Meyer Lemon Tree, Coral Hibiscus, Distilling Water, and Dying in Bhava

‘Orange and Vanilla Agua Fresca’ hibiscus, a birthday gift from my husband.

Another birthday gift – a mature Meyer lemon tree! Here it is getting its first feeding in the kitchen sink.

And another awesome birthday gift – a water distiller. Love it.

If you have enough birthdays, everyone around you starts giving you groovy presents that you really love. When we first met, my husband would give me jewelry that I’d never buy or clothes that I’d never wear. After a few years, he figured things out, and now, birthday gifts are awesome.

This year, aside from the Ancestry DNA test that I’m still waiting for the results on, he gave me two incredible plant gifts: a giant coral hibiscus (variety ‘Orange and Vanilla Agua Fresca’), and a mature (approximately 4 foot) Meyer lemon tree. Living gifts, yay!

Last winter, he heard me whining pitifully about a friend’s greenhouse full of hibiscus. There’s no room in our lives right now for a new greenhouse, but there’s plenty of room for a new hibiscus. It’s a beauty. Orange is one of my favorite colors.

I’m crazy excited about our new lemon tree! The Meyer lemon tree my mom gave me last summer didn’t survive winter in the house. The Mexican lime has also finally died. Citrus is tough to keep happy in New England. They can’t winter outdoors, and they don’t like it inside the house at all.

This new lemon tree is mature, and that could mean that it will be stronger and might survive the winter. But I don’t want to think about winter in May. The tree is outside now, where it’s a bit cool for citrus (about 60 degrees), but will soon be soaking up that hot summer sun. A tree of this maturity will probably give us Meyer lemons this season.

I have a new Megahome water distiller! It steam distills, then filters one gallon of our well water at a time. No more commercial spring water of questionable source, no more plastic bottles (although we recycle all, better to not buy plastic in the first place), no more water sitting in plastic bottles leeching chemicals for months at a time, and no more cost.

We ran it for the first time on Saturday. The amount of visible impurities left behind after distillation and filtration left me speechless. It was absolutely gross. This is the water I cooked with? I’ll take well water over city water any day, but to finally see the pollutants that comes out of the faucet with our water has utterly cured me of consuming tap water. Yuuuccckkkk.

I also got a new half-gallon stainless compost bucket. Now we have two in the kitchen and one near the kitchen door outside. You need a lot of compost vessels when you eat as many fruits and veggies as we do. We’re constantly filling and emptying them into the compost pile.

There’s garden work to do. I have yellow squash seedlings that need to be planted now, succulents that must be potted in a large concrete urn by the side of the house, impatiens that must be planted in the front flower beds, and a potager to organize. In a couple of weeks, all the hot-weather veggies go in the gardens. The clematis is vining up the arbor and needs to be tied. Happy work.

Our loved one has been released from Dukkha and her worldly ties. Her final days here were full of family and music, and she transitioned peacefully, with her son holding her hands and playing her favorite spiritual songs. She died at home, as she wanted, with those who cherished her by her side. With all her heart she loved life, but she gave herself bravely to death, and she left in a state of Bhava, knowing that she was completely loved. May she have an auspicious rebirth.

We’re on the cusp of the season, loves. Very soon, summer will be here and the food gardens will be going strong. There will be flowers to cut for bouquets and fresh veggies for dinner. We’ll take off our shoes and keep them off until September, maybe October. The beach and the sun are waiting. Let’s all be happy, at peace, and grateful. Great things are coming.

Live in peace.