Felt inspired to share that as Springtime beckons, it’s a fun time to try all of our favorite fruits.
Living in So Cal, I am fortunate in that we can grow just about anything in this climate.
With over 200 different fruit trees, bushes and vines growing on our property, we have some tasty & delcious treats.
How did this happen?
Well, I had always loved herbs. I am an Herbalist by profession, and knowledge of plants has been much if what I have dedicated my life to for the last 20 years.
But knowing the medicine of plants, and growing the medicine of plants, are two entirely different things.
To know simply is not to grow. And to grow is what we all strive for. A deeper understanding of how life becomes medicine.
So this connection to Plant Medicine was the bridge to buying my first fruit trees.
We had just moved from Montana to Thousand Oaks, California. And “big sky” country as they call the great state of Montana must have rubbed off on me.
My wife and I drove to a local nursery. As soon as we stepped out of our vehicle, the smell of jasmine seduced us. The fragrance of Orange blossoms captured our senses. There it was. We realized it. Plain and simple. We are Californians and we must grow the prerequisuite fruit — CITRUS. If we could make freshly squeezed Orange Juice then this would be a good start.
But is it that simple ? Valencia Oranges vs the rich pigment of blood Oranges, which many say taste like an Orange meeting a Rasberry, A Tarocco Orange, that supposedly hail from Mount Aetna, Italy. Hail Caesar!
We started with the standard issue Valencia Orange tree. Would this be the end of the story ?
Not even close.
But we proudly came home and planted our Valencia Orange Tree on our South Facing Hill. And Valencia Oranges are known as among the best for juicing.
So we began with Valencia. Little did we know that the Valencia road lead to other worlds that we take us around the Fruit Universe, transporting us to virtually every continent in the world. Everything from Vietnamese Michele Chamoaca to Indian Alphonso Mangos to Paperskin Macademia Nuts from Hawaii.
We would navigate the world through fruit.