Oranges And Squirrels

The squirrels are coming! the squirrels are coming! It's been my mantra for about am month, as a nest of squirrels has settled in and is feeding on my beautiful oranges. Yep! they are assaulting my orange tree, which this year is overloaded with wonderful oranges. My crop usually starts to ripen in November, is at it's peek in December and lasts (when not molested by the squirrels) until late January.It's because the New Orleans winters are mostly mild, sometimes cool and seldom cold. Orange trees here love the soil that has been deposited from the Mississippi river overflows the past few centuries. New Orleans (or more accurately, Plaquemines Parish oranges from about 40 kilometers south of the city) oranges are a specialty item sold by gourmet fruit sellers, particularly the Valencia, Navals and Satsuma varieties (My tree is a Satsuma tree). I eat them and bake with them.
The Plaquemines' Valencia Naval orange is my favorite. It is so sweet that it defies description but odd in that when one drinks Louisiana navel orange juice it must be consumed within a few hours as it turns bitter over time. As a child I remember using my mom's ancient (It came from her mother and I still have it. Damn the technology! There is no better orange squeezer today than this one) steel hand orange squeezer on cold mornings to make a glass of the best orange juice I have ever drunk. The Lousiana/Plaquemine's oranges are so good that they sell at five times the price of other oranges grown in the U.S. Of course, a Plaquemine's naval is about 50% larger and heavier than a normal naval orange.
Sometimes I make the short 40 minute drive to the roadside stands in Plaquemines Parish to buy many variety of the fruit. Fortunately, it is sold at some locally owned grocery stores here as well. yet, the specialty citrus from Plaquemines can only be obtained form the roadside stands, or ordered by mail at exorbitant prices from vendors. Louisiana citrus is fodder for chefs -- blood oranges for gourmet sauces, Meyer lemons for luscious desserts, Persian limes for exotic drinks, and garnet-red grapefruit for glorious salads.
But back to my meddlesome and hungry squirrels! A couple a days ago Jane and a friend were cutting some satsumas from the tree for her friend's family and jane joking said "we were attached by squirrels hurling oranges". They caught the squirrel tribe (that nests in a big oak tree that is in my back yard near the orange tree) in the act of orange theft! The squirrels make an opening about the size of the tip of your big toe, and then such every thing out of the orange. This leaves a piece of orange skin hanging on the tree in defiance of the owner of it.
This morning I have foiled them all. I picked almost all the remaining oranges from the tree, will give away most and put some in the refrigerator. It is not a victory, for I would prefer to have fresh satsumas until the end of January, the normal end of the season. Now I wonder what those squirrels will next eat.