Pineapple process

I sat on a beautiful sunny Californian beach with two dear friends admiring this magical tiny pineapple…finding myself wanting to delay the cutting and imbibing.  Yet wasn’t that what this was about? Growing food to then eat it? 

I wanted to continue to cherish and appreciate the process, the time, the energy, the gratitude, the love, the anticipation, the MAGIC.  The pineapple fruit had become a sweet friend to me…so much time and commitment, resiliency and love.

I enjoyed the smell of this fruit for over 48 hours before cutting into it, imagining how sweet it would be.

I admired the external texture of this fruit, touching it to my face and hands feeling the spikes soften on the body while the barbs on the leaves intensified as it grew, protecting the sweet flesh within.

I appreciated the visual perfection of the complicated leaf and fruit systems and the morphing color as the pineapple grew in my West Oakland apartment for 6 months.

I recall the moment (8 months ago) I discovered the pineapple bloom on a routine watering day, surprised and honored to receive a flower bloom from the pineapple plant …having never seen this part of the growth process.  It was so special that I have burned the images into my brain, uniquely small perfect and pink.  It felt so special to receive.  I had planted this pineapple years before, knowing the potential of fruit making but not putting any expectations towards success. I do live in Oakland, CA, not a typical place for pineapple growth!

Prior to that, I had tended to and admired the pineapple plant’s love for my south facing windows for 33 months ...growing from a top of a pineapple I purchased from Safeway. I watched it expand and thrive.

I had decided why not?  I’ll try growing pineapple.  I have amazing south facing windows although the temperature within varies greatly due to the very thin windowpanes.  I cut the pineapple top off two pineapples. One from Safeway. One from Whole Foods.  I trimmed off the meat from the base and pulled some of the leaves off from the bottom to expose small root buds. I rooted them in water, changing the water every couple days, until the roots were plentiful and about 6 inches long.

5 months prior to initiating this pineapple process, I had attended Earthship academy in Taos, New Mexico. This is where the pineapple journey surely began.  I first saw tropical fruits growing and fruiting in nontropical zones. Using the greenhouses notable in Earthship design they were growing avocado, papaya, banana, pineapple, etc from a variety of planting systems.  One particular was the hanging bucket system.  This is the one I adopted for my pineapple growing efforts.   It goes like this: take a food grade bucket with a PVC Tubing cut to end one inch above the bottom of the bucket.  In the bucket, place 3 inches of ceramic beads to bottom, then 2 inches of straw, then super yummy soil to the rest.  Hang in a south-facing window for high sun lovers.  I top watered in addition to watering via the pvc tubing for the first month or so then just watered through the PVC tube.

And here I was on the beach… culminating the end of this 3 year process, tasting the fruits of my effort! I tried my best to savor and remember all aspects of the taste from the soft texture, the plethoric sweet juices rolling down my fingers and face, to the taste!  The taste tho!  I hadn’t tasted a pineapple like this.  It seemed to have layers of flavor evolving and dancing within my mouth!  Certainly the sweetest loved pineapple I’ve had the pleasure to enjoy…

….And in minutes, !POOF!

the pineapple was gone. 

Days, months, years to grow.

Minutes to eat.

And here was my lesson, not a new lesson but one that is good to be reminded of:

The journey is what feeds my soul.

Goals are perhaps there only to create journeys.

I have found that sometimes goals get me too fixated on the end that I may loose part of the process.  The goal of growing a pineapple in West Oakland was intriguing and challenging enough to make the process begin.  Then I released attachments and expectations that it would bear fruit. In turn, I was able to maximally appreciate the magic and curiosities within the process, be in the flow, and be accepting of any outcome.

Amidst this pandemic, racial riots and global unrest, this is a perfect and every so valuable reminder.  I am not putting a pause on my life. I am not waiting from “something” to be “over.” I am not waiting for this world to be “fixed.” I am living.  I am in the PROCESS.  I am in MY process, determined to stay in the flow…stay in love…stay in peace….stay in joy…stay in my body to experience what the journey of life brings.

#lifelessonsfromapineapple

For this pineapple process, I give gratitude to Mike Reynolds, the Earthship Academy, the growers, transporters, and grocers that brought the original pineapples to me. I thank the mother pineapple, the plant itself. I thank the amalgam of the elements, the sun, earth, water, air.  I thank myself.  I thank YOU.

Summary of Pineapple process:

Month #-5- Thought initiated at the Earthship Academy

Month #1- Pineapple top rooting

Month #2- Pineapple top planting into bucket system

Month # 27- Pineapple BLOOMS!

Month #33- Pineapple harvest!

YUM

Month #33 – repeat the cycle- pineapple plant rooting