Citrus Orchard

A few weekends ago, we found a lovely (and quite giant) citrus orchard a few miles from our house.  And I cannot tell you how excited I was.  Sometimes I get frustrated with living in the dry desert.  I long for pretty, scenic places with babbling brooks and lush foliage...which is probably why we are always making trips to this place or that.  So when we discovered that a beautiful orchard was literally down the street, tucked away where we didn't even know it existed for the last seven years, I was ecstatic, over-the-moon and close to tears of joy.  We ventured out one weekend to test it out and totally loved it (except when I stepped on a thorn and it went through my shoe and I couldn't walk for a week and a half).  When we had family in town the next weekend, we thought they might enjoy it.  And we were right.  Everyone had a great time.  It was just so fun exploring the different citrus trees and filling our bags with the fruit.  The trees are giant and so beautifully green and lush.  Plus the citrus blossoms were in bloom making the whole orchard smell like heaven itself.  It was glorious.

The kids had a ball because a lot of the fruit was at their level, making it very easy for them.  We picked Minneola Tangelos, Red Flame Grapefruit, Fairchild Tangerines and Valencia Oranges.  Such fun.  The Tangelos and Tangerines are my favorite.  They are so sweet.  The tangelos are amazingly juicy (plus fun to say), they explode like a geyser of tangelo goodness. The grapefruit were absolutely giant and Miss B was on a mission to find one as big as her face (each trip).  I think she got pretty close.