How We Started

Sooooo you want to start a PawPaw Orchard. Well what the heck is PawPaw anyways. You know how many times I’ve been asked that!! And that my friends is one of the main reasons why I wanted to start this orchard. To spread the word and love for this amazing and hidden gem of a fruit. When I tried one of these suckers back in 2017 at the Lexington farmers market I was absolutely hooked. Then I started doing some research and my mind almost exploded that virtually nobody was growing these tropical fruits of the north. So, I thought to myself, why don’t I give it a shot. And hence Hang Loose PawPaw Patch was born.

My name is Matt “Gotto” Menegotto and I am the orchardist out here at Hang Loose PawPaw Patch. My family and I are thrilled to bring the PawPaw to central Kentucky and hope to have you all out to the orchard someday. We started this little project in 2022 with the hope of a first fruit around 2026. So if you’re reading this now and it’s 2026 and we have fruit we are super stoked!! If we don’t have fruit you just have to wait a weeeee bit longer. In the beginning we planted 147 grafted cultivars. 14 different varieties to be exact and over 100 additional seedling trees. All and all we have about 250 PawPaw trees on the farm. In addition to PawPaw we grow a variety of different fruits and vegetables that you can either come to the farm to buy or meet us at the Wilmore farmers Market on Saturday mornings seasonally.

Thank you all for considering Hang Loose PawPaw Patch and don’t forget to eat healthy and stay PawPaw positive!!