Thursday, September 28, 2017

Paw paws

or How to Have Fun While Avoiding Chores

The Plan: To stay home last Saturday to catch up on some work around the house.

The Reality: Spent last Saturday at the Paw Paw Festival.

Part 1

It didn't take long for me to change plans once my sister-in-law sent me an email asking if we wanted to meet them at the Paw Paw Festival on Saturday. The festival was held on a permaculture farm which was one of the reasons I wanted to go. I really didn't know much about that and was intrigued by the whole concept. The owner of the farm spent 20 years living in Central and South America and brought back ideas from there to start his farm.

Part of the permaculture farm was made up of food forests, a new concept for me.  During a tour, I learned a food forest is an area that has been planted with plants for food and medicine on varying levels mimicking the different ecosystems of a forest. It has plants from large trees to vines on the ground and everything in between. The idea is that plants come back year after year and are sustainable.

Here are a few pictures of  some of the things we saw on Saturday.

In case you aren't familiar, the paw paw is a fruit tree native to the eastern US. 
The fruit is rarely seen in stores because it only ripens for three weeks 
out of the year and is difficult to transport because of its soft flesh.


Paw paws. These are a cultivated variety and are a little larger (about 4" long) than the wild ones. They also have fewer seeds than the wild ones. 


There were paw paw trees for sale, which by-the-way can grow up to 20' tall. I didn't get one because I decided next year, I'd just go to my sister-in-law's house were they have a lot of paw paw trees in their woods.


This was our tour guide who taught us about food forests. The A-frame behind him is full of paw paw seedlings. They need to spend the first few years in shade before they are planted in full sun.


This food forest is about seven years old. You can see the different levels of plants. There are two basic methods for planting--one is to fill a space with different plants and the other is to plant islands that will eventually grow together. This farmer chose the island method.


One of the things I sampled here were the fruits from this che tree. They were sweet and juicy and I really liked them.


However, I didn't sample these Jerusalem artichokes also know as sun chokes. They are used for their roots but can cause digestive upset if you eat too many. My brother-in-law confirmed this from experience.


And of course, we had to taste some paw paws. Besides the raw fruit we tried the jam you see cooking above as well as some paw paw homemade ice cream. Both were good but I'd say that I liked the ice cream more. That may have had something to do with the fact that it was 90 in the sun.


Next time in Part 2,  I'll show you the straw bale house the farmer lived in.

14 comments:

  1. I've never had a paw paw. I just checked to see if they are the same thing as a persimmon ... they aren't. There is a town in Michigan named Paw Paw--apparently, after the fruit. Now I'm curious and want to try one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is a town in West Virginia called Paw Paw, also. That's where there's a long tunnel that was part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal system. It's fun to walk or bike through.

      Even though I've heard about paw paws all my life, I wasn't sure if I had tasted one or not. I was surprised at how well I like them.

      Delete
  2. Where in Central America did your guide live?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He lived a lot of different places but lived 10 years in Nicaragua. He didn't say exactly what he was doing, but I think it was some kind of humanitarian work.

      Delete
  3. That is very cool. I have never seen a paw paw but have seen paw paw jam.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The jam they made that day was cooked paw paw pulp with a little lemon juice and sugar. I don't know if it naturally thickens or you need to add something else when you preserve it. We ate it straight from the fire.

      Delete
  4. That sounds like a really interesting tour! Definitely better than housework! I'm glad you decided to attend the tour and shared the pictures and information with us. I like the concept of a food forest. I haven't had paw paws, but I read that they are related to cherimoya and custard apples, which I have had.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This was definitely more interesting than housework. The only problem was the chores didn't go away when I ignored them. I had to work on Sunday, so that's why the plan was to stay home on Saturday. But I'm still happy I went. After the festival, we enjoyed visiting with our relatives, so it really was a good day.

      Delete
  5. How cool. The only pawpaws I had heard of were the flowers, which, upon looking them up are from the custard-apple (annonaceae) family, as Bless said. My guide only mentions the fruit being eaten by small mammals and wild turkeys and the ones I have seen are certainly not trees so that must be something different.

    So, did the ice cream taste like "banana+mango+pineapple"? That sounds like something that I would gobble up as I love all three!

    I've never had sunchokes but I see them promoted on a lot of gardening blogs as something that we can grow down here in the "off" season.

    Can't wait for part 2!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The ice cream had a mild pawpaw flavor which taste more like mango to me than pineapple. All I know is that it was good.

      As for sunchoke it grows along the roadside here. If you decide you'd like to try it, be forewarned that it can take over an area easily.

      Delete
  6. I've had paw paws on my list of trees I'd like to plant on my property but I'm glad I read this first as I didn't know they had to be shaded for a few years. I would have planted them in direct sunlight and wondered why they weren't surviving.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought about you when I toured the farm and how you would probably like pawpaws and some of the growing methods he was using.

      Delete
  7. I'd never heard of a food forest. I'd heard once of Paw Paw fruit, but I've never tasted it. I wonder if it would grow here, on the west coast.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know if it would grow there but the literature suggests that it doesn't do well in the moderated climate along the coast.

      Delete

What do you think?