Orlando-area couple donate citrus surplus and sell bags of fruit for $1
Lisa and Mike Clark share their bounty with people willing to pay $1 a bag and with charities.
Eileen Marie Simoneau | Special To The Sentinel
February 10, 2008
A hand-painted sign beckons passers-by to a trailer of fruit parked on West Minnesota Avenue in DeLand.
The curious who are drawn in soon find out what regulars already know: You can buy a bag of tree-ripened citrus here for just a buck.
Bring exact change, though. Shoppers are on the honor system when they buy the discounted fruit from Lisa and Mike Clark. Just slip your cash into a wooden box on the unmanned trailer full of mostly oranges and grapefruit.
It's how the Clarks share the bounty from 103 citrus trees on their 2.7-acre lakefront property in DeLand.
The couple had no experience with agriculture when they moved in nine years ago. But they fell in love with the 60- to 80-year-old trees and learned the basics.
"How can you do away with something that old?" Lisa Clark said.
Now the couple spend at least 10 hours per week harvesting, fertilizing and sorting through navel oranges, kumquats, lemons, Key limes, tangerines, Hamlins and pink and white grapefruit.
"I really don't care for citrus . . . but I will drink the juice," said Mike Clark, an owner of a company that services electronic pumps and other items at Central Florida gas stations.
As for Lisa Clark, who runs the gift shop at the county's Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet, the trees provide her favorite fruit -- honeybell oranges. But it's more than they need, even after giving away to friends, family and charity.
In their first year at the DeLand property, the Clarks loaded a dump truck with 70,000 pounds of fruit and hauled it to a Umatilla juice plant, which has since closed. Now they donate what they can't eat to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.
Volunteers from Central Florida churches and service organizations come to their property every March to harvest their trees for families in need.
"We share what we have with people," Lisa said.
Shoppers like the Haigs appreciate the help. Taylor Haig, 4, and her sister Catelynn, 15, both of Lake Helen, recently squeezed 2 1/2 gallons of juice from a bag of fruit that cost $1.
Considering a local grocery store's special last week was $3 for half a gallon of orange juice, the Haigs got a great deal.
The Haigs recently worked together to stock up on the discounted fruit. Catelynn held a plastic grocery bag open while Taylor leaned into the trailer to grab the biggest and juiciest Hamlin oranges she could reach.
Their mother, Jeri Haig, just bought a new juicer and plans to visit the trailer for oranges every week.
"Wow, these oranges are really good," Jeri Haig said.
Source:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-vcheapcitrus1008feb10,0,1343194.story 
