The biggest fruit on the planet, the jackfruit, the connector

Jack Douglas
Photo by Monica Aguayo

Almost 18 kg weighs this depicted jackfruit. Unsubstantiated reporting claims they can weigh as much as over 70kg, 80kg!? Four times as much as this 'wimpy' fruit! Anyone who tasted an excellent jackfruit is hooked by its characteristic smell and taste. It seeds and flesh are even reported to be aphrodisiacs, yet no scientific data yet to back it up. But who cares? This is a fruit in its own league. An insulting label like 'poor man's fruit' must be made up by fundamentalist grass worshipers who are too scared of its smell, because if there is one tree that we tree hugging fruitarkists like to praise it is this one. The jackfruit keeps us connecting to other people. We found this specimen (see photo) on the Agroshopping market under one of the ever expanding shopping malls of Asunción. According to the sales lady the fruit is an import from Brazil. Leaving us with the impression that fruits mature over a longer time of the year than here in Paraguay. Nevertheless we had no doubt about paying its hefty price although per kilo (less than one euro) it is a steal compared to the garbage that is sold in the supermarkets as food, but is actually stuffing. The same day we bought it we had a visit from Felix senior and junior. Although junior was busy with preparing his leave to Italy for his work as a circus acrobat he made time for this because he would want to witness his dad eat a vegan meal with us. We actually had to talk senior over to actually eat what Monica prepared with much dedication and skill. To our pleasant surprise he actually liked it a lot and wants to come back for more. Due to his enthusiasm we asked him if he knew things like Araucaria pine nuts, a tree of Brazil and Paraguay, that he never tasted before in his 65 years here. It was also his first for locally grown peacan nuts which he gladly devoured. In the kitchen he was shown the fresh bit still unripe giant jackfruit. A few weeks ago we planted a seedling in his weekend home in Paraguari after he was told of its taste by junior, who I had met through the jackfruit as well more than a year before, and wanted one badly. However he never tasted its fleshy, tasty insides yet! The conversation turned to jackfruits and we told him here in Paraguay it would probably never grow as back as this one. Senior countered us by saying he had seen biggies like this before. Right here in Paraguay! After which Moni started to interrupt his conversation repeatedly and insistently with: "where!?" Where!!? After continuing this game he grabbed his phone and called the friend with the jackfruit tree. The message back was that it had fruits! Almost mature so we agreed to visit and have a look. Next day I went to pick up senior and off we went. In the back of Eusebio's house there was a relatively young jackfruit tree of about seven or eight years. It didn't have as much bounty as the previous year which had 50 fruits but although there were less, the fruits where bigger. We were first allowed to harvest one that was already bursting out of its skin, a sure sign it was ready. Not that big but clearly ready to eat. Senior talked some more with his friend and pointed out one that he liked. I climbed up the ladder and checked it but said it was not close to maturity yet. Eusebio pointed to another one that had a skin that was turning to a more yellowish green. Having a look at it we decided to harvest it while pictures where taken. After the session the prized deliciousness was united with its Brazilian cousin in our kitchen. It can match it in size and weight, ladies and gentlemen. Growing Paraguayan jackfruit is not only possible, it is not maturing only in February/March, and not only small fruits but big as well! This knowledge makes us very happy because like in other places we can enjoy this aromatic candy for a longer time during the year if we grow trees that mature in different times. A matter of finding, sowing, planting and growing the right trees. Although we primarily grow this for our own appetite, the commercial potential on the Paraguayan market is there. When we bought two fruits from a market salesman on the Abasto market we bought one of the last ten or so of the hundred that he imported from Brazil. As far as we know this product is mainly still unknown and not grown commercially here, while most people love this fruit instantly as soon as they get to taste it. Generation two of our first source of jackfruit seeds is growing with young enthusiasm while the year old first generation are eager to be planted out in Fruitarky in Itá. The seeds of the new fruits that we have now for consumption will be the third and fourth kind of fruits that we will sow. Senior is still waiting for his moment to come by and taste the fresh fruit but we expect him back very soon and hungry!

Doug Fruitarky harvesting jackfruit in Eusebio's tree
Photo by Felix Salas

The first trees planted!

