Prolific Persimmons!

I hopped out of bed this morning with the good idea of getting a lot accomplished.  I threw sheets in the washer, cleaned the laundry room and fed the dogs...I was heading outside!  It was a beautiful, sunny morning with the temps in the fifties so I felt it was the perfect time to cut the grass. This chore had been put off for one reason or another for the past two weeks and now the hillside was beginning to look a mite shabby.  After plowing my way through the ankle-deep grass at the top of the hill, I headed down near the marsh edge.  There, it seemed as if every tree in the county had dropped seeds and they all sprouted.  I had two-foot tall oaks, pines, mimosas and Sweet Bays lining the lower portion of the area.  Time to cut!

As I made my way around the east corner where the Bayou meets the creek, I noticed that the small trees were different.  I stopped the mower long enough to take a gander...these were persimmon trees!  Knowing that I now had a use for these trees other than just eating the fruit, I was careful to avoid cutting them.  Later this coming winter, I will transplant the seedling persimmon trees in some semblance of order.  A row or organized garden would make it much easier to cut the grass beneath them and make the orchard appear neater.  I was going to create a persimmon orchard!  This past year, I nearly stripped the one mature persimmon tree of its leaves to use in making tea.  Every leaf that I could reach was picked, washed and hung to dry.  After several days, the leaves were crumbled and stored in airtight jars.  All winter, I made tea by combining these leaves with other goodies like Hibiscus flowers, Star Anise pods or dried mint.  I have just a small amount of the dried leaves left in the jar and need to start replenishing my stock.

Speaking of the one mature tree, I did notice small fruit already setting on the limbs.  There does not seem to be quite as many as last year but with all the new trees, I should have no worry about gathering enough to eat in years to come!  Some of these small seedlings will hopefully be grafted with limbs from a cultivated persimmon tree.  This grafting is something that Pop tried to teach me years and years ago but I do believe that I have forgotten the fine points.  Since I now have so many saplings on which to practice, I might just give it a go!  I guess I need to go dig out his old agriculture book from high school!  Hmmm..there is a thought..why in the world do they not teach these fine trades in schools nowadays? That bit of knowledge could come in quite handy some day!  Now where is that book?.....