Citrus vs. Lemon

July 21st 2019

Yes, time flies - wish it were because I was having fun but not so. Busy work and life schedule and health issues - I suppose not so much me as my husband but cannot do much about that. Most is  brought on by excessive lifestyle of eating and drinking.  There are not so many vices left in our lives - gave up smoking long ago. Alcohol and food are all that’s left I guess…. We are worshipers of Baccus. And he is taking his toll.

Caravaggio's Bacchus  - 1595 - Uffizzi - Florence Italy

So anyway, the other day I was home from work on my way to the doctor and had some free time. It’s been so long that I had even looked at my Orangery project I couldn’t even remember what I had bought and not.  There had been a small earthquake at the Japanese Ryokan (see the blog) so I was pretty frustrated overall about getting back to mini-ing.  But during a work convention I ran into my ex-colleague and muse of minis and she was wondering if I had gone back to the project or not.  Since we stopped working together, we both have lost our mini-ing passion.  Seems we were a sort of stimulus for each other.  But she was encouraging so having recently put the Ryokan back together after the earthquake and cleaning off my work table I decided to take a look at things.  Soon enough I started thinking about what I could do each evening or weekend to get back to making something.  And, here I am, writing the next installment after having dug around to remember what materials I have and have not.

So, here is a pic of the kit I bought ages ago.

Greenhouse Kit - bought two.

I actually bought two.  One end is completely open - it was made to butt up against a dollhouse for installation. I am going to make them both and install little hinges between them for opening and closing - or keep them unattached and install them back to back when displaying them - making them one greenhouse.

Bricks mortar and marble sheet.

I had already bought the bricks and mortar (I actually had do do an email search on my computer to find the order receipts as I could not find the materials!! - I had put them away for later and forgot where I had put them or even wasn’t sure I had bought them!)  The bricks will be installed on the side panels under the windows of the greenhouse in the style of Kensington.  I will have to paint everything white though first. And I managed to locate the “hard wood” flooring sheet and the “marble” self sticking sheet for the floors. I think I will use the marble for the greenhouse floor and the wood for making the counter shop table tops more interesting.  So, with my camera battery now charged and at least a few steps planned out, maybe I can get cracking !!

And here is an ugly lemon pic.

I will try and add lemon lore in here every now and then. This one is called a citron or cedro in Italian. I guess ancient versions of it (etrog) even have important religious significance in the Jewish faith.  You can look up info on it but I love the ugliness of the fruit.  Some of the lemons I got recently from Amalfi are just as ugly so I put them in a jar with salt to make salted lemons.  You can check out the recipe here. Make sure your lemons are unwaxed if you are going to make the recipe. Maybe the uglier the better!

So that is all for today.  Hopefully I wil l have enough energy to do something else this week.

Till later !!

What is an Orangery and What's the Big Deal of Having One?

Kensington Orangery

Ok, I admit.  My first exposure to an orangery was Kensington Palace where inside the orangery the public can enjoy high tea when the building is not being used for special events (such as weddings or private parties for the royals or the wealthy).  I had no idea that a specific kind of greenhouse existed!  Built in 1761 with the idea of housing oranges (see why below) it wasn’t as successful at this endeavor as it was planned to be - this due to the fact that the roof was solid and did not allow sufficient light into the building.

Around the 9-10th century the orange was introduced into Europe by the Moors.  But the early version of the fruit was more bitter than today's sweet orange which was introduced into Sicily around the 15th century and its popularity soon caught on.  Once merchants began to spread the sweet orange into the Mediterranean, it became a luxury item and sought after by those who could afford it - or afford to grow them in their own greenhouses.  If you had fresh oranges on your table, you were considered very very special.  The fact that citrus trees and fruit suffer to frost is the reason why hot houses and orangeries (and the limonaia) were created to protect the precious fruit during the cold months.

 

The whole idea of a structure built specifically for housing citrus plants is much older than Kensington.  Basically the first citrus houses were built in Italy in the mid 1500’s and once glass blowing developed a system to make large panes of glass and use them for roofing, the orangery or in Italy the “lemonaia” really took off.  Obviously large panes of glass would be as expensive as gold so anyone having such a luxurious greenhouse or conservatory usually came from royalty or rich well to do families with very large villas.  The Renaissance gardens in Italy did them best.  Both functional and beautiful.  And the Medici families made sure each of their villas had a limonaia.  And the decoration of the inside of these limonaia were nothing less than masterpieces. 

Inside courtyard of Palazzo Medici-Riccardi that served as a place to house citrus trees and plants. Florence, Italy

Just like Kensington which has another function today, so too do the orangeries in Italy.  Some are still housing fruit but many are either mostly empty or have been converted into restaurants, hotels and even theaters.

Villa Petraia (Medici) in Sesto Fiorentino, Italy. You can see the hot house to the left of the pool (not for swimming but for fishing!)

The Orangery at Versailles, of course!

So, while building my Japanese dollshouse (my first project), somewhere during the build I came up with an idea to build my own Orangery.  It too would be a tea room and used for entertainment but I want to make it so that inside is still functional for the plants and fruit trees I plan to house there.  It will definately have a relaxed yet functional atmosphere.

I made purchases over the last 3 years or so based on what could go into my Orangery Tea Room and have collected quite a few objects.  Right now I am very busy with a hectic work schedule but I hope maybe I can find an hour or two in the week and on the weekend to try and get back to creating something in miniature.  I miss having a project to work on.

Ok, so, I welcome you to join me on the next project and hope it turns out as satisfying as the first dollshouse project did.