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Wally and Norberto harvested most of the lemons and oranges before the first freeze. And the limes.
We live in California, remember, and while all of California is emphatically not like L.A. (contrary to what some of our East Coast friends think - no bikinis and semi-naked surfers here) it is warm enough in the SF Bay Area to grow citrus. Just barely. Near the house. At the top of the slope. But not when we have an unexpectedly cold year, or an unexpectedly cold night. It only takes one.
Of course you remember that cold air is heavier than warm air, and it flows like water. Downhill. Thank goodness. Everything in the bottom garden has frozen and turned to slime.
But the citrus near the house was covered with fruit, like some crazy Christmas decorator had gone nuts. And when the weather prognosticator predicted temperatures in the twenties (no sympathy from those East Coast and Midwest friends, I know... none expected from people expecting a high today of four degrees) we decided to bring them all in.
We have been feeding our oranges Ultra Bloom food, and they are sweet. Finally. After, like, five years of sour citrus we finally found the secret. Tell your friends. Well, not if you live in Chicago. It will just piss them off.
We sent Norberto home with bags of lemons and limes, and oranges for his kids' lunches. We sent baskets home with Sam and Zoey (after a quick lesson in the easiest way to peel an orange) and left boxes for the Gossip Girls. We ate oranges every morning.
We left a big bag of limes on Clark and Ellen's front porch - he is famous for his Clarkaritas. Fresh lime juice, agave nectar, really good tequilla. Makes me thirsty just thinking about them.
And we shared with the Food Bank.
My friend Rushika is a big supporter of the local Food Bank, and in the past we have given them peaches and marmalade, jams and jellies. So we filled up her car.
It feels good to share. And everyone remembers the Food Bank at Holiday time, but now? Not so much.
Let's change that.
We live in California, remember, and while all of California is emphatically not like L.A. (contrary to what some of our East Coast friends think - no bikinis and semi-naked surfers here) it is warm enough in the SF Bay Area to grow citrus. Just barely. Near the house. At the top of the slope. But not when we have an unexpectedly cold year, or an unexpectedly cold night. It only takes one.
Of course you remember that cold air is heavier than warm air, and it flows like water. Downhill. Thank goodness. Everything in the bottom garden has frozen and turned to slime.
But the citrus near the house was covered with fruit, like some crazy Christmas decorator had gone nuts. And when the weather prognosticator predicted temperatures in the twenties (no sympathy from those East Coast and Midwest friends, I know... none expected from people expecting a high today of four degrees) we decided to bring them all in.
We have been feeding our oranges Ultra Bloom food, and they are sweet. Finally. After, like, five years of sour citrus we finally found the secret. Tell your friends. Well, not if you live in Chicago. It will just piss them off.
And we shared with the Food Bank.
My friend Rushika is a big supporter of the local Food Bank, and in the past we have given them peaches and marmalade, jams and jellies. So we filled up her car.
Let's change that.
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