Freestone Pawpaws

Have you ever heard the Indian legend about a pawpaw fruit that drops its seeds? Well, there is no Indian legend, but the fruit is for real. *wink*

They're large and plump in a bouquet of three scrumptious flavors: cantaloupe, honey-dew melon, and sweet melon-banana -- my favorite is the honey-dew.

The flesh texture is like a chiffon. The seeds come out really clean and easy -- hence a "freestone" and there are no other true freestone pawpaws I know about.

They freeze perfect in a seedless filet form. I can't tell the difference between fresh and frozen except for the skin which you don't eat anyway.

As you can see from the picture, the seeds are shaped like shark's teeth. The tip pierces the seed sack -- like "breaking water" at child birth. Then the seed sack withers away. Quite an unusual pawpaw here! I'll be selling seedlings in a year or two.

Kentucky Champion Pawpaw Grafting Stock is Available for 2013 Season

3/3/13 Announcement:

KY Champion TM  Pawpaw Scion wood is available while it lasts.

Check Out the additional product offerings at the American Seeds Web-store:  

• native cross-vine seeds
• native pipe-vine seeds
• north american persimmon seeds
• opuntia humifusa inermis spineless cactus starter-pads.

World Demand Grows for American Pecans

In 2011 the Wall Street Journal wrote about a booming pecan economy that's long-term:

Shell Shock: Chinese Demand Reshapes U.S. Pecan Industry

Pecan trees are rather tricky to graft and they don't do very well as transplants.  I've grown seedlings out of the shell.  They do best in the hot and humid climate found in the southeastern USA.

Hawaiian Pineapples Making a Come Back with Family Farm

I've been frustrated and disappointed with declining food quality at the supermarket.  Hormone-treated meat-products literally stink.  They aren't even legal in  Europe.  We no longer buy "fresh meat" at the grocery.   It tastes bad and it's overpriced too.

The fruits and vegetables aren't much better and produce-giants have become an easy target for small family farmers.  Quality was sacrificed for economies-of-scale and outsourced-labor, leaving great opportunities for local farmers to fill the demand vacuum.

There are several opportunities for quality fruits and vegetables with "value-added" marketing -- where you can take a product with superior quality and offer it to the public in a different venue and form.  In other words it isn't the same product -- it's more like the product you could buy 50 years ago.  By-products are sold to help lower the cost of the premium product so it can compete head-to-head with the big-producers.   You'll pay a little more, but the quality is so much better.

The pineapple industry in Hawaii shows how one innovative family farmer can make a big difference:

Why I'll Never Buy Real Estate Again

Why I’ll Never Buy Real Estate Again

Forward

The American economy was derailed by the 2008 real-estate market-crash, and the recovery has limped along since then.  Unfortunately the root-causes are still in place and the damage continues.  Don’t expect the real-estate market to recover anytime soon.   Until then – buyer beware!

Summary

After my “fire baptism” in the world of real-estate I’ve decided I’ll never buy again because I can’t accept the risk of a title that’s perfectly legal but not worth defending.  The chain-of-real-estate-title is tainted by a combination of irresponsible-borrowers and reckless-lenders (mainly the mega-banks) that won’t do a thorough title-search before lending their money.  Lending-standards have tightened since 2009 but the fundamental problems remain.

Introduction

In 2012 I wanted to start a tree-nursery operation in the state of Kentucky by purchasing 1 acre of rural-property near the Cumberland National Forest.   It was well-situated for my purpose at a cost of $3,500.  I hired a real-estate attorney.   His title-search at the county-courthouse showed the current-owner/seller did not have a clear-title to the land though his legal-deed showed rightful-ownership.  The property’s history explains why.

Incomplete Title Work in 2001

In 2001 the 1-acre property was subdivided from a tract of land that was originally more than 100 acres.  Out of ignorance the large-tract-owner did not revise his deed for the piece that was subdivided, and he saved a trivial sum of money.   The 1-acre property-owner recorded his deed at the county-courthouse.

Defective Loan in 2001

After the sub-division-transaction the 100-acre owner borrowed money from Countrywide Real Estate with a “liar loan.”  He submitted his original “unrevised” property deed that included the subdivided-property as collateral and he borrowed more money than the property was worth.

Due Diligence Failures 2001 - 2006

Countrywide did a title-search from their location in another state -- meaning they did not go to the county-courthouse.  Countrywide folded in a national real estate scandal and Bank of America took over the loan.  They did their title search from Dallas, Texas.  They didn’t hire anyone to research the county-records at the courthouse.  Their title-information was no better than Countrywide’s, and they used the “unrevised” deed as collateral for the loan.

