What is all the hubbuzzz????

Many people this year in the United States have experience a warmer winter. Where I live, we didn't have much of anything to call a winter this year. I got to wear my jeans some this year but, we definitely didn't get our super cold freezes like we typically do.

I have to say I didn't mine not having the freezes this year. When we do have a freeze warning, that means I get to drag out the tarp and sheets, and cover our tree.
It is a family affair when we have to cover this tree. It is big and round, tall, and thorny. Doing this job is not our favorite thing to. It usually is bitter cold and windy when step outside to cover this tree. We all want to do this as quickly as possible so we can head back into the house to get warm.


But, when it does get warmer, that means spring. Which came in February for us this year.



Spring means flowers that bloom.



Flowers mean.......








................BEES, and lots of them.

They swarm between our lovely tree and the azalea bush. It does make it hard for sitting outside for lunch or for the girls to play out front.


But.... this.....







...........equals this and.........










.......and this.










Can you guess what kind of tree it is? I know you are curious and are wondering what
it is that we cover????

When the fruit on the tree gets bigger, people who visit mistakenly think and guess that they are grapefruit or even avocados. But there not.....










This fruit usually starts to change color in October and are ripe in November and December. It usually is not the time one would think to have a lemonade stand.

The above picture is a lemon that is a late bloomer from this past December. It is just now starting to change color... I was hoping to get a shot of the lemon while it was green.






This picture is from some lemons we had 2 years ago. You are not seeing things incorrectly. Yes, the two outer objects are lemons and the one in the middle is a pear, which is typically about the size of a normal lemon.

I do not feed my tree steroids or give it any kind of fertilizers. It is just big boned... Ok, its not big boned. But, I do nothing to this tree except for covering it when there is a freeze, and on the occasion I trim back the branches that are hanging over into the driveway. It is called a, Ponderosa Lemon, they are a type of lemon that is just huge. They taste like a normal lemon and is not sour. They have a very thick rhine and lots of seeds. It also has LOTS of juice. I can get about 2 cups of juice from one lemon.

I have made lemon bars that have tasted great. I also use the lemons to make a herb baked chicken that calls for sliced lemons on top. I have juiced them and I freeze the juice in ice cube trays, so when I need a tablespoon of juice for different recipes, I have it on hand.

The tree produces about 20-25 lemons each year. I give alot of them away to friends. This past year at our last yard sale, I had people ask to buy them. I sold a few and then told my husband to stop selling them because I had people waiting for the lemons. I could have made more money off of the lemons that day then the things we were selling.


So there you go.... the buzz about this tree has bee(n) solved.