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.