If you bought smoked eggs or fruit this summer, the jakfruit, starfruit and passion fruit (among others) came from Possum Trot Nursery. Later this month owner Robert Barnum will host a brunch outdoors on his property. You’ll get a tour, then eat a sumptuous meal — The Possum Trot Experience — prepared by Robert himself. He calls himself The Cantankerous Chef and invents all kinds of tasty dishes that use his fruits. This month’s brunch should be an easy challenge for Robert — use only local ingredients except for salt, pepper, sugar and the like.
Possum Trot is completely unlike any plant nursery you have ever seen before. It’s a cross between a grove and a primeval jungle, 40 acres of Old Florida wildness that makes Fairchild Tropical Gardens look like a manicured rosebush. Robert has collected all kinds of trees that have useful purposes, whether it be fruits, herbs or wood for smoking food. The property also has a sinkhole — or is it a spring? — and a bomb shelter right in the ground.
Here are pictures of my first visit to the nursery in September 2007.
Entering Possum Trot Nursery
Ye olde swimming hole
Strolling through 40 acres of tropical trees
Star fruit hang like golden lanterns
Redland Rambles 