Fred Pursley won't have to worry about going hungry this winter.

Pursley, 85, recently harvested a 4.75-pound sweet potato.

"It's definitely the largest I've ever grown," Pursley said.

Pursley grew up on a farm near Franklin and maintained a green thumb even while working for an insurance company. He had been living in Arizona, where he found the gardening climate inhospitable.

"It was too dry and the rabbits were everywhere," Pursley said.

He moved to the Otterbein-Lebanon Retirement

Community in fall 2001 and has retaken gardening with a vengeance. While most resident have a 30-foot by 50-foot piece of land to garden, Pursley's garden is twice that size.

"I grow nearly everything," Pursley said. "Tomatoes, okra, green beans, beets and turnips."

One of Pursley's turnips weighed in at an one pound.

Pursley cans and preserves most of his vegetables and will often give them to Otterbein neighbors as Christmas presents. He says he works on his garden between six and eight hours a week. He credits the activity for providing good exercise.

"I don't do anything special — just water regularly and keep the weeds out."

What is to become of his giant sweet potato? Pursley is keeping his options open.

"They are tasty with pumpkin pie spice and butter," Pursley said. "Or I may fix them with milk and sugar-free vanilla pudding into a kind of souffle. I can just microwave the smaller ones and eat them plain."

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4544 or jmcclelland@coxohio.com.