Author Topic: Texas Fruit Growers Summer Meeting  (Read 1581 times)

edself65

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Texas Fruit Growers Summer Meeting
« on: July 08, 2014, 06:52:49 AM »
Summer Fruit Group Meeting Schedule:

Summer Seed, Scion, Plant exchange and fruit tasting. We have the date, time and location confirmed for the Austin Area and Houston area. Will provide RGV info when confirmed.

Houston Area Meeting:

August 9th 10 am

Bill Arendt Host
11 Shadow Lane
Houston, TX 77080

Spring Branch area of town (West side of town / I-10 and Gessner)

Austin Area Meeting:

August 10th 10 am

Shane and Lisa Lamb hosting in the North Austin area. Directions will be provided once we get closer to date.

Any questions please let me know.

Thanks,

Ed

edself65

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Re: Texas Fruit Growers Summer Meeting
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2014, 12:11:55 AM »
From a member of our Texas Fruit Group:

Texas Black Persimmons taste good, but they're mostly seed and skin, which means they're a lot of work to eat. A few years back we decided to see if we could make a fruit leather from them. It worked great!
They're getting ripe in SW Austin now.
Here's how to make Texas Black Persimmon fruit leather:
1) Gather a bucket load of the fruit. Make sure it's all the way black. Like most persimmons, it's extremely astringent until fully ripe.
2) Gather a bunch of kids. They love squishy stuff. Put kids in old, disposable or protective clothing. This stuff stains like the dickens.
3) Get some cheesecloth or similar straining material. Wire mesh colanders work OK too. I've also used old cotton t-shirt material.
4) Have the kids squeeze as much of the pulp out as possible. You may need to re-strain a second time if some seeds and skin slip through.
5)If you have a dehydrator put the pulp on the fruit leather sheet. (Oil lightly first... we use coconut oil because it doesn't have a strong taste). Give it 8-12 hours, depending on how thin you spread the pulp.
If you don't have a dehydrator, you can put pulp on a lightly oiled flat sheet pan and put in the oven at very low heat.
You can often find new-in-box or barely used dehydrators at Goodwill and other thrift shops. They're frequently given as gifts to people who will keep them around for a while and then dump them once they decide they'll never use it much and it takes up too much space.
6) Hose everyone off. Hose off the table where you were squeezing. Hose off the floor underneath.
7) Check the drying progress periodically. It should be pliable, not gooey, not stiff. It will stiffen up a bit more once you remove it from the heat and the sugars solidify.
 Peel off, cut into strips, eat, enjoy.
9) To keep it from sticking together we dust it with a little rice flour. Some people would probably use powdered sugar - I haven't tried that, and it's sweet enough as is in my opinion.
*Notes of caution: a) Like many fruit, there may be some laxative effect.
b) you can get stains on your clothes when eating the leather, too. So be careful!

edself65

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Re: Texas Fruit Growers Summer Meeting
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2014, 11:04:10 PM »
We will have grumichama and wampee seedlings to give away at our meetings next weekend. The wampees came from an old tree in Santa Fe, Texas.

Thanks,

Ed
Summer Fruit Group Meeting Schedule:

Summer Seed, Scion, Plant exchange and fruit tasting. We have the date, time and location confirmed for the Austin Area and Houston area. Will provide RGV info when confirmed.

Houston Area Meeting:

August 9th 10 am

Bill Arendt Host
11 Shadow Lane
Houston, TX 77080

Spring Branch area of town (West side of town / I-10 and Gessner)

Austin Area Meeting:

August 10th 10 am

Shane and Lisa Lamb hosting in the North Austin area. Directions will be provided once we get closer to date.

Any questions please let me know.

Thanks,

Ed

edself65

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Re: Texas Fruit Growers Summer Meeting
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2014, 10:58:03 PM »
We are asking everyone to avoid bringing citrus budwood or plants to the meetings.

Summer Seed, Scion, Plant exchange and fruit tasting:
 
Houston Area Meeting:
 
August 9th 10 am Saturday
 
Bill Arendt Host
11 Shadow Lane
Houston, TX 77080
 
Spring Branch area of town (West side of town / I-10 and Gessner)
This will be a meeting where all are welcome who have an interest in fruit, plants, grafting and growing. We will have  a grafting demonstration, and a plant/seed/scion exchange and fruit tasting. Don’t worry if you don’t have anything to exchange please attend any way! We will have extra seeds and plants to share!
Any questions contact Ed Self @ edself65@yahoo.com or Facebook message
 
Austin Area Meeting:
 
August 10th 10 am Sunday
 
Reminder - if you haven't gotten directions yet for the Austin area meeting Sunday, please email Shane at pianocomposer15@yahoo.com, or send him a facebook message or email me @ edself65@yahoo.com Please bring a lawnchair or two if possible, we only have a couple. They will have some homemade mamey sapote, mango guava, and vegan mango custard apple ice cream for a snack!
This will be a meeting where all are welcome who have an interest in fruit, plants, grafting and growing. We will have  a grafting demonstration, and a plant/seed/scion exchange and fruit tasting. Don’t worry if you don’t have anything to exchange please attend any way! We will have extra seeds and plants to share!
Any questions contact Shane Lamb @ pianocomposer15@yahoo.com  or Facebook message
 
Rio Grande Valley Area:
 
August 16th 2 pm Saturday
 
@ The Valley Nature Center
301 South Border Ave
Weslaco, TX 78599
 
This will be a meeting where all are welcome who have an interest in fruit, plants, grafting and growing. We will have a speaker -- or a few speakers -- on relevant subject matter, perhaps along with a grafting demonstration, and a plant/seed/fruit exchange. Don't worry if you are new to gardening and don't have plants to exchange, as you can always exchange garden crafts, books, garden tools, and basically anything garden-related. We don't want anyone going home empty handed. :) Everyone will be asked to bring a covered dish :) We will also have door prizes if anyone wants to donate something for the door prizes please get with me :) Speaker list will be updated accordingly.
Any questions contact Steven Ramirez @ ramirezsteven@gmail.com or Facebook message
 
Any questions or suggestions please let us know!
 
Thanks,
 
Ed