The Patient Pawpaw Tree

Greetings to you, Homestead community!

It really feels good to be able to post here for the first time.

It's a beautiful and sunny Sunday afternoon here. I've just come from our church service, feeling uplifted after a morning of dancing, singing, and listening to the Word of God. As I stepped outside, my eyes landed on the pawpaw tree in the church's backyard.

For years, this particular tree stood barren. We used to have another pawpaw tree in the compound that was always fruiting, but its roots were attacked by termites. Eventually, the weight of its own fruit became too heavy, and it fell over. We watched this new tree grow, wondering if it would ever give us fruit.

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Then, just a few months back, it began. Not only did it start to bear fruit, but it produced an abundance of them! The pawpaws are not only big, but there are so many. It felt so good to finally be able to eat from it for the very first time today.

After the service, I grabbed a ladder to climb up and harvest the ripe ones. I plucked as many as I could carry, sharing them among friends at church and taking a generous amount home for my family to enjoy.

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Pawpaw isn't just an ordinary fruit. It brought back a memory from elementary school and the rhyme we were taught

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Pawpaw is a type of fruit,
Sweet like sugar, yellow like Fanta,
Everybody likes pawpaw!

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And it's true! Pawpaw fruit is packed with valuable nutrients, has an inviting color, and when ripe, has a delicious, sumptuous taste. So yes, everybody really does like pawpaw!

I also learned something amazing today that unripe pawpaw can supposedly help with contractions in pregnant women. I was stunned. I remember when my wife was in labor and her contractions were slow. She had to be medically induced to help things along. Had I known then, I would have gotten her loads of unripe pawpaw to try a natural approach!

Thank you for stopping by ❤️✨

@chatsunny