Thursday, April 18, 2013

Spring Cleaning Outside.

Pink Grapefruit
 Spring is here in NE Florida. For the past few weeks we have enjoyed the citrus form my various trees but yesterday I decided I needed to do a major spring cleaning of the trees and remove any remaining fruit.



Any of you with fruit trees know you usually have  to resort to throwing the fruit at cars to get rid of it all but I decided to make some juice.




 As I was picking the Grape fruit I noticed the Spanish Moss has taken up in the tree, funny how I never paid attention before now.
Valencia Orange












 I started out to make a few gallons of juice so I would pick a bucket and squeeze them.



From past experience I like to mix the grapefruit juice with orange juice even though the grapefruit was very sweet this year it just makes a really nice drink.





I set up production under the tree as it was cool outside and the mess is easy to clean up.









 Here is some grapefruit ready for the juicer.
I use an old juicer pictured here it is fairly easy to use and seems to do a fair job. Some pulp passes through the juicer which is just the way I like it.






 This wheelbarrow full of squeezed fruit  produced about 10 gallons of juice.All this and more was added to my compost pile.







Shown here is some of the Juice ready for the freezer. I like to use the Arizona Tea jugs as they are very heavy duty, you have to leave an air gap for expansion in the freezer.  This is a 50-50 mix of orange and grapefruit, all told I ended up with almost 14 gallons.
Nothing beats fresh squeezed.


 I am glad to get the fruit off the trees.




PS, Any of you reading this to please don't mention this post to my friend Stephen, he will be over here begging for a jug.

21 comments:

  1. Too late, Bubba. Set aside three gallons for me and I'll be there soon.

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  2. I give up, I can't hide anything anymore.

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  3. I wished I would have known.. I would have taken some of those oranges off your hand--The boys love them.

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  4. I actually have a few oranges left and will try and get some to you. Maybe via Senior.

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  5. It maybe spring in your area, but it is summer here in Orlando,,Way too hot already. Enjoy your juice.

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    Replies
    1. Rob, It has been in the 60's and 70's here the past week or so, usually it is hotter by now. Thanks for stopping by.

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  6. Duke,

    Having the ability to go out into your yard and picking any type of citrus is like having a little peace of heaven. I miss having that capability. We used to live down in sourthern Florida and had tangerine trees galore. Enjoy the juice, and watch out for Stephen he's on the prowl, lol....

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    1. Sandy, it is nice, I don't think I would like to live any further South though. We are on the extreme north end of the citrus belt due to the fact we are closely bordered on all sides by the the river and the ocean, any North or West winds loose their bight in the winter after passing over warmer water.

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  7. dear sweet Duke - jambaloney is crying. i'm sniffling but he is all out bawling. he needs some of that juice. can you drive some up tomorrow? pleeeeez? i'll make you a made-from-scratch steak and kidney meat pie with smashed potatoes and gravy, some fresh asparagus and some chocolate chip cookies. then i'll pack you six pastrami, black forest ham, pepperoni, salami and roast beef sandwiches for your drive back. deal?

    your friend,
    kymber

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    Replies
    1. Kymber, I would give you some juice, you always treat me kind, unlike another unnamed person.

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    2. bahahahahahah! so when should we expect you to arrive?

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    3. I'm leaving on a midnight train to Georgia, (seems that would make a good song title)

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  8. Don't forget to add some lime (chemical not fruit) to your compost heap. It keeps the worms happy.

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  9. Wow, that makes me wish I lived farther south...

    Dann in Ohio

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    Replies
    1. Dann, I guess you could just buy the fruit but it might be a little expensive.

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  10. Duke, would you mind enlightening an Alaskan? If your citrus trees put out fruit in spring, when do they flower? I'm rather confused by the concept of fruit in spring, and don't think I'd survive moving any further south to see it happen.

    Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. You are not confused, the fruit becomes ripe in the fall and winter however we had a very late spring (usually around the first of March) This fruit was left on the tree from last Nov/Dec but was still very sweet and had not fallen off, usually it won't because if left till late spring the tree will start pulling nutrients back from it.

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    2. Huh! Fruit that stays on trees without becoming wizened pucks rattling among the dead-clinging leaves and icicles, staying fresh until you feel like harvesting it - truly, that sounds awesome!

      If you leave the fruit on, will the tree still flower?

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    3. Oh yes, the tree will still flower, I have seen little grapefruit along with large old fruit on the same tree. We did have a mild winter and no real freeze to speak of, maybe less than 5 hours.
      If I had left it another month or so it would start to shrivel up.

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