Persimmons

They dangle from the bare branches like tiny orange Christmas ornaments here in the caretaker’s cabin front yard.  The fruit shows up by mid summer and ripens by the end of October. By mid November the orange fruit turns purple and drops to the ground. Last fall the trees provided a constant source of entertainment, attracting deer and opossums nightly. So why are they being ignored this year?

From what I’ve read, if the acorn crop is hearty the deer are less interested in the persimmons. But where are all the opossums? I realize they have a very short life span, maybe 2 years, but this time last year I would always count on spotting 2 or more on a brief walk from the cabin’s front door. I’ve heard more coyotes this fall so perhaps they’ve simply been eliminated. Some reports are conflicting, suggesting that a coyote has a discriminating appetite when it comes to these defenseless slow moving marsupials and simply resists the temptation.

So, not to waste a natural food source, each year I collect a bag of ripened persimmons for our animal ambassadors living over in the Wildlife Wanderland.  And in the past, a few friends have tried to harvest the fruit. Some used bed sheets to catch the fruit with a gentle shake of the tree’s trunk.  The delicious mushy flesh of the persimmon makes great wine, beer, pudding, bread, cakes and jam. And lowers your cholesterol.

I really do miss the opossums and wish the deer had not gorged themselves on so many acorns. But there seems to be a few deer that still can’t resist. Perhaps they too have a sweet tooth!