Our first tree planted in new soil, a sugar apple planted by Moni
Photo by Doug Fruitarky

We decided that a Sunday with the expectation of rain to come during the night was a good day to plant our first 'test' trees. The road to Itá via the usually busy Ruta 2 was a smooth sail without the usual police traps and road rage. Upon arrival we found no evidence of new cow activity on our land, our words of mouth and sign to stay out seem to work so far (but not for humans). Almost our land because we still have to make and sign a formal contract with our friend and current owner. But everything has its time here in Paraguay. We choose a couple of trees to plant (click on the names for more info): a sugar apple, a jackfruit, a flame tree, a Tropical almond, a candle nut, an avocado and a silk floss tree. Besides these we had four papaya seedlings with us which is not considered a tree (more about papaya and its importance to us in a later blog). Besides the tools for the job we carried a heavy big bulk bag filled with freshly shredded leaves and twigs for mulching. The soil was moist due to the heavy rains that fell earlier this week and digging was fairly easy for such bare, mistreated earth that visibly suffered from the drought during the summer under hungry bovines hoofs. My permaculture teacher Doug Crouch of Treeyopermaculture pressed one thing onto me before I dove in this endeavor: first plant the water, then the support trees, then the rest. So we went ahead against his advice, that we will take at heart, without a water system and without a whole bunch of support plants in place. For us it is a next step to see whether these trees can survive without pampering them. However most of these trees are fast growing trees and should do fairly well without a water hose and legumes around. Unfortunately the land is not free from leaf cutter ants so we will find out if our healthy, juicy looking, fresh trees will keep off their voracious radar. At the moment soil life seems virtually non existent in most of the place so fast growing, nitrogen fixing support plants is in the master plan. This week we must consult an artisan well expert that we found through an amigo to see if this if this water works is a viable option depending on the costs. Under a darkening sky we left the new residents behind, feeling hopeful and fulfilled. So much to learn, to know, to plan, to do.

 

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We want you for our army of tree planters!
Photo by Monica Aguayo

Sowing the idea of fruitarky

Many people feel worried about the future of our planet and for reasons that are more valid than they may realize but feel powerless about. The reason for the demise of life as evolution brought forth is us, humankind. The solution is not us. We are not even to blame, nothing is. It’s just as it is, how things evolved along a path that can be logically explained. We, fruitarkists, are among the ones that realize what is happening and what is coming. Even our own near term extinction in say a couple of decades from now, if we believe the latest science briefings from professor Guy McPherson, because of runaway climate change will not soften the blow of our created consequences on the global environment as we set things in motion that our disappearance will not stop. The realization of this fact may lead to amongst other things despair, indifference or action. Possible common actions like installing solar power on roof tops, buying a hybrid car, promoting thorium reactors, voting green, starting a vegetable garden or sterilization are actions that will not change the current course the slightest bit or even just continue it at the same speed. The most disruptive action that we can come up with is to start to eat copious amounts of fruit! And we do this without even having the hubris to think that it will save ourselves or anything. Nevertheless it is the most disruptive (retro) ‘technology’ or action that we can come up with. We must be silly, right? How about discovering more but infinite amounts of cheap energy instead for instance? Well, stuffing your face with fruit comes sort of close. Not just because of the deliciously sweet sugars but because it would change everything! Yes, everything. How is that possible you wonder?

Sunlight makes life on this planet possible and abundant. Our bodies are made of atoms from suns and we need the energy of the sun every single day. Without the sun, no life on planet earth. Simple as that. Of course there needs to be water and all the other ingredients but without its daily dose of solar energy life here stops instantly. The rays of sunlight are converted by plant life into a different kind of energy than light: roots, leaves, wood, flowers, fruits and seeds (usually in that sequence). Truly a process that doesn’t get the respect from us that it deserves. Few of us think highly of plants and trees. Because we think we are smarter while actually we are or act rather stupid ourselves. That’s why. We are not insane like writer Derrick Jensen likes to claim in his premise 10 of his book Endgame, although destroying your environment may seem so yes. We are not completely stupid either also. Humans started out by eating plant foods, the occasional insect and that was probably it. But along the linear timeline we stumbled upon easier ways to get the energy from the sun than via plants. And like anything else on the planet when it is easier we tend to stick to it as long as we can. More oil (actually ancient sunlight), anyone? Important evolutionary novelties like speech, organization and tool making brought us in the predicament where we are today. From the first cutting tools to the neutron bomb, of which we decided it was one step too far, we discovered our possible amazing powers that we could yield over the entire planet to get things easier, for us. Save me your natives and noble savages idealizations, there are animals and plants that are long time extinct because they met their tool and organizational skills, appetite did the rest. We will admit that they had and have less impact than we have today but they were no angels either. Why? Because like any other organism on the planet they won’t turn down an opportunity for an easy meal. Food is energy and along the slippery historic path we became less and less picky in what package it comes, curious beings as we are. Roasted human enemy meat, anyone? This culminated into the primary source to still our personal hunger today: supermarkets available in all sizes and shapes. As long as you have money, not something evil in itself but a derivative of energy, you don’t have to chase a herd of herbivores of a cliff, wait patiently for a fish to take your bait or plow a clayey field. You go in and grab what you want, pay, done. Now if money itself came just easy as well we would all be in heaven, right?

