cool. free food. wish there were more urban fruit trees. it would make people a lot happier on the way to work to pick some fruit for the day off a tree.

I've never eaten preserved lemons but they sound delicious! I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a copy of that book, I've got a balcony full of potential green-space! <3 Andrea

Great story! We are growing a small garden this year and have begun to reap it's rewards! We had fresh homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and green beans for our Father's Day meal. It was wonderful! Even a small patch of earth can produce a great deal! I encourage everyone to give it a try! There's something very rewarding about feeding your family foods that you raised yourself and that you know are all natural!

I love this story, lemons, and Novella's name! Thank you for this afternoon pick-me-up!

I love shopping at our local farmers' markets frequently, but in addition, this year started my own little vegetable garden! These preserved lemons look gorgeous. I can almost imagine what they'll taste like!

This is fabulous! I love urban gardening, and urban farming! Small spaces can yield big and tasty results!

i love lemons..what a great article!! the town i live is has urban farms...starwberries, cranberries, blueberries all growing within city limits as well as community garden plots - city block large! they are great!!

cant spell...strawberries, sorry!

Everything looks so inviting! Nothing like fresh fruit and veggies!

Cute story!

Novella, A good friend of mine preserves lemons like this and they are absolutely amazing! She uses them in cooking and drinks all the time. I've been thinking of doing it myself actually. Now I'm really inspired. Thanks so much! Jeanne RainyPenguinVintage

Wow, I would love to taste those! My husband and I are members of a CSA and get fresh local veggies each week straight from the farm. Just last week I got to pick my own sweet peas. Love local, love fresh. You can't beat it.

By the By, Chicago has an awesome urban farm that was started primarily to educate the community about gardening. It's pretty neat, too, because lots of the great restaurants by their produce from the farm.

Ummm... stealing fruit in order to make a profit... is that entirely ethical? Besides which, I'm not sure the end result is worth possibly finding yourself up against charges of trespass & theft. There's nothing quite as delicious as really fresh & organically grown food, but please grow your own!

Can't wait to read the book!And I love the necklace by adornandconquer!

Fantastic gleaning story-- complete with wonderful preserves. I hope you're making at least one tagine. I'll happily trade some seeds for preserved lemons (Meyer lemons are wicked expensive up in the Northeast) or felted items. I'll have some more varieties available later this summer... let me know if you're interested.

What a great article. I definitely need to get that book pronto...before summer ends!

I am so envious. I love lemons and those look delicious.

Oh WoW1 those lemons look just Incredible!!!!

I love love love this article. It's so important to utilise nature's gifts rather than let them go to waste x

wish i have a garden too:)

I am enjoying lemon hummus while reading this post. The yellow is just making me so happy to look at journey you have taken me on. Awesome.

hooray for foraged food!! Novella, it's so cool to see you here on etsy..!!! I am a huge admirer of your sister, and am gaining constant inspiration from her flickr stream, so glad to see that it runs deep in the family. Still havent had a chance to grab your book, but am awful thankful for people like yourself and Riana for encouraging this kind of life! Thank you!!! xo

I am an urban farmer as well. We grow a lot of things and preserve everything we can. Our home is in the historic district of our small city and we proudly have okra, corn, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers growing in the front yard. I'll can, freeze, pickle, or dry everything as it is in season. I do take issue with the idea of selling food that was essentially stolen. Picking some to enjoy as they are ripened and falling off the tree is one thing, but picking them all and selling them without regard to who owns the tree or property is wrong.

I should add that I am all about urban foraging, but if something is behind a fence, I draw the line.

Oh...Pure happiness!! I dream about having a lemon tree.

Great article. Lemons make good things even better.

Sounds delicious! I really want to learn how to make preserves! My summer goal.

A pleasant reading. Thanks for sharing the lemon preservation with us. :-)

It is a shame that so few people in our modern world don't preserve like this- It truly is tasty. My mouth was watering the whole time I read.

When we lived in SF,CA - my friends got me a meyer lemon tree for my birthday. Sadly - when we moved back East I couldn't take it with me : ( BUT - now we have the most amazing CSA : )

Delicious story!

Yum! As an Urban Exploration enthusiast, I am totally on board with a little harmless trespassing! I would have done the same thing if a beautiful lemon tree had been taunting me for so long. Better to use the lemons and help out the tree than to let all that deliciousness go to waste.

Oh, I have my cherry tree, my apple tree and pears tree, lot's of strawberries, tomatoes etc. It's up to you. You can have fruit tree in container these days.

great pictures!

What a great inspiring story!

