship on you, please call Melinda at 19-545-4429 to discuss directly.   

2024 Sweet Potato Varieties - all are organic certified!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bayou Belle      

  • ​​Days to Maturity:  110-120 days
  • Skin Color:  Red/Purple
  • Flesh Color:  Deep Orange
  • Flesh Texture:  Firm, Moist

Varietal Characteristics:   Developed in Louisiana, Bayou Belle is an excellent Garnet variety with superior yield.   The Bayou Belle produces similar to a Beauregard but consistently yields 10% higher.   Consistent shape but some variability in size.  Great flavor and good for processing.  Resistant to streptomyces, fusarium wilt, soil rot and root-knot nematode. 

Grower Feedback:  Bayou Belle far exceeded expectations for appearance, flavor, and yield.  "The Bayou Belle did great for us this year.  I didn't weed or keep them up as I should have, and they still made tons of potatoes."~Jason Roland, Lexington, SC

In-House Taste Test:  Slightly sweet, high moisture, undertone of apples or carrots, easily mashable.  We didn't find them as sweet, but Jason (the grower quoted above) said his crop was super sweet.... maybe differences in soil type?

Quick Note:  You'll notice below that every other variety has a photographed box of sample potatoes with a ruler for size and shape reference.  At the time we took those pictures, the box of Bayou Belle's had vanished and not one of the Country Farm and Home staff owned up to it.  LOL!

  

Beauregard             

  • Days to Maturity:  100 days
  • Skin Color:  Rose
  • Flesh Color:  Orange
  • Flesh Texture:  Light, Moist

Varietal Characteristics:    Short growing season, excellent yielder of uniform oblong tubers.    Good storage.  Resistant to streptomyces soil rot, fusarium wilt but susceptible to root-knot nematode.  Excellent choice for sweet potato pies and butter recipes.

Grower Feedback:  Met or exceeded expectations in flavor, appearance, and yield.  A solid performing sweet potato across the board.  

In-House Taste Test:  Super sweet!  This is Melinda's favorite.  Smooth, mashable texture with rich flavor, undertones of caramel.

 

  

Covington    

  • Days to Maturity:  105-115 days
  • Skin Color:  Dark Rose
  • Flesh Color:  Orange-Yellow
  • Flesh Texture:  Light, Moist

Varietal Characteristics:    A commercial giant, 90% of commercial sweet potatoes grown in NC are Covington.   The Covington grows well in many different types of soil and produces high yields of uniform tubers.  Resistant to Fusarium wilt and moderately resistant to streptomyces soil rot and the southern root-knot nematode.  

Grower Feedback:  Solid performer and super consistent, met expectations for appearance, flavor, and yield.  "We have consistently had VERY GOOD appearance, flavor, and yield from the Covingtons we source from you.  The taters are beautifully shaped and sized with few jumbos, are easy to harvest, store well, and are delicious.  Our customers love them."~Jane from RambleRill Farm

In-House Taste Test:   These sweet potatoes were noticeably larger than all of the others, and therefore, took longer to roast in the oven.  Good balanced sweetness and moisture content.  Mashable or would hold up well as large roasted chunks.

 

  

Murasaki      

  • Days to Maturity:  115-125+ days
  • Skin Color:  Purple
  • Flesh Color:  White but turns yellowish, greenish, gray when cooked
  • Flesh Texture:  Firm, mealy (mashable)

Varietal Characteristics:     A Japanese variety with a nutty flavor and loads of Vitamin C.   Days to maturity is longer because it takes more time and energy for the high starch to be accumulated in this variety.   Holds up well to cooking as chips, fries, or wedges.   Disease resistance includes fusarium root rot and southern root-knot nematode.

Grower Feedback:  Exceeded expectations for appearance and flavor, but yield was all across the board.  We had some growers who had beautiful plants but absolutely NO tubers.   We sought advice from our grower, and he said that Murasaki will NOT yield if over-fertilized.   This variety will perform best with VERY LITTLE FERTILIZER!   Go figure!   

In House Taste Test:  Full flavor, starts out earthy with a sweet after taste and a hint of apple.  Firm, dry texture makes this a good choice for tempura, fries, chips, and other recipes requiring the sweet potato to hold its shape.

  

NC-122

  • Skin Color:  Deep Red
  • Flesh Color:  Deep Orange
  • Flesh Texture: Slightly firm

Varietal Characteristics:   Our grower reports these to be his favorite sweet potatoes.  He noted that they have the BEST storability, good shape and high yield.   

Grower Feedback: Last year was our first year offering these sweet potatoes.   Feedback from our customers who grew these was a solid thumbs up!   

In-House Taste Test:   Excellent, rich, sweet flavor reminiscent of caramel but with a firmer texture than some sweet potatoes making it versatile to either mash or use for fries and other recipes where holding shape is necessary.

  

O’Henry                    

  • Days to Maturity:  100 days
  • Skin Color:  Cream
  • Flesh Color:  Cream
  • Flesh Texture:  Firmer than Beauregard

Varietal Characteristics:    O'Henry is a relative of the Beauregard, basically having the same growing characteristIcs, size, shape, yield and flavor but with a cream colored skin and flesh.   

Grower Feedback:   Good yield.   The image above shows skinny, oblong small tubers, but grower feedback last year was that the O'Henrys produced much more predictable size and shape potatoes, much like the Beauregards.   We're not sure why our sample looks the way it does.  

In-House Taste Test:  Firm and not as sweet as a Beauregard.  Having said that, Hillary went home after the taste test and cooked more for dinner and reported these ended up being a favorite of hers... go figure...

  

Scarlet

  • Skin Color:  Purple
  • Flesh Color:  Purple
  • Flesh Texture:  Firm

Varietal Characteristics:    This is the only all purple variety we offer, simply called Scarlet.  We cannot find published data on this variety so all we have to go on is customer feedback, and we've only offered this a couple of years.  

Grower Feedback:  Expect a lower yield from this variety than the production potatoes like Covingtons.  One gardener said, "impressed with the taste and will increase amount of them next year."  Feedback on this variety is all across the board.  While some growers experienced lower yields, we had others produce far more than expected and also far larger than expected potatoes.   We received photos of enormous potatoes the size of kick balls... probably not the best option for a farmers market display, but one heck of a producer for cranking out purple sweet potato pies.   

In-House Taste Test:  More savory and earthy flavored that a standard orange sweet potato with undertones of beets.  Firm texture that holds together well and could be riced for some recipes (like cheesecakes and pies).

Are You Still Reading?  Just For Fun...

Wow!  If you've made it this far, you must really like sweet potatoes.   So on March 29, 2020 in Melinda's kitchen, Hillary and Melinda roasted, photographed, and tasted all of the above sweet potatoes with Melinda's kids, Aidan and Summer.    We are posting our taste test results below if interested...