I was a little girl growing up in Florida, back when orange groves felt endless and the air itself seemed sweet. Citrus wasn’t something you bought — it was something you experienced.

We would hand-pick oranges straight from the trees, their skins warm from the sun and bursting with that unmistakable Florida scent. We’d carry them home and leave them on our summer porch, where they somehow lasted through the winter months — cool to the touch, firm, and fragrant, as if Florida itself had wrapped them up for us.

There were two proper ways to eat a porch orange.

One was to cut the peel halfway down in four places, gently opening it like petals, using the peel itself as a little bowl while we pulled out the sections one by one. Juice would drip down our wrists, sticky and sweet, and no one cared.

The other way felt almost ceremonial. You took a knife and carefully cut into the nipple at the top of the orange, creating a small drinking hole. Then you’d sip the juice straight from the fruit — nature’s original juice box — before peeling it open and eating the rest. No carton. No label. Just pure Florida sunshine.

Those oranges smelled like oranges. They tasted like oranges. Anyone who grew up here knows exactly what I mean.

Years later, as an adult, I watched Florida’s citrus industry take hit after hit. Groves disappeared. Disease, storms, and time itself took their toll. And suddenly, grocery store shelves were filled with oranges from faraway places — fruit that looked fine enough but didn’t smell like oranges and certainly didn’t taste like Florida oranges. Something essential had been lost.

That’s why I was genuinely happy to read a recent article about Florida citrus making a comeback — not by going backward, but by moving smartly forward. Growers are now using new technologies and innovative growing methods to protect trees, improve yields, and fight the diseases that once devastated the industry. From advanced root stocks and protective growing systems to smarter irrigation and soil management, Florida farmers are finding ways to preserve what made our citrus special while adapting to modern challenges.

It felt like good news not just for agriculture, but for memory.

Because this isn’t only about oranges — it’s about identity. It’s about eating local. It’s about supporting the farmers who steward the land. And it’s about food that carries a sense of place, history, and care.

I’m thankful for new technologies that are helping bring back old memories — and sweet Florida oranges for my grands to enjoy. 🍊