What a great article. I've just started to work full time from home and I'm planning on investing more time in the garden to save on groceries and to live greener and healthier, in this time where financial budgets will need adjusting. Thanks for the inspirational reminder of ways to get creative, conserve and share lessons with the world.

I have never heard of preserved lemons before. It sounds very interesting!

Nice story! We picked a bunch of apples that grow on a trail that used to be a railroad area in our neighborhood. They were just falling to the ground, so we brought over an apple picking tool and a bucket and picked them, they were great!

Never would have thought that you could preserve the lemons like that! They look very tasty!

Fabulous story!!

cool article...I've read her blog before she's a hoot....

Lemons just make me happy, and I have to munch them, garnishes beware! This story made me laugh as my grandmother did the same thing to a plum tree, except it wasn't on an abandoned lot. After years of watching the fruit rot, she just couldn't stand the waste and snuck over. We had jam and frozen plums for her wonderful pastries.

I can smell those lemons just reading the description! I started canning way back when, got away from it when utility costs went sky high but am ready to can my favorite: ripe blueberries, no sugar added. Crack open a quart in January & you'll think you've discovered nectar of the gods. Thanks for including the vintage garden tools from my Asundrynotion shop!

I like the way you think Novella... all too often we miss out on the free things in life because we don't think. So much to be made using things that are for free... lovely reading!!

Preserved lemons, who knew? Not me but now I do! There are so many gleaning opportunities around us, food & otherwise, if only we open our eyes. Thanks for using my garden tools for this feature.

When I was little, my Grandma Hootie made me home made pickles from cucumbers in our garden, and pickled green beans. to this day I crave them. Thank you to SardineandAnchovies (wonderful shop) for capturing the essence of these items! She also made all kinds of preserves... blackberries, and raspberries and rhubarb pie.... this article made me wz nostalgic!

I don't get advocating thievery. I have heard about picking fruit on PUBLIC lands and using them, as they are everyone's property, but this wasn't on public property. These were someone else's lemons that are now stolen and being sold. I'd be disgusted to buy a thieved product at a farmer's market.

YUMM! very delicious ...

What a fabulous story. We had a lemon tree - the amount of incredible juicy lemons it produced would feed the entire neighborhood. I didn't know about preserving them.... PS Justhatched's shop is the best....

Great story! I must admit, the peach tree, blueberry bushes and PYO strawberries across the street were prime reasons we bought our little house...

Did no one read that the tree was in an abandoned lot?

This is a wonderful story that really embodies the essence of what we all do as crafters. We take things that most people pass by and turn it into something beautiful. It's all about being resourceful and creative.

I got Novella Carpenter's book for Christmas, got home and read it cover to cover. When I saw this headline, I almost had a heart attack NC+Etsy? What could be better? : ) Her book inspired my family to expand our urban backyard garden and we will be adding bees and hopefully goats next year. Thanks for the fun feature!

i love lemon yellow

I am so happy to see this blog. I am a big gardener. I've done so in small spaces as well as current large raised bed area. We planted 4 new fruit trees this year. Adding to peach and pear trees. I would loooove to be able to grow Meyers lemons. Nothing more satisfying than growing your own food. Thanks.

I dream about streets lined with fruit trees.....glad you found your way through the fence.

Very cool story. Funny that no one was even curious about what you were doing! Happy that you were smart enough to stop and smell the lemons! Thanks for sharing.

wow, that's is great! I wish i had a lemon tree in my garden.

Wonderful story. Finding what was almost lost & rejuvinating it to nourish again. I love that. Must find your book. :-) dahlila

I too am a gardener of the urban variety, and use my organic, herbs in my kombucha tea blends and second ferments. There is something uniquely special about eating fresh, homegrown produce that realigns the diet with the soul and transcends the very notion of good- for- you- food.

wow they look great, we dont have an abundance of citrus fruits where I live the climate isnt really hot enough but its something I'd like to try!

Thank you so much Novella, it looks so good, we used to have a Palm tree and a Lemon Tree in our garden, the lemons were very little so used them daily while cooking, But the plum was a delight to the eye when blossome and the When harvest time came I baked them , my friend made wonderful confitures and my boys just ate them, You reminded me how good it is to eat something you grow by yourself.

Mmmm, lemons! I love that you rescued these tasty bites! The preserves look absolutely to die for good. My mom and husband have been looking for something new to can. So far we've done, sweet and dill pickles, pickled beets, strawberry rhubarb jam and blackberry jam this year and lemons would add the best tang to the mix. Problem is, citrus is hard to come by here in the South, but I'll keep looking at your tasty bits! :)

Nothing taste better with a lemon!

