Most of the orchard is done working for the year.  Pretty soon the leaves will fall and the stone fruit trees will take the winter off.  The citrus trees are working hard, already loaded with green fruit. They are a promise of edible sweet sunshine for our winter shares.  It is always tricky, because we never know if this winter will bring cold weather and a hard frost.  A few years back, we had a hard frost that lasted a couple of weeks.  Nigel ran the misters on the citrus trees to protect them from the severe cold. The ice actually acts as a barrier from the real cold.  It was beautiful, rows of ice sculptures perfected by nature.  It lasted far too long, though and we were very concerned we would lose our trees.  Luckily, our orchard is quite healthy and strong. As you can see years later, there is fruit!  Citrus is nature's way of sending us sunshine during the dark months of winter, really a pretty precious gift.