Pawpaws - Let them fall

The delicious Pawpaw

 A yummy fruit native to eastern North America

The first time my husband saw a pawpaw lying on the ground in our woods, he cupped it in his hands like it was a magical diamond and brought it to me.  "What is this?"  He spoke oh, so quietly.

"It's a pawpaw."

He scrunched his face with some hard thinking and remembered hearing that it was a fruit.  Which meant he could eat it.  Which meant he dove right in, forgetting to let me have a taste, and fell madly in love.  For those who have tasted the banana pudding like flesh with a hint of vanilla and citrus, you know what I'm talking about.

Now, he's the crazy guy walking around in our woods with a large stick and poking the trees every middle of September to see how many pawpaws he can get to "naturally" fall because he's grown tired of waiting for them to reach peak ripeness and fall on their own.

To increase our yield, we purchased some pawpaw trees to plant in our yard.  This year they are finally old enough and are producing their first yield of yummy, delicious pawpaws.

While some of the pawpaw fruits do ripen and stay on the tree until some crazy guy comes along and pokes it with a stick, most fall upon reaching peak ripeness.  To ensure that their landing is cushy enough to soften the impact and, thus, keep the fruits from splitting open, adding a layer of mulch can always help.

Here's one of the pawpaw trees without the added mulch layer:

And here it is after putting down a simple layer of hay flakes:

A nice, soft landing for when my husband decides to shake the limbs to get the pawpaw fruits to "naturally" fall.