Pawpaws in Ogden, Utah

When I was an undergraduate English major and a poet, I became friends with another undergraduate English major and poet. As way led to way, I stopped being a poet, but my friend kept being a poet. A few years ago she was in Provo doing a reading, and we met her husband, who, it turns out, is very interested in gardening and trees and fruit. So we invited them to drive down from Odgen for the Third Annual Utah Pawpaw Fest. After attending, he decided to plant two pawpaw trees--a Shenandoah and a KSU-Atwood, both of which were cultivars available for tasting at the festival.

The first Saturday of this month I went up to Odgen for a conference at a local university and was excited to have the chance to see how their pawpaws are getting along. I was also excited to have a chance to walk through their greenhouse in the back.

Because I had an extra copy of Andrew Moore's book Pawpaw: In Search of America's Forgotten Fruit, I gave them a copy. 

Yesterday, he called as they were driving up into the canyon to ask about another cultivar he might plant in another space he has in his yard, and to tell me he was enjoying the book. And today, I'm posting the pics of my visit to what I assume is the biggest pawpaw orchard in Ogden, Utah.

Standing in front of the house by a pawpaw tree, book in hand.

Looking down into the cage he set up. Not sure if this is the Shenandoah or the Atwood.

Now looking down into the other cage.

Inside their greenhouse, which he and his dad built onto the back of their house.

A kumquat tree. The first time I ever saw kumquats I was 13 years old and passing through Singapore. There were two trees on either side of our hotel's front entrance. I was so intrigued--such small oranges all over these small trees! The next time I remember having kumquats was in Taiwan in 2015. My hosts have me a kumquat to eat and I just popped it in my mouth and chewed, skin and all like they instructed. It was so sour! But later that day we went to a restaurant that served delicious kumquats that had been preserved in sugar syrup. More recently, we bought a container of kumquats and ate them--so sour again, but still intriguing. The kumquats in this pic are of a different variety, and when I ate one it had a good citrusy and mellow flavor. Thus concludes the microhistory of my life's intersection with kumquats--or is it just beginning?

Another view in their greenhouse. I wish I could remember the names of all the plants.

They had a lot of cool paintings in their house. This one done by her mother.

Here's a pic of a linocut I recently finished, inspired by our recent trips to Robert Smithson's 1970 earthwork Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake. Oh expatriate pawpaws, you're so far from home!