The Cat's Meow

Last week The Colonel and I visited Joshua Citrus, Inc. It is a nearly one hundred year old family business. We followed the signs to Joshua on roads that ran between huge orange groves.

We pulled up and were met by two friendly ladies. One of the ladies immediately asked if we liked tangerines and placed two perfect, deep orange tangerines in my hand. They had lots of citrus to choose from. Tangerines, oranges and grapefruits.

They also had jellies, jams, juices and honey for sale. We bought a bag of oranges and Honeybell Tangelos and some of their delicious Orange-Strawberry juice.

The friendly ladies told us we could visit the building where all the citrus is brought in and sorted. Big white crates loaded with fruit were dumped onto a conveyor belt.

Hot water was sprayed on the citrus as it traveled down the belt. Once the fruit was washed it was sorted into different crates.

We were met by the resident cat, Joshua, as we toured. He was very friendly. The ladies said he had been dumped at the grove when he was a little kitten and is now their mascot more or less.

After our tour and purchases and before we left Joshua Citrus, Inc., we walked through the grove. The orange trees were beautiful, heavily laden with fruit.


We got back home with our fruit.

I squeezed the oranges for juice, but kept the Honeybells for eating (I shared some with a couple of friends too).

Having loads of fresh citrus virtually at your fingertips is 'The Cat's Meow'.