Dawn's Notes
Way Down Yonder in the Paw-Paw Patch - June 2025
by Dawn Phelps, RN/LMSW
As a young girl growing up on a farm in Tennessee, I made frequent visits to a paw-paw tree that grew on the back side of our acreage. Each summer, more than once, I made barefooted treks to that paw-paw tree, carefully searching for paw-paws. In case you are not familiar with paw-paws, they are a fruit that grows more commonly in the southern states. They grow approximately 1-2 inches wide by 2-6 inches long. They grow singly or in small clusters. They are green before they are ripe, and they turn yellow to a rusty yellow or brown when ripe in the autumn. Chilled paw-paw fruit was a favorite dessert of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and Jefferson planted paw-paw trees at Monticello. The first written record of paw-paws in the U.S. was by De Soto. He was a Spanish explorer who found Native Americans cultivating paw-paws east of the Mississippi River in 1541.
I had been told as a child that paw-paws look and taste like bananas. My siblings and I looked forward to eating bananas on Christmas mornings—that was the only time we had then when we were little, and they were so delicious! So when I was told that paw-paws taste like bananas and was shown our paw-paw tree on the back side of our farm, I was excited! I decided that if that tree would grow paw-paws, I would find them! In my excursions to the paw-paw tree, I looked for something that looked like bananas. In my mind, I figured if they tasted like bananas, they would probably look like bananas too. I pictured paw-paws as being long, yellow, and growing on stalks in big bunches like bananas. Determined, over and over, I visited the paw-paw tree—in the early spring, mid-summer, and toward the fall. I searched, really visually searched the branches for a fruit resembling a banana, but I never saw even one paw-paw. I have never forgotten the disappointment I felt each time!
Then one summer in June my husband and I went to Tennessee for our annual family reunion. During each reunion, it is routine for a group of relatives to take a nature walk on or near the “home place” where my grandparents had owned a large farm. During the walk that year, for the first time in my life, one of my cousins pointed out two paw-paws growing very high up in a tree! If he had not been specific about where to look, I would have never seen them that year either—I had to really look hard to see them! No, they were not yellow, not in a bunch like bananas. They were growing singly, green elongated fruit about 2-3 inches long, high, high up, blending their green color with the leaves around them! They were much smaller than I would have expected and were not fully grown.
When questioned further, my cousin and uncle described paw-paws as having a mild banana to vanilla flavor, having seeds that must be removed, and of tasting good in homemade ice cream. I came away from the experience pleased and a little more knowledgeable. I was excited to finally see a paw-paw after waiting for many years! Then a few weeks later in August, my husband and I were "exploring" at the Big Spring near Van Buren, Missouri. When I looked up in a tall paw-paw tree beside the path, I knew what to look for, and I excitedly exclaimed to my husband, "Look! There's a paw-paw!"
had finally figured it out—I had spotted a paw-paw "way down yonder in the paw-paw patch," as an old song goes. Sometimes it takes a while to find something you may have wished for since childhood. And in our adult years, we pursue more important interests than paw-paws. For example, getting an education or choosing the right mate. Having a family and working to make a living. And just when we think things are going well, our worlds are sometimes disrupted by an illness or death of a loved one. If that is your situation, you know what I am writing about; I have been there too.
Then we may begin to search—for how to deal with our new circumstances, how to deal with being alone, how to help our hearts heal. As my cousin helped me on my search for a paw-paw, we sometimes need a little guidance if we are grieving. So never give up on hoping and dreaming for a new purpose that is out there, waiting just for you.
Call about the next "Living Life after Loss" Group at:
Meadowlark Hospice
709 Liberty, Clay Center, Kansas
(785) 632-2225
Dawn Phelps, RN/LMSW, Group Facilitator