Lemon Harvest 2026

Hello Friend,

As I shared in last month's newsletter, the citrus slices I use to embellish the packages we send to our participants come from my own trees, harvested and prepped by me personally. Last year, the harvest consisted of mostly pink grapefruit and I picked and prepped in early February. This year, we had unusually high temperatures in winter and I noticed the fruit was ripening much quicker on the trees. I waited until the end of February and the early weeks of March to harvest the grapefruit. That was a mistake. Most of them had grown too large and had become too soft to slice on the mandolin. I ended up juicing the majority of them.

I moved on to the lemon tree which produced TONS of fruit this year. I spent weeks prepping the slices, taking great care drying them low and slow in my dehydrator. Some batches took upwards of 28 hours to fully dry and I didn't mind one bit. The house smelled heavenly the entire time.

Did you know lemons, grapefruit, and oranges are some of nature's most bitter fruits? It's due to their high concentrations of compounds like alkaloids, terpenoids, and flavonoids in the pith and peel, which serve as natural defenses against pests.

As the weeks went by prepping the lemons, I asked the Lord why I felt so compelled while prepping them this year. Why it felt like more of an assignment. Last year it was just for decoration but this year seemed very different. Slowly, He began to reveal the meaning behind it.

He used the lemons as a metaphor to show me something important. And now I want to share it with you.

The lemons served as a symbol of the bitter choices so many of us have made — the past abortions. The decision that was or is carried in secret, sometimes for years, sometimes for decades (like me), wrapped in regret, guilt, and shame.

But we serve a God who specializes in making all things new and beautiful out of something so bitter.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." — 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

My carefully prepared lemon slices have become a tangible reminder that what was once bitter has been transformed and made into something beautiful.

This Easter, that's the word I want to leave with you.

He is Risen. In Him, you are a new creation. Your past is gone. You are loved by the One who conquered sin and death.

Hallelujah!

The bitter things of the past do not define you or me. We are new creations, made new through the finished work of Jesus!

If this resonates with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it.

With Love,

Polly

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