Property Foreclosure in 2009

In 2009 the 100-acre-land-owner foreclosed on his property including the house that he lived in.  He ceased making his payments. 

Mega-Banks don’t do “Real” Title Searches

I entered the picture in April of 2012.  Posing as a potential customer for a mortgage loan on the property, I discussed the title-history with a BAC loan-officer.  I asked why they didn’t hire an attorney to review records at the county-courthouse before they made loans.  He explained -- BAC has an umbrella title-insurance-policy that covers all the good along with the bad real estate properties, and they pay a fortune for it.   As long as the customer makes payments they don’t really care.

Bankruptcy Proceeding in July 2012

In July 2012 BAC launched a lawsuit against the100-acre property-owner. The entire property will go up for auction including the 1-acre tract rightfully owned by the third party who offered it to me.  It will cost more than $10,000 to defend a piece of property worth $3,500 – obviously a loss.   I lost about $1,000 on the surveying costs and legal fees.  The third party will lose his one-acre property. The 100-acre landowner loses his property and residence.  The land is worth less with poor title-work – hence the county will lose on property-taxes.  The state and federal government lose tax-revenue on a small-business start-up that never happened.  Even the bank loses – they won’t fully recover the loan.  In short - everybody loses.

Conclusion

A small real estate buyer can’t afford the risks that banks routinely absorb, and title insurance does not solve the problem.  This drives down property values.  It’s little wonder that the real-estate market is feeble and that our local, state, and federal governments are having money problems. 

Pawpaw Seeds (Asimina Triloba) for Sale in 2012

The pawpaw fruit harvest is in for 2012 and it's been good.  I have thousands of seeds available.  Check them out at the American Seeds Web-store 

Kentucky Champion Pawpaw Tree 2012

The Kentucky Champion TM pawpaw tree had it's best year after 4 years of recovery from record ice storms that broke off the south half of the crown and the largest limb.  It started bearing on July 22nd and it had 31 pounds of fruit from 53 pawpaws that averaged 265 grams each (more than 1/2 pound).  Nurseryman Cliff England and I sampled the fruits pictured below.  According to him it was one of the best he's tasted.   He's selling grafted-stock at the England's Nursery website.

384 gram pawpaw fruit shown above, 398 gram shown below.

 

 

The story of the champion tree was featured in the Richmond Register newspaper.

 

This spring I discoverred a stand of crossvine that I found exceptionally beautiful.  Eventually I plan to sell it under the name "Kentucky Beauty":

 

 

So far I have successfully propagated some cuttings from this vine.  The seeds were destroyed by larvae from a parasitic moth.



Early Bearing Pawpaw Trees

It's early August here in Central-Kentucky and the International-Pawpaw-Convention at Kentucky-State-University is more than a month away followed by the Ohio-Pawpaw-Festival -- long-after the fabulous early-bearing-trees drop their last-fruits to eagerly-awaiting pawpaw-snatchers like me. Are we in a different time-zone or what?

This year I'm reporting on two early-bearing-trees: the Champion-Tree in Richmond that started bearing on August 5th and a new discovery dubbed "Early Bell" that's located near the Bell House in Lexington, and it officially bore it's first ripe fruits on July 29th. The season has experienced some record heat-waves that appear to have caused a moderate degree of skin-scorching and uneven fruit-development on the Champion Tree, but the Bell tree was apparently unaffected.

As far as I know Early Bell, as it were, takes the prize for christening the 2011 pawpaw harvesting season. Bell has a very mild and moderately sweet-tasting fruit with only a hint of tropical pawpaw-flavor and NO bitter after-taste -- a good beginner's pawpaw. This was confirmed by two young bystanders on the scene, Phil and his lady-guest that have never tasted pawpaw fruit before. I asked him to save a few samples for the KSU pawpaw curators, but I can tell it's gonna be slim pickings as the pawpaw tree is in Phil's back-yard, and he took an immediate liking to the discovery.

Bell's medium-to-large fruit bears a double-row of long finger-shaped seeds that are sometimes wispy like Peterson's Rappahannock pawpaw seeds. The seed-count and weight is about average and the seed-sacks are cling-free, making seed removal easy.

As I said before, this is quite early for pawpaw fruits. It makes the International Pawpaw Conference seem like the World Baseball Series played in snow... speaking of which I hope to bring frozen-fruit-pulp popsicles to the Conference as tasting-samples to pass-out during my presentation. That should make an impression!

Early Bell Tree Fruits (2011)

Note the plump shape and fruit clusters up to ten or more

Bell Tree Lexington, KY

KY Champion Tree Fruit Slices (2011)

Champion Tree Fruit

Note the size and rugged skin form.

