Grace Acres Farmstead

05/25/2026

The website has been updated, and a few things are finally back on the website! Some stock is already getting low, and once certain items sell out, they will be completely gone until next year. We are already planning ahead, and over 300 Yacón plants have been ordered for our March 2027 sale because this is one of those crops we believe more families need to know about.

Yacón, also called “Apple of the Earth,” is one of the most exciting survival foods and perennial-style food crops we can add to the homestead. It reminds me a lot of sunchokes in the way it can become a dependable, abundant, underground food source, but yacón has its own special place. This plant produces large, crisp, juicy tubers that taste like a mix between apple, pear, and watermelon. You can eat them fresh right out of the garden, slice them into salads, cook them, dry them, make chips, juice them, or even turn them into syrup. It is sweet, refreshing, productive, and practical — exactly the kind of food crop families should be thinking about when they want food security beyond the grocery store.

What makes yacón so different from potatoes, sweet potatoes, and many other root crops is what is inside the tuber. Yacón is naturally rich in fructooligosaccharides, also called FOS, along with inulin-type prebiotic fiber. These are not digested the same way regular sugars are. Instead of acting like normal starch or sugar, these fibers help feed beneficial gut bacteria and support the microbiome. That is why yacón has been studied as a functional food for digestion, gut health, regularity, blood sugar balance, weight management, satiety, cholesterol support, and overall metabolic health. This is not insulin, but it is connected to insulin health because of the way these prebiotic fibers may support healthier blood sugar response and gut function.

That right there is why this plant matters. We are living in a time where people need to relearn how to grow food that does more than just fill the stomach. Yacón is food, but it is also functional food. It is sweet, but not like candy. It is a root crop, but not heavy like a potato. It is refreshing, hydrating, crisp, mineral-rich, gut-supporting, and easy to use in the kitchen. For families trying to build a real survival garden, food forest, or permaculture system, this is the kind of crop that deserves attention.

Yacón plants grow big and beautiful, often reaching 6 to 8 feet tall in good soil. They make broad green leaves, strong stems, and small sunflower-like blooms. In one growing season, a healthy plant can produce a heavy harvest of underground tubers. The large sweet tubers are the eating part, while the crowns or rhizomes near the stem are saved for replanting. That means once you learn how to grow it and protect the crown, you are not just buying food — you are building a crop that can keep going.

This is why we call crops like this survival food. When shelves are empty, when prices keep climbing, when the world acts crazy again, when another pandemic or supply chain issue hits, the families who know how to grow food will not be in the same position as those who only know how to buy it. Yacón is not just another plant. It is one more step toward making sure there is food in the home, food in the ground, and food that can come back again.

How to grow yacón: Plant after all danger of frost has passed in full sun to partial shade. Give it rich, loose, well-draining soil and steady moisture. Space plants about 2 to 3 feet apart because they get large. It loves warm weather and will grow hard all season until frost. After the first frost kills the tops back, carefully dig around the plant and harvest the large edible tubers. Be gentle, because the tubers can snap or bruise if you pull too hard.

In Arkansas Zone 7, yacón can have perennial potential with protection. The crown is the part you want to save for next year. You can mulch the crown heavily with 6 to 12 inches of clean straw, leaves, or wood chips, or you can dig the crowns and store them like you would sweet potatoes, then replant in spring. The eating tubers are for the table. The crowns are for the future.

This is the kind of plant we love at Yahuah’s Farm — productive, useful, beautiful, edible, and worth teaching families about. If you are building a food forest, survival garden, medicinal garden, or just trying to grow more of your own food, yacón deserves a spot.

Website has been updated. A few things are back, some things are getting low, and once they are gone, they may be gone until next season. Yacón is already being planned heavy for March 2027, and we believe this one is going to become a favorite.

https://yahuahsfarm.myshopify.com/collections/plants

05/23/2026

Happy Memorial Day weekend!! If you are out and about come see us tomorrow at Sherman Farmers Market 9-12.
We will have limited
Carrots
Hakurei turnips
Purple top turnip
Arugula
All the fresh cut herbs
Red, yellow and white onions
Blackberries

We will have all our herbal teas and we have restocked extra Tranquili-tea.

Come try our new herb blends - Farmhouse all purpose blend, Butter blend and Italian.

05/17/2026

Sunchokes, also called Jerusalem artichokes, are one of the most underrated survival foods you can grow on a homestead. They are not artichokes at all — they are a type of sunflower that grows tall above ground and produces edible tubers underground. Once established, they can come back year after year with very little help, making them one of those old-style crops that families could rely on when food was scarce.

