Clementines

"Orange strengthens your emotional body,

encouraging a general feeling of joy, well-being and cheerfulness."

-- Tae Yun Kim, 

The First Element: Secrets to Maximizing Your Energy

Clementine sections 11-15-14

"Oh my Darling, Oh my Darling,

Oh my Darling Clementine.

You are lost and gone forever,

Dreadful sorry, Clementine."

-- "Oh My Darling Clementine,"

American folk ballad 

Clementine 11-15-14

I just adore these little fuckers.

Clementines have a taste that's like no other citrus fruit -- indescribably delicious, so I won't even attempt to describe it.

But clementines aren't just good. They're also really good for you.

With all that deliciousness bursting inside of them, it's hard to believe there's room left inside a clementine for all the nutritional benefits. But Mother Nature found a way to cram 'em all in there somehow. 

Did you know that one little clementine only has about 35 calories, but is literally bursting with vitamin C, calcium and potassium? Plus, they have a whole gram and half of fiber, and only 8 little grams of carbs.

One teensy weensy clementine is a perfect snack. But two or three is even more perfect-er. 

I put  them in Leo's lunchbox every day in a one-woman effort to boost my child's resistance against colds and other viruses that lurk in the petri-dish called school.

They're like tiny orange health bombs.

So eat up.

We go through 'em by the crate-load this time of year.

What time of year, you ask?

Why, clemen-time, of course!

Planting Apple Trees

"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch,

you must first create the universe."

-- Carl Sagan

Homegrown Macintosh apples 8-27-14

"The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.

The second best time is now."

-- Unknown

Roughly 16 years ago, my husband and my son, Sam, planted two scrawny, skinny, leafless sticks in our back yard.

They said they were apple trees.

I was skeptical. 

They looked like dead twigs.

But ...

They were indeed apple trees, albeit in their infancy.

Now our two scrawny trees (I call them "Two Tree Orchard") are full and lush, towering over the backyard fence, their down-turning branches heavily laden with ripening fruit.

Yesterday I was mowing the grass under them and the branches kept whacking me in the head and apples kept dropping to the ground. So I harvested an armful. The apples are just a tad too green for eating yet, but cooked down with some sugar, cinnamon and butter, they made pretty good applesauce.

Later, when the apples are a little bit riper, I'll make as many quarts of sauce as I can so we can eat it all winter long.

And I have all kinds of plans for cobblers, crisps, breads, cakes and pies.

I like being a suburban farmer, with my tiny little orchard and my tiny little garden.

It makes me feel more than good to cultivate and feed myself and my family the freshest possible food on the planet -- fruits and vegetables that come in straight from the backyard mere minutes before they hit the plate.

It doesn't get any gooder than that.