Bananas are tricky...

Planted at the back corners of the house, were several banana trees. Then, there were those planted in two rows, like a grove, close to the golf course, on the right side of the house. And a whole clump of them planted down in the swale.

Herb taught us to watch for the ones which were ripening first. The huge reddish- purple blossom (similar to a Magnolia blossom) hangs down about a foot from the end of the banana stock. When you look inside the blossom, there are more "baby bananas," which will never grow up. As the bananas mature, the four ridges on each fruit smoothes out, and when they are completely smoothe, that's the time to cut the stock from the tree. But only if you have a strong man with strong shoulders, or a wheelbarrow with you. The weight can be 25 to 50 pounds or more.

Bob learned to make a slip knot in a rope, to slide over the cut end of the stock, and with my help to hoist it onto huge hooks in the garage. As each "hand" of bananas began to turn yellow, we would slit the "hand" off and bring it inside for use in the kitchen. Fresh and sweet. Mmmmm.



In the winter months, the bananas seemed to ripen more slowly, and we got anxious about cutting off a stock. We had watched it grow for 4 or 6 weeks, and finally, to prevent anyone from helping themselves to "our" bananas, Bob cut the stock off. We were so proud of our hard work. But...

When Herb got back from vacation and saw the stock, with four ridges on each banana, he knew we'd wasted the whole thing. Now, none of the bananas on that stock would finish ripening. We had cut it before it was time. Remember, they were supposed to be smoothe?

When a stock has been cut off, then the most amazing thing has to be done. The WHOLE tree has to be cut down, and dragged off to the ravine, where it will become food for the jungle plants. And after a while, a baby banana tree ("Keiki") will come up where the parent tree had grown. And it begins the cycle again.

The inside of the trunk is just like wet strings, running full length of the tree. It is extremely heavy, and it appears to me that each string goes to a banana, giving it nourishment and moisture. Kind of like corn silks which go to each kernel of corn on a cob. We were warned to be careful to not get any of this juice on our clothes, as it stains badly. They were right!