http://www.beacononlinenews.com/news/daily/2225
Sweet season West Volusia citrus ripens timely for the holidays
By Barb Shepherd
BEACON STAFF WRITER
posted Dec 2, 2009 - 9:41:07am
The Friday after Thanksgiving may be the biggest day of the year in shopping malls, but the Saturday before Thanksgiving is a whopper at U-pick citrus operations, where ripe and fragrant fruit is the traditional harbinger of the holidays.
People load up on satsumas, navels and grapefruit to share with friends and family at Thanksgiving gatherings, Jim Gordon explained.
The occupant of some 15,000 Volusia County acres before killer freezes in the 1980s, citrus is making a bit of a comeback in West Volusia. In 2002, Volusia County had 2,105 acres in citrus; today, there are 3,875.
On Citrus Black Saturday 2009, cars pulled up one after another on the grassy front lawn at Gordons Grove, on Hazen Road northwest of DeLand. Van doors slid open, and children scampered out.
Even the littlest ones knew what to do: Grab a pair of clippers, load up two empty buckets in one of the Gordons little red wagons, and head into the grove to pick oranges.
The experience is part nature outing, part education, part shopping, and part just good eating.
A family from Edgewater arrived to plow a few bucks into the West Volusia economy. This was their second trip to Gordons Grove in a week.
The kids love it, Paul Santos said.
Its a great, healthy snack and its so inexpensive, said his wife, Suzette Santos. I think its a great experience for the kids.
For $8, shoppers can fill a 5-gallon bucket with citrus. Using a hand-drawn map provided by the Gordons, they navigate 16 acres, choosing from among Ambersweet, satsumas, two kinds of grapefruit, three kinds of oranges, and tangelos.
Sampling before buying is encouraged, and strips of orange peel along the walkways are evidence that customers take Hugh Gordons advice.
Hugh Gordon, Jims father, has been running the citrus operation for four decades. He knows citrus picked this early isnt to everyones taste.
The varieties ripen at different times, and some people like to leave the fruit on the trees for months, claiming the best flavors come later in the season. Gordons Grove opens in late October, and picking will continue past Christmas.
I tell them to try them before they pick them, Hugh Gordon said.
This years crop is getting good reviews, even in November.
Ive never had so many people talk about how sweet the satsumas and Ambersweet, and even the navels, are this year, Hugh Gordon said.
Watching children in the grove is nothing new for Hugh Gordon. He and his wife, Frances, reared five children on the property. Now a new generation of young citrus-lovers is learning to love the land.
DeLand native Tim MacFarlane and his son, Landon, 3, are a team as they load fresh-picked citrus into the family car. Landon wraps his small hands around the big orange globes.
Hes grown up on the tangerines and the satsumas. Theyre fabulous, Tim MacFarlane said.
Father and son are picking, not only for Landons mom and sisters, Laurie, Jessica and Catharin, but for neighbors and co-workers, as well. Theyve been to Gordons Grove nearly a dozen times already this season.
I try to get everyone to come and get their own, but they like it when I deliver them, Tim MacFarlane said.
Similar reports of a busy season with a sweet, but perhaps smaller-than-usual crop were given by University of Florida Agriculture Services extension office agent Dana Venrick and grower Steve Crump, of Vo-LaSalle Farms in DeLeon Springs.
Theres some good fruit out there, Venrick said, but, all over the state, the crop is smaller than usual.
Not only citrus, but strawberries and tomatoes, are selling well at Vo-LaSalle Farms, where Steve Crump is making his career in agriculture, as his father, Bruce Crump, did. The farm on Johnson Lake Road offers U-pick crops, retails citrus at a farm stand, and sells gift fruit on the Internet.
People are glad they can buy local, and they say we have some really good-tasting vegetables, Steve Crump said.
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BEACON PHOTO/BARB SHEPHERD
Heart of the harvest Landon MacFarlane
shows an orange he and his father picked
at Gordons Grove in DeLand.
BEACON PHOTO/BARB SHEPHERD
Heading home The Santos family London and Raven, with father
Paul harvest citrus at Gordons Grove in DeLand. 
