From My Backyard

A post composed on my iPhone at 39,000 feet. What is that in meters, eh? 12,000 meters or so?

I spent another week in California working and catching a couple of short visits with family. This is such a busy time for everyone. Kids home from school, shopping, wrapping gifts, readying the house with Christmas decorations and of course baking or cooking the traditional goodies.

In my home town Christmas and fresh citrus fruits happen at the same time. My dad and grandfather always had citrus trees, Navel oranges and grapefruit. My mother in law has oranges, lemons, grapefruit and a fuyu persimmon(not a citrus fruit. It it ripens around the same time). As a child I always remembered finding an orange and nuts in my Christmas stocking.

My travel mate on this trip is a Canadian. The Canadians I work with always seem to be fascinated by the produce grown in the San Joaquin Valley, my home area. One of my Canadian buddies was amazed the first time he saw an orange on a tree in the courtyard where we were working. He even asked if it was real! I picked for him and his eyes got big.

He proceeded to pick a few more and immediately peeled and ate one. The timing was perfect. The orange was at its peak of sweetness and flavor! His eyes lit up like a little kid on Christmas morning! I busted out a big smile as I heard him call his wife. Picture this, she was home in Alberta with several feet of snow with many minus degrees outside. He told her about the picking of the orange and the amazing flavor of the oranges he had just picked. I am not sure his wife was able to see the event through his eyes.

My workmate on this trip had done his homework on the local offerings. In fact, on a previous trip he found a family farm store located east of Bakersfield at the base of the Sierra Nevada foothills, Murray Family Farms. So off we went one evening after we had finished out work for the day. We arrived in the dark, 20 minutes before closing time. We had the store to ourselves. Most of the offerings came off of the local farm. There were also offerings from regional growers. The citrus and persimmons were grown right there. Pat, my travel mate grabbed a number of items to bring back to his family in Calgary, Alberta.

I shots a few photos with my first generation iPhone inside the store. Quality is ok, but the new iPhones are so much better. The oddest citrus fruit offered had to be the Buddha’s hand fruit!! Maybe Mrs. Claus will surprise me with an upgrade!!
TTFN
Bishop

The Buddha’s Hand Fruit is amazing. The scent is very citrusy!

Fuyu Persimmons. Amazing flavor