Paw Paws, the breakfast of Hoes (Dirty Hoe gardeners that is...)

It is remarkable how quickly a year can pass. It does not seem that long ago when I journeyed to the paw paw patch a year ago, in September of 2009. But since then I have bought land, travelled to China and back, and become a lumberjack, among other things. This lovely morning I took a little trip to the paw paw patch to load up on my fruit fix for the year (I am not a big fruit eater, but I like getting paw paws to eat and share). Learning from past experience, I took plenty of plastic grocery bags with me- no more of this overloading the bag with heavy fruit. I gathered five bags for my clan to enjoy. If you have never had a paw paw, I recommend trying one when you get the chance. They look like mangos, smell like bananas, taste like a mixture of the two, and have the consistency of custard. You can cut one in half and literally eat it with a spoon. The only slight inconvenience is spitting out the seeds, which, luckily, are large and easy to handle. I plan to eat em raw, enjoy them with local raw milk and a little local honey in a paw paw milkshake (click for awesome friend's blog post link), and share plenty with friends and family.

Here are a few shots from the "paw paw patch," which is really an old farmhouse with 2 mature, field-grown paw paw trees in the yard.