tricholabus mitchelli orchard

one problem i am running up against is knowing where exactly my mom's property begins and ends. i don't think i have a major (ethical) problem with stealing paw paws from the flood plain (or even the property next door), but they are not areas i can actively manage. i do see them having some sort of role in my plan though. either through transplanting saplings or collecting for fruit and seeds. we will see how that plays out. there are a number of different areas on her property. a couple good fields, a good amount of woods, and a stand of old pine trees, that i am curious about growing under. the forest areas will benefit from some management and cleanup to help make the existing paw paws more productive. i won't take any old or large trees down, but maybe some of the smaller trees can come down to give more sunlight.  mom's property is to the right. i pulled this map from Maryland's gis website, merlin, at which i found at the address: https://gisapps.dnr.state.md...

what we carried back this past weekend we went down to my mom's to pick some paw paws. there are quite a few. hoping to get back down there. some trees had sooo many. since the collection i have been brainstorming some ways to better collect and transport them. right now i am looking at a 5 gallon bucket backpack style carrier. i would want to come up with a way to put in some sort of inserts to keep the lower ones from being crushed. probably some round discs with legs to support the tier above. one shelf per bucket seems like it should be enough. maybe two. i didn't weigh them. the ended up being a mix of ripe and very unripe anyway. i am not sure it really matters how much we got at this point, though. I think I am mostly laying the ground work for the next couple years. asdf turns out in zipper bags in backpacks  is no not the best way to transport paw paws   The haul from patch 6.

this week we have been doing some taste testing. at michael judd's paw paw festival, i purchased some shenandoah, susquehanna, and allegheny paw paws. i had gotten some from my mom's the day before. our family loooooves a taste test, even though some didn't seem to care much for paw paws. denise and i liked them, and so, armed with the descriptions of the different varieties in judd's book, we dove in! well, scooped in. the susquehanna seemed to be the favorite, with the sweetest flavor. i do wish i had taken pictures of each box to start, because i am having a little trouble remembering which was which.   

this weekend saw the first real feeling steps toward an eventual tricholabus michelli orchard. i went down to my mom's property and worked on mowing a field that will probably end up being the main paw paw patch.  i also found some ripe (or nearly ripe) paw paws to try. these were tested against some varieties that i got at a paw paw festival held by michael judd. at the festival i got three pounds of paw paws. shenandoah, susquehanna, and allegheny. the paw paws from mom's was not as good as they were. with the exception of a particularly delicious one that was growing near my mom's garage. michael judd's festival was interesting. low key as far as fall festivals go. but there were a fair number of people there. a long line for paw paws. i got his two books as well. 

for years i have wondered what would become of my family’s almost-18 acres in southern anne arundle county. too little land to subdivide. to much land to take care of in the case of keeping it as a weekend retreat from the suburbs. who’s got time for going on vacation a couple times a month.  we certainly don’t i thought, early one afternoon as we leisurely made our way home from a quick camping trip to jane’s island state park in crisfield, md. we didn’t have any of the kids, so we had all of the time.  we ended up at the smith island baking company. where they, apparently, make the smith island cake now. in crisfield, md. somehow it lost a little authenticity. while we waited for our order, we read about xxxxxxx, who bought the bakery, and tried hard to keep it viable on the island, but ultimately moved it to crisfield, with an endearing quote “it’s as close to smith island as you can get without getting wet.” as we drove home, denise and i dove deeper into the smith island ...