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| Looking sleepy, Trillian Fischler (pictured with her mother, Amber Boas) is ready for a car-seat siesta |
SIMPLY LIVING
April 15, 2013
On a recent Sunday, my daughter Amber and her family spent
the day with us. By mid-afternoon, Trillian,
our 16-month-old grandchild, was ready for a nap but even though she was
obviously tired, she was unwilling to stop playing long enough to lie
down.
“Let’s take her for a drive,” Amber suggested and I readily
agreed. When my children were little, I
often reverted to the car-ride solution, especially with Amber who tended to be
a fussy sleeper.
After installing the car seat and strapping Trillian in
place, we set out for a leisurely drive.
Less than a mile down the road, Trillian nodded off, which enabled Amber
and me to have some rare alone time together.
“Where do you want to go?” I asked but when I received no
definite proposal, I made the decision myself.
“Let’s explore,” I said, knowing a relaxing meander around
back roads is something Amber and I both enjoy.
“Let’s drive around and see what we can find. I know the first place we can stop.”
A few minutes later, we pulled off the two-lane onto a
grassy strip in an older residential neighborhood where homes sit on a few
acres and peeling wood fences delineate property lines.
“A few months ago I discovered a kumquat tree here that
nobody picks,” I said pointing to the bushy citrus plant straddling the fence
line of an unused pasture.
Amber’s eyes lit up when she saw the fruit-covered
shrub. In addition to sharing my love
for lazy meandering down untraveled roads, Amber inherited my propensity for
foraging free food, flowers and herbs. I
stayed in the car with my sleeping grandbaby, while Amber jumped out and proceeded
to fill her pockets with the ripest kumquats she could reach.
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| Bright orange kumquats ready to pick |
Kumquats are members of the citrus family, small fruits with
a sweet edible skin and very tart flesh.
While Amber likes to eat only the skin, discarding the rest, I prefer to
pop the entire morsel into my mouth savoring the contrast between sweet and sour
sensations.
The thing about kumquat trees is that they are prolific bearers
over an extensive period. With most varieties
of backyard citrus, it’s possible to eat or juice all the fruit they produce. However, unless you’re a commercial grower
planning to sell your crop or convert it all to kumquat marmalade, there’s
bound to be waste and lots of it.
Rather than see good food fall to the ground and rot, I like
to stop by occasionally and pick a few handfuls. If the fruit is growing in someone’s yard, I
always ask for permission before picking, but if it’s growing by the roadside
and seems neglected, I consider it free for the taking.
A few minutes later, after filling her pockets, Amber got
back into the car and we ventured on, nibbling away at our foraged find.
“Where to now?” she asked after checking to be sure that Trillian
was still asleep.
“I know a place in Clermont,” I said, “where we can pick
some Surinam cherries. I passed it the
other day and the bushes were covered with ripe fruit.”
Even though they are edible, most people use Surinam cherry
bushes as ornamental hedges. In South
Florida, they are a common landscaping plant but in the central part of the
state, they are rare. The few plants I
have found have been located in older sections of town, planted at a time when
homeowners wanted to surround their yards with as many edibles as possible.
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| Surinam cherries are red like more many other cherries but they have their own unique taste |
We were heading for the downtown region, but although
Clermont was only about 10 miles away, I chose a convoluted route that enabled
us to drive along several rural roads flanked by stands of pink phlox and other
wildflowers.
“They’re so pretty,” I said as we rambled by. “I’d like to have a field of phlox growing on
our property some day.”
By the time we reached the Surinam cherry bushes, Trillian
was beginning to make wake-up sounds, so only Amber had time to pick a few of
the ripest fruit hanging from the shrubs closest to the road. Even though her cherry cache was small, it
whet our appetite for more foraging adventures.
“Let’s do this again soon,” I suggested as I turned the car
toward home. “I can come by your house
in Winter Garden one morning when Trillian is ready for her first nap and we
can poke around back roads there to see what we can find.”
Amber nodded in agreement as we set off on the only route
since we began that took us on main thoroughfares.
From start to finish, we were gone about 90 minutes. Although our outing was brief, our
accomplishments were many. My daughter
and I spent precious alone time together.
We shared pretty country views and tasty foraged foods. More important, we talked - conversations uninterrupted
by demanding little voices.
And what about Trillian who slept through the cherry
picking, kumquat gathering, scenic vistas and interesting discussions? We returned home with one smiley, refreshed
baby ready to run and play again after her car seat siesta. Sometime it takes the fussy qualms of an
overtired toddler for parents – and grandparents - to reclaim feelings of calm
and connectivity.
