As one of the regulars on the fruit message board has said, gardening is the gateway drug to starting an orchard. That has certainly been the case for me. Lemon juice dressing is completely by feel, dare I say it's an art? ;) 1. Give a fresh lemon a good scrubbing (just get all the dirt off). If your lemons are small, try using a couple. The idea here is to use fresh right away rather than make a huge batch. 2. Use a microplane and zest the lemon. Don't dig into the white pith of the lemon. You probably know this from making Lemoncello. 3. Juice the lemon into a small bowl. 4. Add high quality extra virgin olive oil to taste. I don't use much, maybe 3-4 splashes. 5. Which way you take it from here is highly variable: - Add a few shakes of 21 seasoning salute (Trader Joes) -- or chopped or dried Italian herbs. -- or just salt and cracked pepper. - Maybe a slash of worchester sauce. - Maybe a splash or two of high quality balsamic vinegar. - And/or maybe a dab of Dijon mustard to taste and to emulsify. 5. Whip it good with a fork 6. Dip in a pinky and taste. 7. Add more of something to taste if needed and/or serve over fresh salad greens right away.

Both mine and my parents' trees fruit are ready to pick and eat at Thanksgiving. Not just a few - the whole tree. Same every year - satsuma is the first citrus ripened and ready. Satsuma is an early citrus. So no, never had the citrus delayed. In fact, the fruit is ready before our first (infrequent) hard freeze which usually arrives in December or January. 2010 was an exception when it came on Sunday night of Thanksgiving weekend. So cold/freezing not an issue for the fruit. As far as cold-hardiness, when a hard freeze is forecast, I sometimes put heat lamps on them and sometimes not. In 10+ years for my tree and 30+ years for parents' tree, never had any part of either of the trees freeze back. I don't overdo the fertilizer. That is why I use a citrus-specific fertilizer (with the minor elements) and apply more often. Many of us believe that more frequent, light applications are better than two or three heavy applications. (I actually use that same theory with all my plants. I apply at one-half or even one-third the rate but twice as often. This works if you like to garden or work in the yard and are out there frequently.) My tree is shaped somewhat like a Charlie Brown tree. Here is my satsuma tree in November 2007: Two years later, my satsuma tree on November 23, 2009. (It has grown substantially in the past year and a half but I don't have a current photo): Another photo from November 2009: My parents' tree. This photo does not do it justice because you just can't see the enormity. The photo doesn't show the perspective and how tall and wide the tree is (20' diameter):

Nice dog Bob! I’ll keep you guys updated. I put out two snap traps in boxes this afternoon. I checked one a bit ago and the annoying critters had taken some of the peanut butter off one...no snap though! That’s ok...there was a little left and they’ll have to work harder to get it...I hope to have something tomorrow. Just now I was out one last time taking my dogs to pee when Enzo (the big fluffy one) starts sprinting across the yard. Next thing I know there is a large animal (raccoon??? Fox??) zipping past me with Lila (the Aussie) in hot pursuit. I screamed and ended up on the patio table! Lol. I hope my neighbors did not see that show!

John, thanks. I have a Seville Sour Orange tree that I purposely bought a few years ago to use for making the traditional marmalade but the tree is still young and has not produced fruit yet. The surplus mandarins still make a delicious, albeit a slight different kind, of marmalade. I have stored a few ripe mandarins and other citrus in a cool, dry storage area away from sun and heat and they do not last as long as compared to being covered and stored in the refrigerator. Thanks, Laura! The family has tried it, including our grandson who spent the weekend with us, and they loved it too. :) Steve, how big is the seedling? Socal, that sounds delicious! If you have a tree with surplus fruit make some marmalade and let us know how it tastes. :)