Two days ago I got a call from an elderly lady in Piopio, telling me of a friend in nearby Te Kuiti with a number of citrus trees "dripping with fruit." The message was for me to ring her if I was keen to go pick surplus fruit for the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand. I made contact with the lady and arranged to go to her home to pick fruit yesterday.
I found an established citrus orchard of six trees: lemons, tangelos and mandarins. They were planted circa 1980 in a protected area near the garage and house. The amount of fruit on the trees was staggering. Fruit on three of the trees wasn't quite ready to be picked, so she's invited me back to get more in the next few weeks. I was glad that I'd brought plenty of bags and boxes with me, as well as my extendable fruit picker!
I returned home with boxes and bags of fruit to put out at the community stand. I was too wet and muddy to join her for a cup of tea, but she also gave me her handwritten lemonade recipe with some of the ingredients. She reminds me so much of John's late mum Rosemary that I almost got a bit teary!
Can I just say that some days you know why you do certain things?
well done.
Posted by: Katherine Scott | 08/09/2019 at 04:35 PM