Lemons

Lemons! If there is a reason to love winter in our area it is because of the citrus. We don't get snow. Just a cold deluge of rain, bleak gray skies and a lot of mud. My trees are too small to produce yet. But thank God for Bro. Cal. Bro. Cal is a man in our church who brings bunches of citrus and gives it away with a big smile. As opposed to my neighbors who are citrus farmers. They pick the fruit from the trees. If it isn't fruit they are going to sell, they leave it to rot underneath the trees. They practically break their necks to make sure they are looking in another direction when we pass in our vehicles. Also notice was served to my children not to touch their citrus. They would give us some if they wished. It happened once. When my husband pulled the elder father's lawnmower out of the drainage ditch between our properties where he had slid when cutting the grass, he walked over picked a branch of about 8 satsumas and gave it to him as thanks. It really makes me feel ill to look out of my kitchen window and see all those yummy navel oranges rotting away when there are people who pass them in the grocery store because they cannot afford them. Maybe there's an answer I'm not aware of. My neighbor on the other side is a different story (I'm sandwiched between two citrus orchards and yes, it is a great place to live, smells heavenly in the spring) She's very generous. What makes the difference?

Well I certainly do not let any citrus I'm given go to waste. I cut oranges daily for my children to eat with their breakfast or to bring for snack at school. Here is Talia squeezing the lemons. We squeeze the juice, freeze it in ice cube trays, then store in a container in the freezer. The rest of the year there is plenty of juice for cooking or making lemonade when its 95 degrees outside!

Since Talia worked so hard it called for lemon bars. Here is Seleste and Talia enjoying their lemon bars and playing DS.