Yes, for sure Wilf, we use them in everything. You may have read how they reckon yacon will be the next big thing an account of the type of sugar that it contains. The sugar it contains gives soup a beautiful subtle sweetness. I started having soup every day for lunch last year on account of how much we got from 6 plants, so I only planted 4.
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This time I harvested one of my Queensland Arrowroot plants. This is the remaining one & what they look like. It is also a Canna Lilli species. I got over 8 kilos of rhizomes to peel, cut up & blanch for the freezer.
That will be used in my yacon soup, together with lots of other stuff out of the garden.
Queensland Arrowroot could be classified as a famine food because it’s easy to grow & It produces an abundance of food for little effort. You can use it in place of potato, however it will never replace potato. There’s nothing like a freshly dug potato.
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I once read that you can preserve carrots for 6 months by burying them in sand and storing in a cool dark cellar. Not sure if it’s true but it might work with those yacon things too?
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I don’t think so Jack, they seem to start going rotten before I start picking them. The longer I leave it, the more rotten they become. I’m not sure if it’s my climate or my soil, or whether I should pick them a bit earlier. They seem to get the most growth in the last 4 weeks. If I leave them in the ground longer, they seem to deteriorate in the tubers, while at the same time, really bulk up in the rhizomes, which is next seasons plants.
It’s hard to beat a nice pile of freshly dug sebago potatoes for chipping & roasting tonight & the coming week.
cheers
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I love this added section for other hobbies as well. It is pretty near seeing what y’all do in Australia as far as gardening too! Here are a few things I enjoy when the bees aren’t taking up all the time.
First, cucumber season is in so I get a ton from the garden, I make a 4 gallon crock of pickles a few times each summer and my kids and the kids in the neighborhood go in our patio fridge and help themselves.
Second, I built a curing chamber due to liking cured meats and they are so expensive I decided to make my own. So far I have made 3 recipes of soppersatta, hard salami. I plan on capicola next. As you can see my meats on a charcuterie board I made out of oak too!
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Just fabulous!!! I adore pickles and typically make mine the bread & butter variety 
How lucky your kids and the neighbor kids are 
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All I can say is WOW! … I have been trying to get my hands on one of those crock pots for a while now. Think I need to find a local potter to spin one up for me. As for the meats, that’s craft I would love to master…
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@Rodderick the crocks a fantastic. I have a 30 gallon, a 20 gallon, a 5 gallon, a 4 gallon, and a 2 gallon. I use the larger ones to make sauerkraut in the fall. Another option is to look at a fermentation pot my wife bought me one and it is really neat to use, that one is 20 liters.
I also have a few smokers and make all kinds of things for my friends. SlimJim’s, summer sausage, etc.
I will post the progress of my mead as soon as I get back on my feet. Maybe try making some viking blod!
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Your well set up there for being a bit self sufficient, if you wasn’t so far away I would love to drop by for a chat and sample your makings, got to be better than shop bought. 
Cheers
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Thanks @Peter48 that’s usually what happens around here. Neighbors stop by for some stuff I made and a beer (soon to be mead!).
I wish you were my neighbor! 
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Hi Dawn, I wish you were as well, I’d pass some of these over the fence 
I think this is my best ever potato harvest from one row of 10 plants.
I have to give credit to the liquid fertilizer concoction I keep giving them. Slumgum water being part of it, not to mention some 24/7 liquid urea mixed in.
I was interested in a question on “The Chase” last night. No one knew (not even the nerd) the element urea came from. My answer was nitrogen, which was correct.
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Those look great! Our harvest of butternut squash was about 50! We have a compost area set up and we clean the chicken run everyday so that goes in there. In early spring we rototill it into the garden.
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Hi Sargent, I love it. I’m starting to appreciate more & getting into vermiculture. I’m even selling compost worms, as well as everyday garden worms. A bloke drove 2.5 hours to come & buy $200 worth of garden worms from me a couple of weeks ago.
As an experiment I boiled some weeds, including nut grass/sedge & wandering Jew, so as to strain the water, then give the cooked weeds to the compost worms. The worms were into it straight away. I used the cooking water to moisten the worm mats.
The reason for boiling it was to avoid sprouting. The nut grass/sedge definitely would have sprouted.
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Here are some pics of the things hubby and I do 
a native arrow quivver Ive started weaving
a basket I made out of ordinary white pine needles
a basket I wove out of weaping willow branches and a pic of hubby and I. Thanks for looking!
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Wow, such beautiful work Beth!! Thanks for posting the pics, I love the one of the two of you - looks like you’re having a lot of fun together
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Thanks Eva! Yes we enjoy the events we do and each time we go I try and demonstrate something new and exciting. I love learning new things and plus it keeps me free from getting bored
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There is nothing nicer than young love with a mutual interest, good to see it is still going strong, eh Eva. 
Cheers
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Yes we ve been together 20 years and have raised 4 children in our blended family. Im ver thankful for my husband Adam. He supports me in every crazy idea I get hahahaha
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