I would say that it matters. Most businesses have names. Plus you want to 'brand' your enterprise.

I'd say it's all depends how big you plan to be and how diverse you become. I'm the only named farm at 2 of my markets, and the other vendors do just fine without a name. However, I also sell to restaurants and have an online business, and a name is important for those. Customers will identify w/your name anyway far more than your farm's.

I'm not sure how big I want to become. I'm mainly doing the garden as a hobby and to help cut down on my monthly food bill, and hopefully next year bring in some extra income. Well I still have a lot of time to come up with a name if I need one. :)

It does help customers to remember who you are. At least, put your name out there.

On the subject of names, Marla, what's your farm's name? I know of Boulderbelt, Henhouse Farms, and a few others. Any other names out there? Our farm is named after the native wild fruit that abounds on our property--Paw Paw Ridge Farm. I'm always surprised that most people are totally unfamiliar w/paw paws.

I've changed at least 2x, now I've settle down to Countyline Produce and Plants. I did get a website, looks more like a blog, but I can't figure out how to get the search engines to find it. countylineproduceandplants.com

I know PawPaws quite well, we have several small groves on the farm. My grandfather loved them so. But until he died, the farm didn't have any. After he died, evidently they started to grow.

A name is so important, but if you don't use your last name, or location, you have to register a fictitious name with the county and/or state, then wait to find out if anyone else is using the name.

We live on the county line, and we do both produce and plants, so I just added all that up to get my name.

Marla

brookw

I have never seen or eaten a paw paw. I have only actually ever heard of them from a kid's song with the line 'Way down yonder in the paw paw patch'!

To describe the taste, it's a nutty banana taste with a custard texture when truly ripe. Either people love them or hate them. They are only ripe for about 2 weeks. To determine if one is ripe, shake the tree, only the ripe ones will fall. Don't pick them, if you pick them green, they taste horrible. Shelf life is 2-3 days unrefrigerated, and 5-7 Max refrigerated. this is true for the native pawpaws, I don't know how the hybridize ones are. Purdue has been doing experiments on how to increase the shelf life.

Also, do not let ANY chemicals near your trees, one whiff and the tree is dying. They are pollinated by carrion flies and only them. That's why the old saying was to put a dead possum under the tree.

I've made pawpaw preserves out of them, I didn't like them, but I don't like banana taste. I also made pawpaw butter. My uncle liked both. Definitely use absorbic acid, because they will turn brown.

I guess I know way too much about them.

Marla

Marla pretty muched summed up paw paws . They are readily available from nurseries, but success w/them is spotty at best. They require shade during their youth but like more sun when mature. They seem to prefer creek and river bottoms and will sucker heavily to form groves. They are tropical in appearance and have dark purple, almost black, bell-shaped flowers. I love the fruit. It has a creamy yellow flesh that resembles banana custard, and it has a lot of large seeds. As Marla noted, it does not keep or handle well. You can freeze the pulp and use it in a variety of applications like blondies. They sell really well because of their curiosity factor. However, they are so inconsistent in production that I seldom have enough to offer.

The native pawpaws have a very long tap root, giving a poor transplanting success. I don't know about what the nurseries have, but I don't if they're natives.

I had regular customers after the first year or so. Also my pawpaws ripen in August, when everything else is ripening and we never have enough time to do everything.

Another vendor told me that I didn't know anything about them, since I wasn't old enough. It didn't take long to change his mind.

Marla

I named my farm Konza Valley Ranch. Konza is the name of the tribe that settled Kansas, "people of the South Wind". Konza Valley is a reference often used at the Western end of the Kansas River Valley. I live in the Eastern Valley but still liked the history and meaning behind the name Konza. As far as the paw paw goes, the native paw paws (Asimina triloba) are the northern-most relatives of the tropical custard apples. We used to throw them at each other when we were kids because we thought they were mushy and disgusting. As someone else said, they are either loved or hated. They have a long tap root but I have seen them sold in pots at local nurseries. I have at least one baby still growing in a pot, I bought last fall, that I'm going to plant this week. They generally like hanging out at the edge of the woods and shaded by taller trees. The old folks knew a lot about them. The younger generation is always surprised to learn about this native fruit tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paw Paw

Our pawpaws are in the center of our woods (about 30 acres). I think the ones that you can get at nurseries are not the true natives, but hybrids that are able to be transplanted. I know the tap root of the old natives are close to 10' in length.

throwing the not totally ripe one could give someone a headache, if you try it make sure they are really ripe (usually black in color)

They do grow up to zone 5 and some into zone 4, that I know. I'm not sure how far south they are native to, but I've heard that they are in Arkansas.

We only used the purple/black ones when we were having the paw paw fights. Yes, Kentucky State University and several other places have hybridization programs for the paw paw. My paw paws are from wild seed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Range of Paw Paw