In our family home in Aurora Hill, Baguio Phils Dad and brothers planted a lot of lime bushes at the back of the house. Daddy and Mama discovered the art of 'marcoting' and they went to marcot and propagate most bushes. We even had some coffee trees growing at the side of the house near Mr. Estacio's fence. We always had enough coffee barako supply for a year. But that will be in another blog. Going back to the endless supply of lime, we always served freshly pressed lemonade (we had this calamansi crossed with lime which had a bigger fruit and a lime-ey taste) to our guests- sometimes Mama will wonder how come the sugar went so fast-- we can't afford to buy soft drinks then...
Ever since I came overseas, I have always dreamed of planting a calamansi bush in my backyard. I have had 2 attempts- first was to propagate from seed a plant- which I did but then when we went for a long holiday, it dried up. The 2nd was when I bought one from Manang Adeling – a filipina fr Bayambang who together with her other sisters sell plants in the Redcliffe flea market. This one dried up too for a reason I have forgotten – hindi seguro nadiligan or it’s a poorly marcoted one.
Then one day after coming from the butcher shop in Pritchard, we passed by this garden shop with a half- price sale printed outside- we went in and by the entrance were 2 calamansi plants, with at least 3 fruits on them and they were $14 @ and since it’s half price I got 2 for the price of 1.
That’s been a year ago. Last month, it gave me my first calamansi harvest….yuhoo!
