Photo Friday (Vol. XLVIII) ['Lemon Tree' edition]

Countless groups have covered the song 'Lemon Tree', but I grew up listening to the Peter, Paul & Mary's version (The Kingston Trio's version being a close second).

As a kid I didn't really pay much attention to the lyrics because they spoke about things for which I had no frame of reference; impermanence, infidelity, bitterness, etc.  All I really heard was the catchy chorus:

Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet,
but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.

So when I was casting about for likely fruit trees to plant in our garden, a lemon tree wasn't really in the running. 

Many of our neighbors have figs, apples, cherries and peaches... but when I was wandering around the nursery I kept coming back to a pretty little 4 year old lemon tree.  I figured that those other fruits were readily available from neighbors (everyone always swaps fruit here because they have way more produce from their trees than they can eat) and the local markets... but home grown lemons seemed like a decadent treat.

In this photo from this past summer you can see our lemon tree right after it was replanted in our yard with it's young fruit already starting to develop.

Well, here it is this morning with some of the most beautiful lemons, ready to be picked.

There is some meaningful religious stuff I have to take care of before we can use the fruit, but within the next day or two these lemons will disprove the song lyrics and find their way into a few very edible (and drinkable) recipes.

First up is Limoncello.  Since tasting it at Chez Weese I have been longing to make a batch of my own.  I'm pretty sure that Zahava will be able to come up with a recipe that calls for lemon zest/peel as well... and I may even try to candy or chocolate coat some lemon peels.

As to that musical fallacy that lemons represent impermanence, bitterness and infidelity... I was doing some reading after I planted the tree and found out that lemon trees flower and bear fruit several times a year.  Not only that, but the very act of planting a tree in our yard and seeing it develop and bear fruit has done more than anything else since we moved here to make us feel like we are here to stay.

Shabbat Shalom.