Central Florida is noted for its oranges. In our travels, we've seen several orange processing plants, big mesh-sided trucks full of oranges, and of course, lots of orange trees. One can't go a mile without seeing orange groves (orchards?).
The dark green trees are usually about 15 feet high, planted about 20 feet apart, some are filled with oranges, and some not, and some are even blooming with small white flowers. Yesterday we were around the Winter Haven area and into a particularly nice spot where the fragrance of the orange blossoms was just lovely. Kind of like climbing up a apple tree at blooming time, if you know what that is like.
Well, we have been looking at these oranges with some longing lately, stopping to photograph a few, wanting to appropriate some, but fearful of ending up as a cellmate of Conrad Black should we be caught "orange-handed" so to speak (Lord Conrad, by the way, seems to be settling in quite well in his medium security surroundings here in central Florida, according to media reports). We really should be neighborly and stop in to see him one of these days.
But I digress. How to sample some of these orange delights without actually buying them, and remaining free? Well, it seems our prayers were answered. We were driving through this particularly lovely orange grove with trees tight on both sides when up ahead, on the road, were about a hundred oranges. Some were squashed, some split, but most of them just lying right there at the edge of the road, wondering what had happened to them. Obviously, they had fallen off one of the open topped orange trucks when it hit a bump on the road.
Like manna from heaven.
Of course we stopped. Salvager's rights we figured. We looked around furtively just in case, dusted a few off, tossed them in the back seat, and laughed all the way home.
The dark green trees are usually about 15 feet high, planted about 20 feet apart, some are filled with oranges, and some not, and some are even blooming with small white flowers. Yesterday we were around the Winter Haven area and into a particularly nice spot where the fragrance of the orange blossoms was just lovely. Kind of like climbing up a apple tree at blooming time, if you know what that is like.
Well, we have been looking at these oranges with some longing lately, stopping to photograph a few, wanting to appropriate some, but fearful of ending up as a cellmate of Conrad Black should we be caught "orange-handed" so to speak (Lord Conrad, by the way, seems to be settling in quite well in his medium security surroundings here in central Florida, according to media reports). We really should be neighborly and stop in to see him one of these days.
But I digress. How to sample some of these orange delights without actually buying them, and remaining free? Well, it seems our prayers were answered. We were driving through this particularly lovely orange grove with trees tight on both sides when up ahead, on the road, were about a hundred oranges. Some were squashed, some split, but most of them just lying right there at the edge of the road, wondering what had happened to them. Obviously, they had fallen off one of the open topped orange trucks when it hit a bump on the road.
Like manna from heaven.
Of course we stopped. Salvager's rights we figured. We looked around furtively just in case, dusted a few off, tossed them in the back seat, and laughed all the way home.
Roni with a tree that has both ripened oranges
and new blossoms.
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