I like your attitude and I like your idea. On top of that, sweet potato are a nutritional powerhouse. If I were you, I would even keep rabbits (choose breed carefully, and give them a nice cool spot, because heat is a problem for them), because they can prosper on sweet potato leaves alone, so that the same plant would solve your starch and meat problems at once (rabbit meat has about the same iron content as beef). We always prepare rabbit with winter squash, by the way, and SP is close in taste. Be also aware that the foliage is liked by just about vegetarian critter in the world, not just domesticated rabbits, so be prepared for a fight. They can be worse than the neighbors.

It's true that all sweet potato leaves are "edible"... which only means they won't kill you if you eat them. ;-) Whether they are palatable is another matter. I've tried several varieties of sweet potato leaves as boiled greens, and there were considerable differences in taste. An orange-rooted variety (from the supermarket) had tough leaves. Two ornamental varieties I tried had very unpleasant flavor, almost chemical... about as appetizing as eating pine needles. The shoots sold in Asian stores are the best varieties for leaves. There seem to be several different varieties grown for their leaves. The heavily-cut leaves of "kamote" that I grew in San Diego (from a Filipino store) were different from the more rounded leaves of the variety that I purchased from an Asian market where I live now. I don't know the variety name of either one, but both have white tubers. As for the tubers: I've mentioned previously on this forum that the variety I grow now for leaves - while very good for that purpose - is unsuitable for tubers. When I first dug up the plants at the end of one season, I wondered why there were so few tubers under the plants. Then I noticed that there were several thick roots leading horizontally away from each plant, and dug carefully to follow one. I found a tuber over two feet away, and almost a foot deep!!! The tubers were dry & tasty, but the massive amount of excavation required to find them all made harvest of more than a few impractical. This question has come up quite a few times on this forum, without a definitive answer... but there is a possible solution. You might want to contact Glen Drowns of Sandhill Preservation Center. He is a collector of sweet potato varieties, and offers a huge number of them, both heirloom & commercial. He might be able to steer you to one that suits your needs.

Carol, Thanks so much I think I will pick some and try it. I had spinach in a dish baked with a little cheese and garlic and since it is to early to do spinach I thought I would try the sweet potatoe leaves, as I thought I read in someones post they ate them. Joan

Thanks everyone that's encouraging. And great photos. Mine are in a hill yes. No black plastic but as the vines cover the mound completely the soil is not too compacted. I will try using the spade just at the edge of the hill and hope mine are all clustered like that. I tried digging around the first slip just to see if it's harvest time and I did split about half the potatoes but hopefully my technique will improve,