Stevie Is Inside!

I have finally taken my Stevie the pineapple inside as it is supposed to get a lot colder this weekend. Winter is coming.

I planted it two summers ago. I simply cut off a pineapple crown and stuck it into a pot. Since then, I replanted it into a bigger pot twice and this summer when I traveled for work I gave the pineapple to my good friend Jim who gave it even a bigger pot. Jim also asked me what the name of the pineapple was and I blurted out the first name that came to my mind: Stevie. She is also a girl, a mate to Jim’s Pete. That’s how the plant became Stevie and I like it.

When I took Stevie back from Jim in August I kept her on the balcony of my apartment. She really loved it there, basking in the sun almost all day long, and grew even more. To give you an idea by how much more: when I took her to my friends Jim and Peg, Stevie easily fit in the leg space of the front passenger seat of my Nissan Juke; when I took her back she only could fit in the back of the car with the seats collapsed for cargo space. When I took her inside this week, I had to give her so much space that now I have to walk around her to get to my pantry.

There's something soothing and comforting about having a big plant in your home. Knowing that it's a great oxygen-producing machine in your own dwelling gives great satisfaction. Besides, it's quite pretty.

At the same time, I know Stevie will get even bigger and will take more space. I can live with that. All I want is to get to the time when she gives me a fruit. All because I love pineapples so much I decided to grow one for myself without really thinking through how big it will get.

It was also before I found out that pineapples, when not grown commercially with special processing and facilitation, fruit in 8-10 years after planting and only about two times in their entire life. That’s a lot of growth input for very little output. Stevie is only 2.5 years, so it will be a long wait.

What gives me hope, however, is that sometimes, with a lot of sun, love, and enough water, pineapples can fruit in 5-6 years. Thus, it's a moving target for me.

Recently I heard a story on NPR about the struggle of commercial pineapple growers about what to do with the pineapple plant after it’s done fruiting. The old pineapples’ leaves are too hard, sharp like swords, and not easy to compost.

Commercial farmers used to just root the old pineapples out and throw them away but that is a lot of waste, albeit organic, that takes a long time to turn into dirt. Recently, they started making pineapple leaves into paper, which is a great idea. However, the technology is still nascent and only 30% of leaves can be processed into paper successfully. Besides, the paper produced this way is quite expensive.

Pineapple rind is quite hard to compost as well. I know that from my own experience when I was actively composting. If I put the rind into my compost, it took 2-3 weeks more to break down.

And then I found a recipe for pineapple rind tea. Here it is: put the rind of one pineapple into a medium-sized pot, add peel from one large mango for taste, small fresh ginger root cut into circles and half a cinnamon stick (not powder, that’s important), top it with water, bring to boil and simmer for about 10-15 min. This refreshing, naturally sweet and energizing tea can be consumed hot or cold, and I like adding honey to it. The rind and everything else from the tea is much easier to compost.

Meanwhile, I’ll be patiently waiting for Stevie to grow and give me fruit in 2-3 years.