Blog Archives

Planting the Pawpaw Patch

11/26/2010

Four pawpaws planted in a row.

Danny Gabb was kind enough to give me four pawpaw seedlings: one LSU, one Arkansas 21, and two unlabeled seedlings. Danny said one was LSU and one Arkansas 21, but he didn't know which was which.

I planted the seedlings in the front yard this weekend, following Jerry Dedon's advice. The seedlings were all placed in a row down the western edge of my front yard where they should receive good filtered sunlight.

Danny also gave me several pawpaw seeds, including seeds from Mango, Susquehanna, MD-9, MD-14, LSU Trial Orchard selected seeds, and some Louisiana native seeds for rootstocks. I plan on planting these, and grafting the Mango and Susquehanna onto the two unlabeled trees out front.

Looking South

Arkansas 21 Pawpaw

The front yard.

6 Comments

Field Trip - Cockrell Butterfly Center

11/24/2010

0 Comments

Red Postman Mimic Butterfly

I recently paid a visit to the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It was amazing! We saw hundreds of beautiful butterflies and exotic plants. I got to see several examples of the swallowtail family (the giant swallowtail is a frequent visitor to my backyard), and many other fascinating specimens. In the upstairs part of the exhibit, we got to see several butterflies emerging from their chrysalises. My son isn't even two-years-old yet, and he loved the exhibit.

Of particular interest for me were the many exotic fruiting plants and trees. I saw a Calabash tree, several coffee bushes, and a Guatemalan avocado. There were fallen coffee berries everywhere, so I asked a volunteer if I could take some home. She said she didn't know, but she didn't think it would be allowed. I was with the wife and kiddo, so I didn't pursue it any further. I should have though. If I ever get back there, I'll be sure to ask the curator.

Another brilliant thing we saw was how they provide water for the butterflies. I've often heard that you should put mud out for butterflies to get a drink. Butterflies can't drink from birdbaths, and need moist soil to get water. The butterfly center uses red plastic bowls with large scrubby-sponges. Super cheap, and very effective. That very day I went to the grocery store looking for the sponges and bowls, and that afternoon, I set out my new butterfly drinking fountain.

Brown Clipper Butterfly

Red Postman Butterfly

Zebra Longwing Butterfly

Rice Paper Butterfly

Butterfly water station.

0 Comments

Field Trip - Home of Dannny Gabb

11/20/2010

0 Comments

Papaya

Today I was fortunate enough to be invited out to the small town of Simonton, Texas to visit Danny Gabb (one of my new fruit heroes). Danny was a very gracious and generous host, gave me a fantastic tour of his fruit tree collection, and sent me home with four muscadine vines, four pawpaw trees, pawpaw seeds, and copies of his freeze protection notes and observations from this winter.

I really appreciate him being so generous with his plants and his time. I learned a lot, and came home with some good ideas for my own edible landscape.

Thanks again Danny!

Muscadines along fence.

Citrus

Stand of pawpaw trees.

Young pawpaw.

0 Comments

Field Trip - City Hall Farmers Market

11/18/2010

0 Comments

City Hall Farmers Market Brings Local Food Downtown.

I recently discovered the City Hall Farmers Market, which is held downtown every Wednesday from 10am - 2pm. I think this is a fantastic idea. Many people, myself included, live outside Beltway 8. It's not very convenient to drive back into town to go to the other Urban Harvest markets on the weekends. However, holding a farmers market downtown means that many more people can support local growers by buying their fresh produce on their lunch break.

My family buys its produce from Evans Veggie Farm, so I don't need to try to pick up a load of groceries. But even if you're not shopping for veggies, it is a great place to spend your lunch hour. Personally, I'm all about the fruit: Changsha tangerines, Owari Satsumas, Fuyu and Hachiya Persimmons, and soft-ball sized Wonderful Pomegranates. For the past few weeks a colleague and I have been touring the stalls, picking out lunch, and sitting on the steps near the public library to eat while we listen to the live music. I wish the market was open everyday, especially since the weather has been so nice.

Mr.Glen Miracle, Laughing Frog Farm (And Heck'uva Nice Guy)

Laughing Frog Farm Produce

Owari Satsumas

Pumkins, Greens, Squash

Peppers

Me with Ray Sher, Urban Harvest Guru

0 Comments

American Persimmon - Diospyros virginiana

11/13/2010

1 Comment

American persimmon tree.

Last Tuesday I went to a client lunch at a restaurant called Carmelo's (14795 Memorial Drive). While we were walking in, I noticed a huge persimmon tree right outside the parking lot, loaded with fruit. Since I was supposed to be in work-mode, I couldn't get a better look or collect any fruit just then.