Corn Rows Down Wall Street

Associated Press Business Writer, Bernard Condon, writes about a coming wave of investors turned into wanabee farmers. Farm-land is getting snapped up to fuel the next bubble. Buyers beware!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Down-on-the-farm-investors-apf-2437798760.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&ccode=#mwpphu-container

Before you abandon your day job for an entrepreneurial farming career ask yourself a serious question -- Is farming really for you? I'll give you a hint: it isn't for the couch potato or the derivatives-trader that works in an air-conditioned skyscraper. It's physically demanding work.

If you're serious about agriculture you need a good business strategy. You'll have a hard time surviving against seasoned, well-financed, large-scale producers that grow and sell standard food commodities. The best opportunities are in niche farming, the subject of this web-blog. It's done on a much smaller scale for a select group of customers that want specialty food-products that aren't suited for large-scale farming.

KY Champion Pawpaw (Asimina Triloba) Tree Scions Available for 2011 Season

Reporting from Central Kentucky

The champion tree looks good for another growing season. As of February 20, 2011 grafting scions are available at the web-site until they are sold out:

https://sites.google.com/site/nativeamericanplants/American-Seeds-Catalog/pawpaws/ky-champion-pawpaw-tree

We already knew the champion pawpaw tree has a very large tasty fruit.

Pawpaw fruits about the size and weight of a 12 oz soda can.

The pleasant surprises keep coming in such as:

Last summer the champion tree was ahead of all cultivars at KSU. We tasted three very large and ripe pawpaw fruits before August! All of those were 270 grams or larger. If anyone knows of an earlier-bearing pawpaw tree please let me know. This is a genetic trait by the way.

Last spring we grafted some scions, and one of those has 3 flower buds this year – so it looks like precocity is in the genes as well!

Tree graft in first year. Note 3 flower bud formations.

I’m looking forward to another year of surprises as we compare DNA with a stand of pawpaw trees at Ft. Boonesboro about ten miles further down Otter Creek from here. As I understand it, pawpaw fruit was Daniel Boone’s favorite and I’m certain he came across a lot of pawpaw trees in his wilderness adventures. Anybody going to the fort would be quite unprepared to stay without food provisions -- especially under Indian siege. (Boone was captured by the way).

What would a fort be without heir-loom seed-gardens and a few top-choice selections of pawpaw trees around the grounds? That would be kind of like a home without a refrigerator!

Happy gardening!

pawpawman

2011 Announcement: Pawpaw Seeds, Scions, and Seedlings for Sale

A quality assortment of pawpaw tree propagation materials are available for the 2011 season. Check out these offerings in the American Seeds Catalog of the e-Trading Path website.

American Seeds Catalog

Please stay tuned to Craig's List announcements starting around late March and continuing through June of 2011.

Champion Size Pawpaw Tree found in Kentucky

It's now official. The KY forestry service verified the measurements on a remarkable pawpaw tree specimen I recently discovered in Madison County, Kentucky. It's a whopper (refer to archive):

KY Champion Pawpaw

It was edged out for the national honors by the new national co-champions from Virginia verified in Jeff Kirwan's neck of the woods (Virginia Tech division coordinator).

The KY tree has a fabulous tasting large fruit with smaller than usual seeds and some interesting historical footnotes. Pioneers first settled in Madison County during the Boone expeditions in the late 1700s. The tree is located on a creek basin that leads to Fort Boonesboro. It's near the historical ruins of a green house built in the mid 1800s. Historically notable people from the 1800s owned the land where the current tree is growing. It's on the remnant of an old orchard property dating back to the late 1800s.

Proceeding on to the early 1900s, Central Kentucky had about four entries in the famous 1917 pawpaw tree competition sponsored by the Journal of Heredity. If anyone can tell me more about the Central Kentucky entries, and an apparent Madison County entry I would greatly appreciate it. Here's the 1917 map and the Central Kentucky entries are circled in red:

I have done quite a lot of research on this amazing tree in archives and out in the field. With KSU's assistance I plan to have DNA testing to compare this tree to a stand of trees near Fort Boonesboro with similar fruit features. My guess is that this tree originated from fruit traded at a farmer's market that was operating within 1/4 mile of the present tree and the fruit arrived from the Boonesboro area. We'll see if this theory has any factual basis.

It's my heart's desire to make this tree available to the family farmers of Appalachia. Lord willing, it will be a tree of hope for that purpose and perhaps a cure for cancer as well.

NC Seed Money

RAFI provides up to $10,000 of federal assistance to help tobacco farmers switch to new crops.

Here's another assistance program for western NC: WNC Agricultural Options

Farm to School Opportunities

Farm to School is a great program that matches local farm produce to the public school lunch menu. Check out your state to see where it is offered.

Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is another great resource for the local farmer.

Saving the Family Farm

We seem to have a 21st century version of the Great Depression. I remember the accounts from parents and grandparents in my family -- those in the country survived better than those in the city.

Value in America is disconnected from reality. Executives received huge salaries while destroying the financial condition of the companies they worked for. They benefited from taking great risks at the expense of taxpayers and stockholders because their companies were supposedly "too big to fail" and they were bailed-out.

A company that was "too big to fail" was considered a monopoly before deregulation took place in the 1990s , and the solution was either regulation or a split-up like Ma Bell and the Baby Bells in the telecommunications industry. Now, with deregulation in place, a failing company is merged with another oversized company to create one that is "much too big to fail." In a free market economy failure means bankruptcy -- in this economy failure is rewarded with executive bonuses to keep on failing so the government can keep on bailing. Decision-makers aren't accountable for their own decisions.

We have "low inflation" but nevermind wildly fluctuating commodity prices and stagnating wages. Things can look OK on paper with phony accounting to report "goodwill", "tax deferral benefits", and "assets" that could just as well be liabilities. America's trade deficit is funded with IOUs to foreign countries, and what are they really worth? On the otherhand an apple is still an apple.

To sum it up, the "paper economy" of stocks, monetary policy, stimulus, bail-out, mortgage rescue, etc. are illusions with no accountability. They don't offer very much for commodity producers, and their day of judgment may have finally come.

Medical costs continue to rise at double-digit rates as some doctors in higher risk specialties can no longer afford insurance premiums in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. They're closing the doors. Obesity, age, and diabetes go hand-in-hand. Americans continue to get older. There's a huge health crisis coming and nutrition is a big part of it. Who is going to pay the doctor bill? Has anybody asked -- who will be healthy enough to work? Around 1/3 of our school-aged children are obese. Public schools no longer employ nutritionists.

The Mega-farm model is failing. Then there are the mega-farms with quality standards going down while food imports go up. The Walmart business model has not worked very well for good nutrition and health. Meats in the grocery store don't taste, smell, or look very appetizing compared to what they were twenty years ago. It's the growth hormones designed to increase the fat on livestock and poultry, and the preservatives to ship it longer distances. If you eat it, then it does the same to you.

In summary, I believe the family farm is a bed-rock resource for our nation's long-term survival through all of this. Past family-farm experiments failed because they did not have a viable business plan. In the current environment I believe the family farm has a lot to offer compared to the whims of a "paper economy" and America's huge eating disorder. Maybe politicians can buy more time with more illusions and you can wait another ten years before getting concerned.

I conclude that interest rates are low because the accountability for risk isn't where it belongs. Low interest rates are merely an illusion for "capital rationing." Try getting a mortgage and you'll see what I mean. Free market is it? Stay tuned.

Commercial Grade Orchard Trees

If you want orchard-trees that produce the kind of fruit you buy at the grocery, then you should purchase the trees from a commerical-grade nursery. You can purchase great trees for less than $10 each.

Commercial-grade nurseries rate fruit-size according to commercial-growing-standards.

For example the size-standards for sweet-cherry-trees are found in the Code of Federal Regulations. The commercial growing and packaging operations must match fruit size to their processing equipment. If the fruit doesn't meet the size-standards then the packagers have processing and marketing issues, and the grower has an inferior crop with substantial income losses.

Van Wells Nursery in Wenatchee Valley, Washington adheres to the standards, and they sell exceptional quality trees for less than $10 each. The cherry size is 1 inch diameter or better. No order is too small.

Notice their trees are either patented or trademarked. You'll never see these trees at Walmart!

Introduction to Growing American Native Plants

American native plants are rare and unusual, yet they are often overlooked where they are the most compatible -- in our own yard. For example, the American paw paw tree makes an excellent edible landscape tree with interesting tropical foilage, large delicious fruit and very few pest problems. In the Fall the leaves turn an attractive yellow color. Here are a few excellent native plants for the garden and landscape:


Spineless Cactus Pad Cluster (Opuntia Humifusa Inermis)
Cold hardy hybrid cactus, no dangerous stickers, Yellow flowers with purple seed pears, Growing zones 5-9.

Crossvine, Native Beauty (Bignonia Capreolata)
Semi-evergreen Cold-hardy Perennial Flowering Vine, Crimson Red Throat with Vibrant Yellow Petals, Attracts Hummingbirds, Prolific Floral Display with Spring & Summer Blooms, Tropical Vine Appearance, Growing zones 5-9.

Paw Paw Tree Seeds (Asimina Triloba) Improved Cultivars
The Paw Paw tree has tropical tasting fruit and it's useful for landscaping too. Growing zones 5-8.