Holy Heaven on my tongue and warmth in my tummy. No more cussing that lemon tree. This is a good story with liqueur at the end.
One fine day, after I had been using lemons for cake, curd, marinade, tea and ‘ade- I was done. So sick of lemons and they just kept ripening. So I did what any good gardener would do: I put bags full of them on the curb with a huge FREE LEMONS sign. Maybe it’s the economy or people just love to see what you are doing setting bags on your curb, but I hadn’t even walked away from the 3-4 large Macy’s bags full of fruit when a car popped a u-turn and came zooming back.
“Hey! Don’t I know you from somewhere?” asked the driver, as her passenger hopped out to assess the citrus. (This is a small island- the chances of knowing a passing driver is pretty high.)
“Why yes! We are becoming Master Gardeners together!” I replied. We had only been in class a couple weeks and couldn’t yet remember everyone’s name.
“Can we take all these?” the passenger asked. ”Sure!” I replied. ”What are you gonna do with all these lemons?”
Making limoncello.
Ahhh. Excellent. Gardeners with a taste for fine liqueur. I knew we could be friends.
“Enjoy!” I called, as the car of friends and lemons left the curbside pickup.
Many weeks have gone by since that day, and I sort of forgot all about it. But on our day to graduate from Master Gardener course, my new friend, Lisa, brought me the most lovely gift. Her friend had indeed, made the most amazing limoncello, no plane ticket to Southern Italy required.
I have already written about how gardeners are the most generous sort of people you will ever meet- and this only furthers that claim, because this stuff is not easy to make. It’s time consuming, many steps, and all I had to do was give away all that I couldn’t possibly use! How awesome for me! Thanks ladies, and cheers. This tired Momma now has a stash in the back of the fridge.
Now I shall sit back, enjoy the sunset, sip some sweetness and count my blessings.
May 27, 2012 at 11:45 am
a gardening friend is a friend in deed!! Limoncello – lucky you
June 6, 2012 at 11:43 am
How seriously fantastic!!! Firstly, you are fantastic, for sharing those beautiful lemons – I can only dream of having the luck of being in a place where someone would be so kind as to share them for free with strangers! And secondly, fantastic that the goodness came back around to you in the form of homemade limoncello! WOW! I am kinda inspired to look into how it is made… I had some at an italian restaurant the other day and it took me straight back to Firenze….
Enjoying your blog! Hoping some of your green fingers and sustainable nous will rub off on me =)
June 6, 2012 at 1:51 pm
It’s like a little human connection every time I sit down with a wee sip of the goodness! Yet another reason I love Hawaii- generosity rubs off, and everyone is richer for it. Thanks for stopping by!