Last January, I was feeling a sense of nostalgia as I had flashbacks to my parents’ house in Baghdad, Iraq. The memories of those days were still fresh in my mind. I remembered the old bougainvillea trees that lined one side of the yard, and how they had seemed like giants standing guard over their property. But what stood out most vividly for me was the line of 44 bitter orange trees in their backyard – each at least 15-20 feet tall – that provided me with hours upon hours of entertainment during my childhood years.
Every spring, when it came time for blooming season, these towering oranges transformed into white snowflakes showering down petals upon them all below; something I would never forget about my homeland no matter where life took me next. And then there were the harvests – usually taking place between December and January – which yielded around 30-40 Seville oranges per tree! It was quite an undertaking to collect them all using a rake or other gardening tools, but it carried with it such a sense of accomplishment, knowing that so much could be produced from seemingly little effort on behalf of nature itself.
Once we had collected enough fruit (and sometimes even more than enough), we would wash them before squeezing out every last drop from each juicy piece into big bowls or tubs before freezing whatever excess liquid remained for later use as either drink or salad dressing ingredients. For some reason this process always reminded me not only how blessed I felt to have grown up surrounded by such wonderful gifts from mother nature but also how close-knit and supportive my family unit truly was throughout all these years; even now long after everyone had moved away from home far away to different cities across various countries worldwide!