I went back Friday afternoon to take some pictures and collect some of the fruit. I picked up two gallon-size ziploc bags of fallen persimmons, and tried a few of the ripe ones. They tasted pretty good, but not as good as a fully ripened Fuyu. It seems that the best tasting ones were just a few minutes from rotten.

When I got home, I extracted all the seeds. The seeds were covered with a slimy film or seed coat, which I assume is to protect the seed and keep it from drying out over the winter. I removed the seed coats and spread the seeds out on a paper towel to dry. After they dried out for a while, I wrapped them up in slightly damp paper towels, placed them in ziploc bags, and placed them in the refrigerator. According to the CRFG Fruit Facts, persimmon seeds should be cold stratified, so these will stay in the fridge until they're ready to plant in the spring.

American persimmon fruit.

I picked two bags of fallen fruit.

Each seed was covered with a slimy seed coat.

Cleaned seeds.

Seeds in ziploc bags with a moist paper towel.

1 Comment

Ripening Astringent Persimmons in the Freezer

11/11/2010

18 Comments

I recently read that freezing ripens astringent persimmons, and several articles on the internet said the same thing: Put a persimmon in the freezer overnight, thaw it out, and all the astringency would be gone.

However, some sites also said that freezing persimmons to ripen them was a myth, and that patience was the only real way to do it. I couldn't find a definitive answer, so I decided to put it to the test.

Frozen persimmon thawing on my desk .

I got an astringent persimmon from Glen Miracle of Laughing Frog Farm, and put it in the freezer overnight. After thawing it out, it was really soft and squishy, like an over-ripe tomato.

Down the hatch.....

I cut it up and peeled it, and got ready for a test bite. It was delicious, with just a hint of an astringent aftertaste. I greedily ate the whole thing, and was quite happy with the freezer method....until the tummy rumbles started.

30 minutes after eating the persimmon, I started to get a pretty bad stomach ache, which still hasn't completely left me 3-4 hours later. The persimmon didn't taste astringent, so I thought all of the tannins had been denatured by freezing. However, it still had an astringent aftertaste, so maybe there were still enough tannins to make me feel sick, even though the fruit was palatable.

So either I didn't freeze it long enough, or freezing persimmons to ripen them really is a myth and the persimmon I has was already semi-ripe.. Based on how I feel right now, I won't be testing the 'freeze it longer' hypothesis. I'll let someone with a tougher stomach take on that one. I'll confer with with the experts on the fruit forums, and post any new developments. For the time being, I'll ripen the rest of my persimmons by letting them sit on the counter until mushy.

UPDATE - 11/15/2010:

I froze another persimmon, thawed it, and then left it in the freezer over the weekend. I pulled it out today and popped it in the microwave for 1 minute. Same result as last time, astringent aftertaste followed by nausea. At least I didn't eat the whole thing, just a few wary test bites. Soda seems to help with the stomach ache.

I'm very disappointed because I really want to like persimmons. I've already got two persimmon trees, and they fruit at a time when not much else is available. I've got one more persimmon ripening on my desk at work. I'll try it when it is super mushy, and hopefully it won't make me sick. If it does, I may have to just forget about persimmons altogether and replace those trees with something else.

UPDATE - 11/17/2010:

Glen Miracle very generously gave me three non-astringent Fuyu persimmons at the City Hall Farmers Market today. Now these are good. Really good. Nice and crisp, really sweet, with no astringent aftertaste. And even more important, no nausea or stomach ache. Glen's Fuyu's are much much better than the ones HEB was selling for $2.50 each. Those were sweet, but kind of rubbery, and they didn't look like they had ripened before picking. Glen's are bright orange red, and I look forward to finishing them off with Joe tonight. I still have one of his Hachiyas ripening on my desk, I'll post an update when I try it.

18 Comments

Website is Complete!

11/7/2010

1 Comment

That didn't take too long. I think I got up just about everything I wanted to, although now I'm wondering why I didn't take pictures of some things throughout the year. I don't really know what style of blog this will be, but it will probably wind up just being pictures of fruit and fruit trees.

Very special thanks to Tammy from the TxRareFruitGrowers club. She was very generous, and met me at Plants for All Seasons last week to give me a Sherwood jujube seedling. I will never turn down a free fruit tree. Thanks Tammy!

1 Comment

Planting the Pawpaw Patch

Field Trip - Cockrell Butterfly Center

Field Trip - Home of Dannny Gabb

Field Trip - City Hall Farmers Market

American Persimmon - Diospyros virginiana

Ripening Astringent Persimmons in the Freezer

Website is Complete!

Clayton Bell

Categories

Archives