10 to the litre

This doesn't refer to petrol consumption but to the number of oranges we pick to get a litre of juice.   Started picking on Tuesday morning,  24 oranges gave us just over 2 litres and today I picked 33 oranges which when juiced gave us a very large jugful.  The jug holds 3 litres and it was full to the brim.  Last year we juiced more than we could easily drink and ran out of bottles to freeze it in, so then we started to keep empty juice cartons when we bought juice out of season.  Rinsed, dried and stored the cartons in a dry place, now we only have to rinse them again and sterilize them - just in case - and the fresh juice can be poured into the cartons and frozen for the next 'out of season' months.

So it's orange juice for breakfast - plus coffee of course.  Can't start the day without a large mug of café con leche.  Orange juice  in the evening - plus a little bit of vodka - and a lot of ice.  Tomorrow morning I'll pick some more and that will  probably all get frozen.  Next time we're out at the shops we'll get some sugar and make some more marmalade.  Last years was tasty but a bit too solid -  think what it must be like if it needs 30 seconds in the microwave before you can get the spoon in it - different recipe this year so hopefully slightly softer.

So oranges with everything at the moment, and then the juiced halves go on the top of the woodburner to dry out in the evening giving  a lovely orangey smell to the lounge,  when they're dry  they get burnt in the fire  and another batch goes  on the top for drying.  If we get overwhelmed with orange skins, they go into the compost heap.