 But that is not the reality. Humans do about everything you can think of to gather money or fill shopping malls, including basically enslaving or even killing each other. This problematic behavior is not limited to other humans but everything else that lives or doesn’t as well. Sure nature itself can be violent. We are part of nature so we have some violence in us, someone came even up with the human killer ape theory. But we have created an ultra-violent culture called civilization that has no match and is no match for nature itself. Many words have been and will be written about civilization. The start of agriculture is seen as the basis for civilization coming to the front about thirteen or so thousand years ago. Despite its many challenges ultimately agriculture seemed easier for the hunter gatherers that decided to abandon their old lifestyle in favor of this new one. To many this change was a defining and radical change in the evolution of mankind. And we, fruitarkists, like to think so as well. From a life in closely tied, egalitarian, small bands, without property to speak of, wandering in a world with only natural borders - towards a life in megacities, dysfunctional families, chasing property/money, stuck in one place in an authoritarian society that is ultra-violent. For those who don’t see the violence, try to not pay your bills for a while, as a small example. Yet this culture that has its roots deeply in agriculture has conquered virtually every nook and cranny on the planet, destroyed every other form of human lifestyle during its rise. And now we are stuck with it, or so it seems, to our very, maybe sooner than we think, end. As soon as you start agriculture, you start war with nature. It forces you to protect something in one place that you say is yours while the rest around you sees it as ‘for all’. Ownership of land leads to the property of things, animals, plants and people. Protecting or acquiring property comes with violence and men are better at being violent than women. Putting all your interest in one place is separation from the rest. Separation from nature has lead to the unbridled exploitation and pollution of all natural resources worldwide. A practice that is simply unsustainable. So agriculture and civilization are problematic for itself and the rest of the planet. However this dominant culture seems to have the upper hand in a game of hand wrestling with Mother Earth. A game that ultimately can’t be won because nature has more time and patience than humankind and of course we simply can’t live without her, no matter how much we pretend we can. This situation has two outcomes. Either it wins from Mother Earth (and thus loses by ecological collapse) or it is won over by a different but easier lifestyle. Regrettably though it seems close to ‘winning’ the hand wrestling game or actually already ‘won’.

So back to why eating fruit can be disruptive. We can’t return to a traditional hunter-gather lifestyle, it is simply impossible because of several obvious reasons. For starters there is hardly any suitable environment to live from and on. The fossil energy fueled,  mono cultural, agriculture’s violent and destructive grip on the planet can only be countered in a logical, easy, stealthy, peaceful and smart way. Humans can live the most healthy life on a vegan diet. This diet should come mainly from trees (even no need to obsess about tofu) grown as horticultural mini nomadic forest gardens where you hop from tree to tree, plant to plant during the year. Agriculture is based on grasses and annuals. That is why fruitarkism calls the current culture the culture of grass worshippers. Grain (annuals), meat and dairy are their main foods. The tree huggers on the other hand should consider their main foods fruits, leaves (vegetables) and seeds (nuts). By eating fruits, sowing its seeds and planting trees tree huggers could return humans to its original role in nature in the form of seed dispersal. Grass worshippers have turned the world into deserts and lawns with devastating effects. Nature can miss this unique desert creating species like a headache. Embracing our original function in nature is the only way to break down agriculture. Not by attacking it openly but just by simply starting to eat differently because it needs your money to continue. More money every year, so if you stop eating their products they can’t grow and eventually die. As they die more land will come available to plant trees on. To bring back the once cut tree cover is what the world needs to counter climate change, provide habitat, gather food from and restore ecological balance amongst other positive things and not to forget health, sanity and peace. We start to plant edible habitats (containing trees with and without edible fruits) on owned land and in public space wherever permitted or allowed in a smart and well thought manner starting today! We must depend on it so we really care for it and defend it when we have to. Can there be an action so simple for your present and future as this? Of course it is and it isn’t. But sow a seed into the soil, sow an idea into the minds today. Color the planet. Grow, eat, live fruits!

Photo by Doug Fruitarky