At this time of year the farmers markets are in full swing with produce by the crate load. With blue berries ordinarily priced somewhere between an exotic super food and a brand new small car we can rejoice in the season of oversupply. Which leads me to consider the lemon. Having grown up with the standard lemon tree that was present in every quarter acre backyard one of the first things we did when we moved here was plant our new lemon tree. Lemon or tree doesn't really describe its current state. It's more an installation of an appearance of something that could have been a lemon tree. The heat rebounded off the shed that it stands beside and gave the effect of planting it on the middle shelf of the oven with temperature set at bloody high. Even though the soil now so lacking in nutrients in our little shed corner complete with rusty Hobart town ploughing horse paraphernalia has still managed to provide enough for the odd battered attempt at a lemon. I'm not educated about lemon tree ways and not even sure when they are in season having grown up with over producing trees that threw lemons to the ground regularly in a tantrum. And whilst my under performing specimen works tirelessly against the odds I'm at a loss to understand the supermarket offering of USA lemons. It's nothing against the country of origin but the fact that this selection of local supermarket produce is offered instead of our own is a sad state of affairs. I'm confronted by this sticker of the glossy wax museum lemon in its perfect shape and mutter to myself ever so loudly that our backyards (obviously not mine) are full of this easy to grow Australian fruit so why do they source from elsewhere?
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