Vitamin C

I believe I live in paradise. Until July- and then it is possible that I may write a post that begins "I believe I live in hell..." But we are in March. And Arizona is paradise in March.

My flowers are beautiful, my grass is green, my garden is working on growing its yummy bounty, my fruit trees are shedding their blossoms and tucked beneath each delicate flower is a little fruit bud- peaches, plums, lemons and limes. Except the orange tree. It is our rebel. It has never produced for us. It is barren. I wonder if it feels sad.

People jump to judgment when a tree doesn't produce right away. I know what they are thinking, "Doesn't that tree know the plan? I guess it just doesn't want fruit." This can be hard on a little tree. What are the options for a barren orange tree?

In order for my family to enjoy the precious fruit of an orange tree, we must adopt all the oranges we get, since we are not able to have oranges on our own. Good thing orange adoption is easy. Not a lot of paperwork. And, get this, sometimes people just give us the oranges they don't want. It's shocking, but of course we accept them with open arms. Who wouldn't want an orange?

There are multitudes of orange orphans out there. Some fall right off their tree and society doesn't give them a chance- they just leave them there to rot. Admittedly, we have had a rotten orange or two at our house when we don't eat them fast enough. But we try to do our part and keep those bad oranges off the street.

Recently we purchased a juicer so that we can aid in orange rehabilitation and turn those fallen oranges into orange juice. And it is rewarding work. They have so much to give. And every time we juice those amber balls of juicy goodness, we know we have to help as much as we can. And we are committed to do our part.

We will continue to adopt oranges in the hopes that one day we will have our own.

And when we finally have our first little orange baby, it will always be paradise in Arizona.