Getting on to that time of year....

  A bit of a cool spell eased in on the Bayou the other night and brought with it just enough rain and cooler temperatures to start the ripening process of the citrus fruits.  The last freeze we had in the spring ruined a good many of the blossoms so the crop is skimpy but what is there will be enough.  I always look at things as plenty regardless if others see it as a "bad" year.  Pop taught us that we should always count our blessings and figure out ways of making things work better for the next time.  The oranges will be enough...and I am happy.

  Actually, the navel orange tree is the only one that has a goodly number of fruits.  The satsumas, lemons and grapefruit are scarce.  With the early cool spell, it makes us wonder if this is to be a hard winter.  Extreme cold for more than just a few hours can do major damage to the wood of the trees.  If the bark splits, the tree almost always dies. Hopefully, this will not be the case and next year will find us with trees heavy with fruit.  If not, we will still be blessed with plenty.  Always are. 

Sleet, Snow and Oranges!

  Yesterday, I had a plan.  That plan included staying inside out of the drippy, icy weather and baking to my heart's content.  It did not work out that way at all.  I baked nary a treat the entire day.  With the temperatures predicted to make a steep plunge, I figured that a few things were a bit more urgent than another platter of pecan tassies.  More lights were needed in the greenhouse so that was of utmost importance.  The greenhouse not only serves as a nice place to keep the potted plants, it provides a small indoor garden space.  Bell peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and herbs do well in pots and give us a few fresh "summer" veggies throughout the winter months.  After that was tended, more firewood was hauled into the small entryway, the small skiff was bailed clear of rain water and every citrus fruit on the trees was picked.  That, my friends, was the hard job.  With the wind chill already in the 20s and sleet falling from the sky, I was cold....very cold.  Mark helped with the fruit, then headed to the grocery store to get a few needed items.  Son is recuperating from a knee injury he got when cutting firewood so I insisted he not get out and risk slipping on the ice.

A few of the oranges from the Navel Orange Tree in the back yard.  This one tree had over 200 oranges!

  That citrus fruit included lemons, satsumas and navel oranges.  I did not even attempt to pick the five kumquat trees.  The tiny, marble-sized fruit will just have to brave the elements!  While the satsuma and grapefruit trees did not do well this year, the navel oranges sort of made up the slack.  Mark and I picked over 200 of the huge oranges off of one tree!  I kept telling him that there were a ton of oranges out there!  

  Now comes the fun.  With only three of us living here, what am I to do with 200 plus oranges?  I surely cannot eat that many before they go bad.  I guess marmalade-making will be a chore for the next couple of weeks.  Ha!  Maybe I have just solved my Christmas shopping dilemma!  A jar of marmalade is a good gift...right?

Hanging in there!

  Rains kept me inside most of the day so there was not a lot of opportunities for photography.  Mark and I did manage to sneak out late this afternoon for a quick hike about the hillside. As we around the canebrake, I was behind the navel orange tree and could see a side of it that is blocked from view during my normal approach.  Wow!  The tree is literally loaded with fruit!  This is a strong, sturdy tree that is relatively young,  Its limbs were doing well at holding up the large soft-ball sized fruits unlike the poor satsuma trees.  

  Just yesterday, I pointed out to Mark that the limbs of the satsuma trees were about to break from the heavy load they held.  Hundreds of fruits dangled on the small limbs.  Looking closely, we saw that some satsumas were already touching the ground.  He and I decided to dismantle the wisteria arbor and build a temporary brace for the satsuma limbs.  This should suffice as an added support.  

  With today's heavy rains, the limbs of the satsuma would have surely broken causing us to lose hundreds of pounds of fruit.  After leaving the orange tree and its luscious looking (albeit still unripe) fruit, we inspected our handiwork under the satsuma trees.  Job well done!  Even though the limbs were saturated by the rains, the framework held. Hopefully, no storms will come and the fruit will all be allowed another month of growth.  It appears that this will be another good year for citrus fruit!