The part you eat is the tuber, which looks a little like ginger but eats more like a potato with a sweet, nutty flavor. They can be eaten raw, roasted, fried, boiled, mashed, pickled, fermented, or added to soups and stews. Raw sunchokes are crisp like water chestnuts. Cooked sunchokes become soft, creamy, earthy, and slightly sweet.

One of the biggest things people need to understand about sunchokes is their “dark side” — and that is the gas. Sunchokes are packed with a special fiber called inulin. Inulin is a prebiotic fiber, meaning it feeds beneficial gut bacteria. That is a good thing, but when your gut bacteria first start breaking it down, they produce gas. That is why sunchokes have earned the nickname “fartichokes."

The good news is this usually gets better over time. As your gut adjusts and the bacteria that digest inulin become stronger and more balanced, many people tolerate sunchokes much better. The key is to start small. Do not eat a huge bowl the first time. Try a few bites, then slowly increase over time. Cooking them well, roasting them, fermenting them, or boiling them with a little vinegar or lemon juice can also make them easier on the stomach.

Sunchokes are also valuable because they are not heavy in starch like potatoes. Instead of storing energy mostly as starch, they store it as inulin, which makes them different from many root crops. This is why they have been valued as a food for blood sugar-conscious eating, gut health, and long-term food security.

They are also one of the easiest crops to grow. Plant the tubers in loose, fertile soil with plenty of sun. They will send up strong sunflower-like stalks and produce more tubers underground. In good soil, they can spread quickly, so plant them somewhere they can have room or grow them in a contained bed. After frost kills the tops back, you can dig the tubers as needed. The best part is, if you leave some behind, they usually return the next year.

How to Cook Sunchokes
Sunchokes can be cooked almost any way you would cook potatoes, but they cook faster. You do not have to peel them. Just scrub them well, slice them, and cook.

For the easiest digestion, roast them until soft and golden, or boil them first and then roast them. Cooking them longer helps break them down and makes them easier on the gut.
Simple Roasted Sunchoke Recipe
Ingredients:
Fresh sunchokes
Olive oil or butter
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder or fresh garlic
Rosemary, thyme, or sage
A squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of apple cider vinegar
Directions:

Wash and scrub the sunchokes well. Slice them into small chunks or thin rounds. If you are new to eating sunchokes, you can boil them for 10–15 minutes first, then drain them. This helps soften them and can make them easier to digest.
Place them on a baking pan and coat with olive oil or melted butter. Add salt, pepper, garlic, and your herbs. Roast at 400°F for 25–35 minutes, flipping once, until they are soft inside and golden on the edges.

When they come out of the oven, add a small squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of apple cider vinegar. This brightens the flavor and helps cut the earthy sweetness.

These are excellent beside eggs, meat, roasted vegetables, or added into a warm fall harvest bowl.
Sunchokes are not just another plant. They are a food crop, a gut-supporting prebiotic, a survival root, a pollinator plant, and a perennial homestead staple. They multiply underground, return year after year, and remind us that some of the best foods are the ones that quietly build abundance beneath the soil.

Start small when eating them, let your gut adjust, and you may find that this old forgotten crop becomes one of the most dependable foods on the farm.
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05/08/2026

It’s Blackberry season!!!

Come early tomorrow to the Sherman Farmers Market and grab our limited quantity of fresh picked blackberries.

We will be there 9-12.

Some vendors will be available thru 2pm due the truck showdown happening downtown Sherman.

05/02/2026

We are set up at Sherman Farmers Market this morning 9-12.

Come get your herbal goodies from Rustic Herbal Shop

And come grab
Fresh cut herbs-
Cilantro
Dill
Parsley
Sage
Lemon balm
Spearmint on
Thyme
Marjoram

Transplants
Sweet potato slips
Oregano
Roman chamomile
Lemongrass
Basil
Violet

Greens:
Chard
Spinach
Kale
Arugula
Mixed lettuce

Roots:
Kohlrabi
Radish
Turnip
White beet

Farm grown herb blends:
Farmhouse all purpose
Butter blend

Farm grown tea blends and sampler packs

04/24/2026

Sherman Farmers Market is tomorrow 9-12 at Crockett and Houston.

Y’all made opening day rock. We hope to see you again tomorrow.

We have limited quantities of fresh picked:
Chard
Mustard
Arugula
Spinach
Spring onions

Fresh cut herbs:
Sage
Parsley
Cilantro
Dill
Thyme
Lemonbalm
Spearmint

Our homegrown/handcrafted teas:
Lemony hi C with lemongrass & hibiscus
Wellness with elder and yarrow flowers
Breathe easy with mullein
Energizing adapt with holy basil
Dreamy tranquil with Lemonbalm & chamomile
Minty mineral

We have the sample packs of these available too.

