Primitive Archer

Happy early birthday wishes to you Pappy. Yes, each one gets closer than the last but we just have to keep going until we can't. Take care of your shoulder so you can get back to hunting the way you like to. I'm sure, in time you will.  I still have you by a few years so I'll keep encouraging you along. 

The paw paws in your picture are not ripe yet, treat them like a banana, they will ripen on the counter. I don't eat the peel because I pick the fruit off the ground in the woods, eat them in place and don't wash them. The peel on a green one is bitter; it is edible if you let the fruit turn yellow.

Because of all the seeds, I break the fruit in half and dig out the meat with a spoon. I suck the meat off the seeds and spit them out along the trail I am walking; I am a Johnny paw paw seed spreader; I do the same for muscadine seeds when I pick up wild muscadines in the woods

I planted some seeds down in my woods in a small clearing, they germinate in a strange fashion, I planted my seeds in August when the fruit was falling from the trees, some came up the following spring, some seed took several years to sprout. I marked all of my plantings with a flag so I would know where they were. The bucks rubbed all of the saplings that for over 5' tall and killed them, they keep sprouting from the root but I gave up on having a paw paw patch and bushhogged them. They continue to sprout from the roots.

Paw paws develop a patch by sprouting from the root system like wild plums. They have a tap root that goes to China so you have to have a specialized extra-long pot if you are trying to grow seedlings. It is my understanding that the seedlings spend their first year after germination growing this tap root before they sprout above the surface.

For the best germination result from the seeds it is important to not let the seeds dry out, keep them moist until you plant them. I did this and got close to 100% germination from the seeds I planted.

Here is one of my small seedlings first emerging and two years later.







   

It also highlights the driving spirit behind many of us. The desire to DIY*. Many of us are not happy to buy solutions to every problem. Some of us take that concept so far that we get in over our heads (show of hands how many of us have a project started and it's stalled out because you have no idea what's next).

My list would contain a variation of projects that range from “what where you thinking “ to “you need therapy “

Still haven't figured out how to get my pictures off my phone on into something I can manage, maybe Beau can help when I have him around. Still having problems with my shoulder, shot the course yesterday with a 38 lb recurve and it seemed to be ok, only a week till opening season so not sure what I will do, haven't hunted with a glass bow since 91 and don't want to start now , very sad and depressing to me at this point. Guess it could always be worse, always wondered what it would be like to not be able to shoot /climb trees and hunt and just as I thought it would be, not a good feeling.  Guess I need to go to the doctor but just hard headed Miss Joanie says.  Hope to get some pictures and stories up soon. Got a birthday tomorrow, seems they are coming faster every year. ENOUGH WHINING,  Life is Good. 
 Pappy

That’s some serious dedication. Every hunt teaches you something new, and it sounds like you’re getting closer each time.