In Praise of Paw Paws

...and other local wonders

Tickets are going fast. Here’s the link!

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Last evening I was gifted a sack of Paw Paws.  Paw Paws are the largest indigenous fruit in North America and come into season in the late summer/early fall.  In South Central Indiana receiving a sack of Paw Paws is tantamount to having someone hand you a bag of the treasure a Tolkien dragon would eye with envy. Paw Paws have an green thin-ish mango-like outer skin. They have a butter-colored, creamy texture with shiny black seeds and taste like a cross between a banana and mango with subtle hints of vanilla.   Paw Paws are notoriously secretive and temperamental.  They grow in wooded areas and like heavy soils along water sources, but do not like being waterlogged.  Young Paw Paws need lots of sun, but older plants need lots of shade.  They need genetic difference between plants in the patch to pollenate.  They ripen very quickly and are sensitive to bruising and so you will not see them in grocery stores.    Raccoon, squirrel, deer and other woodland critters love them.  Paw Paws are wonderfully local.  They cannot be transported or marketed, preserved or frozen for later.  They are for the here and now, shared with family, friends or given as gifts.

So essentially, if you see a ripe Paw Paw—eat it today, share a bite with someone you love, smile together and be grateful for such a rare delight.  

One of the things I’ve loved about my life on the road is getting to see communities close up.  Every state has its own personality, its own unique natural environment, local foods, local heroes and heroines, local mythology and ghost stories. There was a time a few years back when I took to asking from stage, “What is this place the home of?”  There would always be a moment of pause, and then people would begin to smile, chuckle or cheer, and begin speaking aloud the names of all kinds of people, natural phenomena and products. 

I’d hear things like “This is the home of Koolaid” “The home of Gumbo” “The home of the biggest ball of twine in America” “This is the home of Amelia Earhart” “The home of the starting point of the Appalachian Trail” “The Ancient home of the Pueblo People”  “The home of Wintergreen Mittens and Crappola Granola” “The home of the biggest freshwater lake in the world” “This is the home of “Selmer Saxophones” “the home of Lance Crackers and Crayola Crayons” “The Maple Syrup Festival” and “The first Piggly Wiggly,” “The home of the first skyscraper designed by a woman architect, “The home of Emily Dickinson” “The home of Stephen King or Barbara Kingsolver or Ross Gay.” “This its the home of the invention of the fried Twinkie for the state fair” This is the home of Penzy Spices,” “This is the home where my father grew up,” “This is the place we rescued my best dog Roger Wilco” “This is the home of the fighting Wildcats (three time state champs).” “This is the home of Silly Putty and hoola hoops” “This is the home real key lime pie”and “This is the home of Notre Dame and my grandfather’s bowling alley,” “This is the home of Boston Harbor” “New York Bagels” “Chicago deep dish pizza,” “San Francisco Sourdough Bread” and “The Liberty Bell” and of course in South Central Indiana, “This is the home of Indiana basketball, The Wabash River, Hogie Carmichael and……Paw Paws”.

I have loved asking people who know and love their hometown and home environments, what I should not miss as I make my way from here to there.  I’ve stopped in parks and visited shady streams, climbed to lookouts and walked in old growth forests. I’ve stopped at local coffee shops that serve only fair trade coffee and local diners with homemade to-die-for cherry rhubarb pie.  I’ve listen to stories of local union workers who protested for better working conditions, of the first woman to sit on the city counsel, of brave souls who sat down at lunch counters and in the main section of a movie theater instead of the balcony, stories of the people who built WPA bridges and sturdy buildings that are still in use today.   I heard stories of local people saving a theater, reclaiming a wetlands, a mountain top, a lake or a newspaper. 

Of course I also heard the names of people who will be remembered not for their good works or inspiration or courage, but mostly for the terrible harm they wrought. But those infamous names always have a kind of weightlessness, like dusty footnotes in mostly forgotten books, in comparison to those who were forces for kindness, goodness or firebrands for justice which still ring like shining bells in a green valley.

There is something incredibly powerful about holding with love, humor and appreciation what is unique and beautiful in our own locality.  It is humbling and important to hear and learn from the stories of local people who did honorable and courageous things. Let us hold dear what is wonderfully, beautifully and extraordinarily local.

Let us love what might not always be noticed because it’s absolutely ordinary in your region. Remember with surprise and delight the street you live on, the river or creek nearby, the desert blooms just outside of town, the light on the water, the breeze setting the aspen leaves to tremble— and yes the almost but not quite buttery banana taste of a perfectly ripe Paw Paw.

(As always thank you for subscribing to my Substack page! Please feel free to share with family or friends or anyone who might enjoy this post.

Thanks to Jason & Michelle for the Paw Paws and awesome Paw Paw Bread!

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Practice

Write down on a piece of paper ten things that you love that is particular to the natural environment where you live. 

Question

What is something you love locally?  It can be a local food, a landmark, a river, a bookstore, a story, the name of a person who has made a difference (they do not have to be famous, they can be known own to you). Let us know something about your home area that somehow delights you!

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A song called “Where The Light Comes Down” from The Beautiful Not Yet. It’s about learning to watch for the quality light in the world and in my life. Once you start to look for the friendly universe…it’s hard to not see it everywhere.

“ It took a while before I saw, that the world is mostly made of ache and awe.”

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Upcoming Shows

For more info about these or other shows and workshops this fall visit my website tour page here.

For more info & tickets visit my website tour page