EDIBLE OPTIONS - THE FUYU PERSIMMON

What an exciting day and age to be a homesteader in!

Part of our #homesteading goals is providing as much of our own food with as little effort as possible. Since we have stewardship of some land, we have an interesting opportunity right now. Growing any portion of your own food can be a wise financial and health investment, and the more the can grow the greater the ROI.

Though I only learned about the Persimmon fruit and tree a few years back, my Hive account@little-peppers have not had to wait until their adult life to get exposed to this wonderful fruit. In fact, we even have some mature fruit-bearing trees already growing on our land! Here is a video that we made last month when we found the trees on our land.

AMERICAN PERSIMMON

The native American Persimmon trees here in the Ozarks are of the variety Diospyros virginiana. The fruit that they produce is a small round sphere with some hard seeds in the middle. Though they are rather astringent prior to ripening, they are very palatable when they fully ripen and are a real treat that we enjoy.

We plan on incorporating as many native species that produce food into our landscape as we craft our property and build our forests and gardens. Having some already growing is of course a huge plus, but these days we have even more options.

ASIAN PERSIMMONS

Since my Hive account@little-peppers already have quite a good understanding of the American Persimmon, I wanted to expose them to an Asian variety, so I recently picked up some Fuyu Persimmons.

As you can see, there is certainly a size difference. Not only that, there is something else different about varieties like these.

Inside, there is a lack of seeds. This means that we will be unable to just pick up some at the store, save the seeds and then grow our own. However, we still have options.

I let the Hive account@little-peppers try their first Asian Persimmon earlier today while I explained some things. Since both American and Asian Persimmons are Persimmon trees, they can be grafted together. This means that if I can find someone who is growing an Asian variety, I should be able to graft some scion wood from a dormant Asian Persimmon onto some of our native American Persimmons and use ours as a rootstock.

By doing so we would be able to grow a different variety than that which naturally occurs in our area. This is one of the main reasons that I love gardening and homesteading these days; because we now have the opportunity to grow different plants from all around the world right in our own yards.

While we still appreciate and enjoy our native persimmons, being able to grow a bigger variety is not only a great option, but it adds some additional variety into our diet.

It was fun to show the Hive account@little-peppers a "giant" persimmon which they had never seen before. I asked our four year old "Monster Truck the Pepper" what it was and he guessed a tomato. When I asked our little two year old "Sweet Pepper" though, she actually guessed a persimmon. It was cool that she was able to guess correctly.

A GENERATIONAL INVESTMENT

At this point in our life, we are just starting our homestead. Many trees will take years to produce, while incorporating the ones already on the land will save us a lot of waiting. Part of what I am now doing is an investment in the future that will last for generations to come.

Not only will these trees hopefully be there for future generations to enjoy, but I am hoping to impart a certain understanding to others as well, so that it lasts for generations.

When we can work in harmony with the resources available on this planet and understand the benefits that various plants and animals can provide, we can end up with a more fulfilling experience as we live our lives. A real connection to things that aren't concrete and metal is missing in the lives of many, and there are certain reasons that the Hive account@papa-pepper tribe has returned to the great outdoors.

Also, if any of you know of anyone who actually grows a different variety of Persimmon that may have some dormant cuttings that they could take and send me, it would be a huge blessing! We will keep on doing what we do. Thanks for enjoying it!

To learn a little more about some of plans with Persimmon trees here on our homestead, you can check out this recent video.