Description
This work focuses on three trees that tell the story of Kentucky: the mighty Oak, the threatened
White Ash, and the fruit-filled Paw-paw.
The piece opens with Oak. Without it, Kentucky could not be called Bourbon Country. Bourbon
requires fresh cut oak, which has been bent and formed into barrels, charred on the inside and
allowed to be filled with Kentucky’s signature alcohol. The spirit will be aged at least two years
in this wooden enclosure, allowing its tannins and vanillans to seep into the bourbon, enhancing
its flavor.
White Ash is the primary source of material for one of Kentucky’s other exports: baseball bats.
For more than a century, the Louisville Slugger factory has churned out many of the bats that
America watched people like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Albert Pujols swing. The White
Ash, however, is threatened though by the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive insect from Asia,
which prefers this tree for its home. In urban environments, White Ash is being replaced by oak
trees, and in rural areas, low growing fruit trees are coming to the rescue.
The Paw-paw is one of these trees. These low growing trees fill forest undergrowth and help
provide for the soil of the area. They also grow the Paw-paw, the largest indigenous fruit found
in North America. These unique fruits grow in bunches similar to bananas. Despite their home in
the temperate regions of Kentucky, they grow similar to the fruit trees found in tropical
rainforests.
