Monday, September 2, 2013

358 Indiana Banana's and Persimmon's.....

The picture to the right and below show the result of a good growing season in Indiana.  Not only is the
Corn and the Soybeans looking like a good crop but also the PAW PAW's or some call the Indiana Banana.  They are gorgeous and I can almost taste them now.  They are delicious a very soft custard like fruit, very very good.  The native Americans I believe must have loved the fall with these wild fruit like Paw Paw's and Persimmons so plentiful.  It must have been a very festive time for them when the food was right there to be eaten with no labor or hunting to do.  Now like probably back then the only problem was getting them before the coon's did...kind of like with sweet corn the coons seem to move in about one or two days before they are actually
fully ready to eat. The last couple years though I have been careful to grab them and enjoy before my furry rivals get wind that they are ripe.  I know they spread the seeds out in the forest but I do my share of that also...I do keep a lot of the large black flat seeds and plant them in areas where I think they will be best suited.I have cultivated and established three nice paw paw patches here on my little farm.  And the woods to the east of me near the wildcat creek are loaded with lots of paw paw patches. I see them each spring with I hunt mushrooms and I know they have to be loaded this year also..So my furry friends can thrive on them in those areas and leave mine to just me and my family. One think nice for me and the native Americans of old times is they don't ripen at the same time.  The Paw Paw ripens first maybe a couple weeks before the first frost. The Persimmons seen
below ripen about 2 weeks after the firsere t frost. Both are very good and I look forward each year to their coming into season and into my tummy....

We could have used a lot more rain this year to make things perfect so to speak.  But I guess that does not happen to often.  But we have had small timely rains that have produced good corn and soybean crops.  Enough so that I think as the blog title says that there will also be a season of Naples in my rotation this winter.  I get the crops harvested and then we will sometime head south to the land of the adult playground to enjoy the sun and surf and the great friends that we share our time with in that wonderful town.

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