The latest series of storms finally cleared and so I was able to go out and pick some of the citrus that was on the trees lining our driveway. The harvest included the remaining Moro Blood oranges, a basket of Valencia oranges and another of Dancy Tangerines, plus some Bearss limes and a lot of Meyer lemons. There is still a lot of fruit left on the trees. In fact, it is hard to tell that I picked much at all.
The trees were put in the ground ten years ago and this is probably the most fruit they have produces in a season. A couple of the tangerines which are smaller than the others fell victim to heavy “pruning” by our local deer a couple summers ago. As it is, they still are able to munch on some of the lower branches of the larger trees, but there the impact is not as significant. Since we have had so much rain, they probably won’t be after the trees again until late summer.
The oranges, tangerines and lemons have been juiced. A pitcher of the Moro Blood orange juice is in the fridge for my morning OJ over the coming days. The other juice is in the freezer for the future days when the fresh citrus is out of season.