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  • From: mIEKAL aND <dtv@mwt.net>
  • To: dreamtime@yahoogroups.com, North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: [NAFEX] A Passion For Pineapple
  • Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 09:47:37 -0500

This is a copy of an article in its entirety about a man
near the southern tip of Merritt Island, Florida (what I
call the USDA Zone Heaven) who grows about 2000
Pineapples for hobby. You might find this interesting.
=========================================================
A Passion For Pineapple

Merritt Island man resurrects piece of once-dominant
Florida industry

By Scott Brown
FLORIDA TODAY

The old farm house that sits unobtrusively -- some might
think it is deserted -- on Tropical Trail managed to turn
Kim Powell's head a couple of years ago.

Since buying the Merritt Island house that had been vacant
for years, Powell has installed a stove, replaced a water
line and dubbed his new digs "The Cracker Box Palace."

Truth be told, the place really comes to life in the back
yard where Powell grows more than 80 varieties of tropical
fruits (bananas, mangoes, guava and papaya to name a few)
and nuts, including what is both his passion as well a link
to this area's past: pineapples.

These aren't just any pineapples, Powell says he is growing
on his two acres. They are organic -- as in free of
chemicals and pesticides -- and sweeter than grandma.

Walking through his field shirtless and shoeless -- red
ants be darned -- Powell, 54, picks a mango off one of the
trees and takes a healthy bite. Most people in search of a
snack head for the pantry; Powell goes foraging in his back
yard.

He stops in an area where his pride and joy are starting to
bloom. Sifting through tangles of spiked leaves, Powell
looks for pineapples that are ready to be picked. He
demonstrates the best way of determining ripeness by
turning one upside down and taking a sniff.

"You won't smell that in the stores," he says. "That is the
advantage of growing locally."

Indeed, Powell, an engineer at United Space Alliance, can
afford to wait until his pineapples are just right since he
only grows them for himself, friends and a couple of extra
bucks at a local health food store.

Sunseed Food Co-op Inc. has been selling Powell's
pineapples since the middle of July, and the 25 to 40
pounds worth that are delivered to the Cape Canaveral store
on a regular basis don't spend much time on the shelves,
says Teresa Casteel.
"It goes like hotcakes," says Casteel, a cashier at the
store.
"People come in and say this is the best pineapple they
have ever eaten. I have people calling me and asking me to
save them some."

Florida may be as associated with oranges as Iowa is with
corn, but once upon a time, the area surrounding the Indian
River Lagoon from Brevard County to Fort Pierce was the
world's largest exporter of pineapples, says Nick Wynn,
executive director of Florida Historical Society. That
period was during the early to mid-1890s.

"It disappeared by 1896," Wynn says. "There were two hard
freezes in a row that just devastated the pineapple and
citrus crop."

Why citrus eventually recovered while pineapples didn't, is
because of what happened outside of Florida, Wynn says.
Hawaii, still more than 50 years from statehood, seized
control of the pineapple trade because of a number of
factors, including richer soil and a more favorable
climate. Also, looming large, says Wynn, was the
establishment of the Republic of Hawaii in 1894 following
the fall of the monarchy. A pro-business government,
presided over by Samuel Dole, was set up in its place,
allowing the pineapple industry to thrive.

"It was impossible for small plantations along the Indian
River to compete," Wynn says.

Powell won't ever compete with today's pineapple titans,
but he is hoping the fruits of his labor -- literally --
will one day, "make the house payments."

Powell learned to grow pineapples after moving to the tiny
Caribbean Island of Montserrat in 1991, but had a
plantation of 6,000 destroyed in 1997 by the Soufriere
Hills Volcano (he returned to Brevard County in 1998).
That disappointment and the prospect of freezes in Central
Florida didn't deter him from planting 2,000 pineapple tops
after he cleared the land behind his farmhouse in the
spring of 2000.

"The idea was to grow more food than I can eat and that
friends can eat," Powell says, "and then more food than we
can sell."

Powell, who planted an additional 1,000 pineapples last
summer, usually spends a couple hours after work each day
and weekends in what is arguably as unique a farm there is
in Brevard County. It's a good thing Powell's girlfriend
likes to work in the fields as much as he does.
"If I didn't share his passion," Debbie Davidson says
laughing. "I'd never see him."



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