Just in from Hawaii - Part 4: You mean pineapples don't grow on trees?

 Really?  They grow on bushes?

On a trip to the north shore of Ohau, Chris and I stopped at the Dole Plantation.  As we traveled there, I asked what kind of a tree pineapples grown on.  Yes, this Kansas farm girl really thought pineapples grew on trees - and I laugh when people don't understand where wheat comes from.  I'm beginning to understand why the woman from Chicago at the Newman University Fresh Movie showing didn't realize what a real potato was until she was twenty, but thought mashed potatoes came in a box.

It turns out pineapple production is much like wheat production, with large fields growing the fruit that is harvested when it is ripe.  Driving through the countryside of Hawaii, I felt that I was back at home in the Kansas farm land, but the crop was different and there were beautiful mountains surrounding the valley.

We purchased a couple of sweet, juicy, succulent pineapples at the farmers' market and loved them.  I find it interesting that while pineapples grow wonderfully in Hawaii, apparently they can be grown just about anywhere in the world.  Because they do not grow on trees, they can be grown indoors in a pot.  Maybe this is the new plant we'll try this season...imagine, growing a pineapple in Kansas?!  Or, maybe I can talk a local farmers' market vendor into growing pineapples...now that would be a market niche (and one that makes my mouth water!), but it can take up to two years to grow just one pineapple.  I'm doubting those odds would be profitable enough for the farmers' in our area.