I can't seem to grow fruit trees. The Bearss lime tree planted over ten years ago is still an infant and has produced exactly 5 limes (the size of cotton balls) in all that time. Way back in the day, there was a struggling lemon tree, which happily produced a few lemons until it fell over in a storm. It looked to be about 50 years old when we moved in, so we weren't surprised that it decided to give up. The point is, that having lemon in my afternoon tea is a requirement, and there are no trees in our yard to supply that demand. Except -- this neighborhood has abundant lemons and people are so willing to share. Yes, they even leave boxes of fresh picked lemons on the front porch, knowing they will be juiced in a nano second and put to good use. Now here's where it gets a bit messy. Juicing is time consuming and cleanup is no fun, but what to do with the rinds? If you just toss them in compost, they simply get rock hard and take forever to decompose. Throwing them in the trash should be punishable by having to perform a several block trash pickup, so what's the answer? Well, it's time consuming, but there is a solution. Just cut the rinds into tiny pieces, set them out to dry, and then put them in a blender to create a wonderful lemon dust that happily goes into the compost tumbler. Also helps to keep it smelling fresher. Or, if you don't have a compost pile, you can add it directly to the soil as it helps plants that prefer a little acidity.
This pile represents 1-1/2 hour of juicing and 1 hour of slicing rinds. A perfect combo for a drizzly, cloudy day.
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