Crop Drop ! by Weezilou

Crop Drop !

Pam has told me that the California storm yesterday made the news in England, and it certainly had our attention as the winds howled and the rain pelted down! I was sure we'd lose some tree limbs, but only one small one off the avocado tree. What we did lose was our entire crop of Navel oranges! Tonight Ken gathered them all and juiced them to freeze to use in smoothies. Fresh, they were so sweet and delicious.

We were out today, and in a nearby park, we saw a number of large trees completely toppled with their roots fully exposed. That was some kind of weather system!
oh my!
thank heavens you could rescue them for juice.
this is what the side of the house looks like when the cockatoos attack the neighbours mandarin trees
February 19th, 2017  
Goodness that sounds like quite a storm. Glad you haven't suffered any damage. I haven't heard much on our news about the storms. I must contact my brother and see if he's been affected. He's near San Francisco.
February 19th, 2017  
@salza Our daughter is up near Sta Barbara, and they got socked with it. There have been huge concerns about Oroville Dam inland & north of SF because the water has risen so high. That indicates to me that had an awful lot of rain up the coast as well! We've needed the water, but the storms have been big ones that came with it!
February 19th, 2017  
Seems many places worldwide are in need of rain. So many big storms around as well. The northern part of South Africa has been hammered by a tropical storm over the last few days. Quite a lot of damage and flooding has occurred.
February 19th, 2017  
Colorful, pretty, but sad. This photo could have been taken in the nearby orange groves here. The ground around the trees look just like this today The trees took a major beating in our 60 mph winds and heavy rain yesterday and last night. More rain expected.
February 19th, 2017  
@aglennc wow, Anita, "orange groves" mean they're probably meant to be cash crops...that's tough. This is the very last of our two orange trees this year, but we'll move on to the tangerines as they held on well. In the thick of it all, I was sure the wind was higher than 60mph, but that was enough to get my attention! After this late afternoon's sun, I was hoping we'd seen it all....
February 19th, 2017  
@Weezilou We had 75 mph winds in October of 07 when we were evacuated during our wildfires. The winds the past two days seemed just as high, but we heard not so....... Just really seemed like it when we had to go outside for anything. Sprinkles today. Guess more rain is expected...... You guys staying dry and warm up there?
February 19th, 2017  
Orange you the lucky ones?!? Glad the damage was minimal for you. Few problems down here in South County....that I know of.
February 19th, 2017  
yes, your storm made the news in Australia too! Seems a wild storm always comes after so much drought! Glad only the oranges were destroyed.
February 19th, 2017  
What a waste, thought I at first. Luckily you got juice out of them.
February 19th, 2017  
So sad to loose your whole crop of these lovely oranges!! What a blow it must be to the farmers who must have lost their livelihood. Nature is so wonderful yet can be an untamed beast!! Glad you could at least get the juice to save. I hope all is calm now.
February 19th, 2017  
What a pity to see all those oranges wasted. At least Ken has saved what could be saved.
February 19th, 2017  
I heard about that storm! How interesting to see how it affected you. Your poor crop. Glad you could use the juice from the windfalls.
February 19th, 2017  
Time for the juicer? Looks like some are even already pealed by the storm! :-)
February 19th, 2017  
Wow... that must have been some storm.
February 19th, 2017  
oh what a shame, they are all split too
February 19th, 2017  
Wow - didn't hear the storm but glad you didn't have damage. Also glad you were able to salvage the fruit juice
for another day.
February 19th, 2017  
I'm so glad you were able to get the juice from these beautiful oranges.
February 19th, 2017  
Always sad to see a crop lost to a storm
February 19th, 2017  
Wowee, that must've been quite some storm Louise, these oranges have split on impact. Glad you didn't lose any trees or big branches.
February 20th, 2017  
Oh my.
February 20th, 2017  
glad you were able to salvage them. I love navel oranges and we get them from California when ours are out of season.
February 20th, 2017  
@cruiser Ken juiced them all over the course of an hour+ and I bagged them, 1 C at a time. It looked as though it should have yielded more, but we only got about 2 gallons of juice. In smoothies, it will go a long way!
February 20th, 2017  
Oh this photo shows the storm's fury as good as anything. Fresh squeezed orange juice is so good, you could say "making lemonade out of lemons" or something like that, smile.
February 21st, 2017  
Always sad to lose a crop. We had a far longer monsoon and changing climate in Western India too.
February 21st, 2017  
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