Culinary herb packs:
Farmhouse all purpose blend
**New Herb butter blend***

Veggie/herb transplants:
Indeterminate Tomato varieties
sweet potato slips
Roman chamomile
Lemongrass

04/24/2026

We love growing Tulsi on our farm!

Basil is categorized not just by flavor, but by morphology (shape and size) and essential oil profile.

The Genovese Class (The "Pesto" Standard)
This is the most commercially significant class. These are the large, "sweet" basils originating from the Mediterranean. You’ll find large, convex (spoon-shaped) leaves with a distinct aroma of cloves (from eugenol) and spice. Some key varieties are Superbo, Dolly, Genovese Gigante. This is the gold standard for fresh market sales and pesto production. Because the leaves are tender, they have a shorter shelf life, which is why it’s so critical to prevent wilting.

The Dwarf/Bush Class (The "Bonsai" Basils)
These are bred for compact growth and high leaf density. They are often used in ornamental landscaping or as a "living deterrent" on patios. They feature tiny leaves (often less than 1/2 inch) on a plant that naturally forms a tight, round ball. These are perfect for container gardening. Because of their high leaf-to-stem ratio, they offer a very concentrated "scent throw," making them excellent for natural fly repellent in small outdoor seating areas. Key Varieties are Spicy Globe, Boxwood, Greek Dwarf.

The Asian/Tropical Class (The "Exotics")
These varieties have a completely different chemical makeup than the European classes. They are often "hardier" in the humid heat of the southern US. These often feature purple stems and serrated leaves. Chemically, they are dominant in estragole (anise/licorice) rather than cloves. Key Varieties are Thai Basil (Siam Queen), Holy Basil (Tulsi), Vietnamese Basil.

The Citrus/Aromatic Class (The "Specialty" Scents)
These are basils that have been selected to mimic other botanical scents through high concentrations of specific terpenes like citral or limonene. These generally have narrower, flatter leaves. The scent is unmistakable and sharp. The high citrus-scented oil content makes them particularly effective at masking scents that attract biting insects. Key Varieties are Mrs. Burns' Lemon, Lime Basil, Cinnamon Basil.

The Purple Leaf Class (The "Ornamentals")
While edible, these are primarily grown for their striking visual contrast in the garden or as a garnish. Deep burgundy to nearly black leaves. They often grow slower and have a slightly milder flavor than Genovese types. These are excellent for "visual" sales at farmers' markets. A bunch of purple basil tucked into a bouquet of green Superbo creates an immediate shelf-appeal that commands a premium price. They’re also excellent for cut flower sales. Key Varieties are Dark Opal, Purple Ruffles, Amethyst.

Texas favors the Asian Class for its sheer resilience against dry heat. The humid areas of southern states demand the Genovese Class because there so many downy/powdery mildew varieties available.

04/18/2026

Rain delay!!!
Sherman Farmers Market will start at 10

Come on Texas what the heck🤦🏼‍♀️ Brrrr.

04/17/2026

Opening day of Sherman Farmers Market is tomorrow 9-12 at Crockett and Houston(besides Goodyear and in front of Sage cafe)

We are looking forward to seeing all our vendor friends and customers!!

If you’ve never visited the market, tomorrow is the day!! We’d love to see you.

Grace Acres will have in very limited quantities:

Chard
Mustard
Arugula
Spinach
Spring onions

Fresh herbs:
Sage
Parsley
Cilantro
Dill
Lemonbalm
Thyme

All our usual homegrown/handcrafted teas:

Lemony hi C
Wellness with elder and yarrow flowers
Breathe easy

Energizing adapt
Dreamy tranquil
Minty mineral

We are also bringing back our culinary herb packs!!

We will have farmhouse herb pack available tomorrow and will expand as season progresses.

We also will have some veggie/herb transplants:

Tomatoes
And sweet potato slips
Roman chamomile

And next week we will have our seasonal fruit and herb vinegar(blackberry sage) along with fire cider lite options 😆

03/22/2026

We got our 50 meat chicks in earlier this week!!

Thank you to all who preordered!

They are always so dang cute at this stage but in 8 weeks I’m thankful they aren’t so cute- makes it way easier to harvest.

3 weeks in the brooder on starter
5-6 weeks on pasture with non gmo no soy no corn feed
8 weeks till spring Harvest day!

For a couple of local farms who keep meat chickens going all year long check out our friends at way farms and farmstead!

03/20/2026

So hill living has had its challenges over these past 12 years but we all agree as a family. We get the absolute best sunrises and sunsets for which we are deeply grateful!!