Thirty years ago, on a cold, foggy day in December, my husband and I packed up the home I had bought in Modesto, loaded all our belongings into a U-Haul truck and moved ourselves to Vacaville. One of the last things to be loaded onto the truck was a 3-foot tall tangerine tree that had been growing very slowly in a wine half-barrel for at least five years. It had never produced any fruit, though it had been in an ideal location on our back patio in the sun-protected from the wind. My husband did not want to move the tree, but I did. I had bought it at Zaiger's Nursery at the recommendation of Floyd Zaiger (a renowned biologist, stone fruit breeder, and nurseryman, though I didn't know it then). The nursery was very close to my Modesto home, and the tree was a reminder of the first home I had bought by myself. I wasn't giving up on it. Together, my husband and I muscled it onto the truck. My husband still didn't want the tree, but he especially didn't want to see the tree in an old barrel in front of our new home. Our new backyard was in its entirety bare gooey clay, and I knew I wouldn't be able to plant anything back there for quite a while. We compromised. Just before Christmas, I removed the tree from the barrel and planted it in our front yard several feet from the backyard fence. I wasn't sure it would survive, but it was in a sunny, protected location. It was near a sprinkler that had been installed by the builder. I was giving it the best shot I could. My little tree had a chance.
Thirty years later, that tree is one of the reasons I love late autumn. The little 3-foot, late-starter is now at least 10 feet tall. It took off growing as soon as it was placed in the ground. Today, on probably the last warm day of this year, the tangerine tree is loaded with bright orange fruit, some ready to pick now. I have already eaten the first pick of this year- juicy, sweet, a little tart and with the wonderful clean scent of fresh citrus. I know I will be getting my yearly workout in the next week or two harvestings all the fruit on the tree. It's worth it. I have been picking fruit from this tree for most of the last 30 years. My husband and I and our neighbors will enjoy some of the fruit, but the Food Locker will get almost all of it. Our not-so-little tree usually produces around 250 pounds of tangerines each year making a lot of people happy.