My pawpaw tree has been through too much. Earlier in the summer, after we found five or six pawpaw fruit growing on various branches, the gardeners came. It’s possible that their boss didn’t tell them that the tree was off limits, though the bowtie, two dog collars, and yellow caution tape around his trunk should have been a hint. Mom heard the sound of the chainsaw and sent me out to stop them, way too early in the morning, but by the time I reached the big pawpaw tree six branches had already been removed, and all of the growing pawpaw fruit with them. I managed to communicate with the chainsaw wielding gardener that he was NOT supposed to cut more branches from the tree, and that he should leave the younger trees, about twenty feet away, alone.
I was sure that that was the end of the pawpaws for the year, and, honestly, I was ready to give up the fight altogether. That tree has been my responsibility for almost twenty years; it survived the murder of the second tree (that time they just went straight for the trunk), and the trauma of being replanted when we moved to the co-op, and the humiliation of wearing a bowtie, but it was starting to feel like a hopeless battle.
But, sometime in August, Mom went out for her daily walk and saw that there was another pawpaw on the tree, higher up than the ones we’d noticed before, visible now that the other branches were not obscuring it. I didn’t want to care. A bird or a squirrel would inevitably come along and knock it down or eat it up. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the gardeners had come back in the middle of the night to get that one last branch.
And then, last week, Mom came in from her walk and handed me a pawpaw the size of an egg. It had fallen from the tree, and we weren’t sure it would be edible, but when I cut it open it was ripe and delicious. I need these reminders every once in a while, that good things are possible, and worth working for, even with all of the losses and failures along the way. It was just one small piece of fruit, split between two people, but a little bit of pawpaw goes a long way. Apples and oranges and cherries and pears and bananas are all wonderful things, and easily found at the supermarket, but pawpaws almost seem like they’ve been cooking under their skins, building complex flavors and concentrating all of that magic into one small package.
So, I’m not giving up on my pawpaw tree, though I’m going to have to come up with more creative ideas for how to protect it from the gardeners, and other predators. Maybe an electrified fence? Poison darts? A tree alarm that wakes the whole neighborhood when a squirrel’s foot even touches a branch?
I’ll keep thinking.
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Never in my life have I ever tasted a pawpaw. They look delicious.
If you hurry, you can order a box of them from Ohio, but the season is very short.
Thank you. I’ll check it out.
Those weren’t gardeners; they were wood butchers!
Yep.
Ha! I’ve never had a pawpaw.
You write so engagingly. I think you should come up with a couple of witty and/or fierce signs to put near it! ;- )
I will try! Thank you!
It has been a while since I visited.I was off line for a while , then finally got back to it. my new blog is at janesheartsong.blog if you want to visit.I have been wondering how your dog is doing now.
Tzippy is making slow and steady progress. Thank you for asking!
looks like duck eggs…have a great sunday!
Thank you!
Not so far away from here, the annual pawpaw festival just wrapped up….I keep meaning to get there… https://ohiopawpawfest.com/
That must be amazing!
I never managed to get a truly ripe pawpaw….
Oh no!
Never, ever give up!
Interesting. I looked it up and evidently we have Pawpaw trees in Ohio but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one. I’ve definitely never eaten a pawpaw but now I want to 🙂
They are wonderful!
That’s one tough tree. Glad you’re not giving up on it.
Thank you!
I don’t know the origin of the name, but I’ve always thought pawpaw was a charming name for a tree and its fruit. Or an engaging name for a character in a children’s story. I’m glad the tree is coming back, and that’s an enjoyable photograph of the egg and fruit. It would seem to me you had enough measures of defense in place, though I guess not based on the depredations of trimmers. Something with lasers, maybe?
Lasers would be awesome!
How about attaching a laminated sign that says something like, “Do not cut or damage this tree or any part of this tree under penalty of law.”
That is a completely reasonable suggestion. No fun, but completely reasonable.
I’m sorry to say in all my 68 years of farm life, I’ve never tasted a paw-paw. I should remedy that.
Definitely!
How do you eat a paw paw?
With a spoon!
Yay! for the paw paw and its gentle blessing of hope.
Absolutely!
I love this! May your papaw grown big and strong, and give a 1 -finger salute to any predators, with two feet or four!
I like papaw but I prefere Mango. We never had it much inNZ..was too expensive. Its still expensive..like everything else.. but as popular as any other fruit in Queensland.
From what I understand, the pawpaws in your part of the world are what we would call papayas, which are also delicious but a million times bigger. Pawpaws have a green skin on the outside with a pale yellow fruit inside.
Firstly , sorry about the typos! I wrote that in a hurry 🤦♀️
Yes that’s right, pawpaw are papaya. Our ones are big, mangoes are smaller, size depends on the variety. The pawpaw I’ve seen has an orange flesh. A sweet fruit, like mango.
I’ve never seen the sort of pawpaw you show here, let alone tasted one. That said, even the title evoked memories of my time in Liberia. There, ‘pawpaw’ is the name applied to papaya: quite a different fruit. When I lived there, I named my cat Pawpaw, because of her cute paws and because of her love of ‘kneading’ any available lap. Now, I have to go learn about your kind of pawpaws; I’m glad you were able to enjoy one!
Thank you!
Good for you guys!!! I’m down for the poison darts… 🙂
Thank you!
I don’t understand the antipathy the gardeners have towards an innocent paw paw tree.
Me neither. Harrumph.
In our town they give out free Pawpaw trees once a year. They encourage people to grow them here to help add more trees to our environment. I love in the Ozarks because of that. There is a small business here that makes home made pawpaw ice cream at their ice cream shop on historic main street. We have a pawpaw tree we are trying to grow now that we got from the give away. The man who owns the ice cream shop just bought an old building inn town to start another business where he grows and sells Pawpaws. Sorry about what the gardeners did, that is sad. We had someone poison and kill our peach tree back in the city we used to live in, that was such a sad day. That little peach tree grew the sweetest peaches and we would share them with our neighbors every year. It was a gift I had bought for my husband when we first moved into the house. It was my family that I went No Contact with who had someone spray our whole yard when we were away. killing everything. I left the extended family to protect my little girl after she was being targeted in not appropriate ways by a much older cousin in the family. The family turned against us when we exposed the truths. We are much happier now and in peace, my daughter is grown now and I would do it all over again if I had to, to protect my children from mistreatment I would do what all mothers should do. Love your children and protect them.
I’m so sorry to hear about the peach tree, and the cause of its demise. I’m so glad you were able to protect your daughter, and I hope your pawpaw tree thrives.
Maybe put a sign on it that says “Protected Tree DO NOT TOUCH!”
I could try. Laminated this time, because the temporary signs didn’t survive.
My grandparents on my mother’s side used to talk about those. I never saw one until the internet was in full swing. Sorry to hear about your yield. There’s always next year 🙂
Absolutely!
I am SO here for the pawpaws! I wish we had them around my neighborhood. If I had a yard, I would definitely plant them. Happy you got to enjoy them!
Thank you!