Find Hope With a Sweet Potato

REKINDLE THAT LOST SENSE OF HOPE, of happy expectancy, by cultivating your very own sweet potato miracle. Uninhibited and forgiving, this lowly tuber cannot help but teach us all a lesson about the benefits of looking at one’s situation in a more positive way. With little effort and much reward, you will be able to watch lush green vines sprout out of the sweet potato’s eyes in a resplendent display of renewal, abandon and clamoring for its rightful spot in the sun. Don’t be shy.  If you’re really in a rut, place jars of sweet potatoes all around your house or apartment. They’re very sociable, but undemanding, and you may make some friends.  Sweet Potato Vines in Water promise to brighten even the gloomiest of dispositions. 

1 fresh organic sweet potato (not shriveled)
4 toothpicks
1 large jar (1-2 quarts)
Water for the jar

Insert toothpicks about one-half inch into the sweet potato around its middle.  Put sweet potato in jar, pointed end down, with toothpicks resting on the jar’s rim.  There should be at least one inch between the bottom of the sweet potato and the bottom of the jar; if not, adjust toothpicks.  Fill jar with water up close to the rim.  Place in a warm, sunny spot inside your house or apartment, such as on your kitchen counter or window sill.  Add more water as needed and change the water if it becomes cloudy, about once a week.  In one to two weeks, the show should begin.  First you’ll notice small roots protruding from the sides or end of the potato.  A week or two later, fresh green sprouts should emerge and eventually transform into cascading vines.  To prolong the splendor, transplant the potato in soil in a hanging planter or snip off and root the sprouts (or “slips”) in water and then plant in your garden.