I missed them. 🙁
I checked our pawpaw grove a week ago, and the fruits were big, but still all green and pretty hard. Yesterday, I went back to check. It was getting dark, so I couldn’t see any fruits in the trees, but I shook a tree, and one fruit fell down. It was mostly yellow, soft, and smelled delightful. I ate it on the spot and spread the seeds around. I went back today with harvest bins and a wheelbarrow, thinking I’d get at least a bushel, and…nothing. After much searching, I did find one yellow and brown pawpaw on the ground. Ants were eating one end of it. On our way there, Noah and I scared off a couple deer who were grazing in the grove. I found signs of raccoons having eaten pawpaws, too. I waited too long. I had hoped to give them to my CSA members Saturday, but I missed what apparently is a very narrow window.