This is a great story! I have never done this....but I want to now! My kids LOVE making fresh lemonade, we do it often!

ooh, great article, makes me want some fresh lemonade!! :))

lemon is by far my favorate fruit! I never thought of preserving them in salt! Cool!

oh my goodness my mouth was literally watering at the thought of those lemons.

Delicious story!

This is totally new to me & really interesting. Thanks for the post :) I'm a huge lemon/lime fan.

Your article is making my mouth water!! They look so beautiful canned.

I love how urban farming is slowing spreading. We have a small garden in the yard and it's great for my young kids to learn how food grows and where it comes from.

I have Very Mixed feelings about this story because of the thought process described in the beginning. I want those lemons so I'll get bolt cutters if I have to, to steal them because they're behind an obvious deterrent fence. I will call it an abandoned lot to justify my potential actions. They'll just go to waste if I don't take them even if I have to destroy someone else's property to get them (the bolt cutter remark). That kind of thinking is what is wrong with society today. Too many people are willing to throw away integrity to get whatever they want just because They Want it. Many large corporations are made up of people who are missing that major ingredient (integrity) and look at where we are are as a society today because of it. Stinking thinking is a choice and it always starts with small justifications. The part of the story about how you used the lemons was interesting and unique too bad how you acquired them wasn't as nice.

hi everyone! thanks for all the lovely comments. for the naysayers, i just wanted to point out the following before i'm judged as a thief with no morals: these lemons are never harvested. every year they fall to the ground and rot. no one cares about these lemons or this lemon tree. the owner of the property is a developer just waiting for the day when the property is valuable so he can gladly bulldoze the lemon tree (there's nothing else on the property) and build condos. the point of the article was to say these lemons were regarded as value-less, many were too old (lemon harvest season is the winter) so i made something out of them that allows for these defects. if you add up my time spent and on jars, i'll barely break even. so it's not about making money of something free, it's salvaging something wasted to make something beautiful and delicious. for me, this is a way of life: i squat and farm on a piece of property that doesn't belong to me. i believe that you have to be honest to live above the law (in a world were it's legal for bp, for instance, to spill all that oil or goldman sachs to lie and cheat in the financial market). and so everyday i have to make decisions about what is legal or ethical (it's kind of like wildcrafting for all you herbalists out there). in this case (fallen lemons, no one living there) i decided to harvest them. if someone from my neighborhood asks for some of the lemons at my farmstand, i certainly will give them to them (just like i give free produce to the neighborhood every day). ok, done ranting like a maniac. thanks for listening. see ya! nc

I loved this article and so wish I could find a lonesome lemon tree here :)

I love this story and love what you've done! http://www.etsy.com/listing/46396722/chicken-shirt-cluck-factory-farms-tee

novella- we do the same thing with pear trees on abandoned farms. love your article!

what a great idea. I've never heard of this style of preserving lemons, with salt, and pepper. makes we wonder what it tastes like.

This is FANTASTIC. You've inspired me + I need to get this book. Now! We live in the middle of our city and there's a rental house that has just sold with a beautiful sour cherry tree out front, very much like the one we carefully tend in our (tiny) front yard... and it's heavy with cherries. Abandoned cherries. Hmmm...

ooh, ooh, ooh! i love this article! urban farming is so important!

with so much waste in the world, I was thrilled to see this story. What a wonderful thing to find posted on etsy of all places. Not only am I an urban farmer but a scavanger of wasted goods just like Novella. Here in Los Angeles, I am so blessed to have 1/4 acre to keep my chickens, rabbits, pig and children. I have a huge garden but I don't stop there. I am the girl who begs the produce man at the grocery store to sell me those veggies he is going to throw away. Here is a link to one of my latest scores! http://maltagirl-shenanigans.blogspot.com/2010/05/yes-we-have-no-bananas.html The only sin is waste people!

my favorite thing ever is to grow things from seed. the magic of seeing that first green thread poking up is like christmas morning. if you haven't tried it, you need to! good luck with your urban gardens.

We grow meyer lemon tree in our yard. Last year, we only had 2 lemons and someone stole one of them (darn!). This year, we counted (as of yesterday), we have 18 lemons!!! I will be roasting lemon chicken and drinking sweet lemonade all summer long.

Ahhhhh, the scent of Meyer Lemons is truely irresistable, I would have been harvesting along with you under a moonlit sky! Meyer Lemons and the Moon................

Wonderful story! It is so great to be able to use the ordinary things around us and make something extraordinary.

I love this article. Thank you for the info.

Not even one pitcher of lemonade? I would have at least made one to drink during all of the other harvest tasks!

Wow! Fascinating!! Thank you for sharing. (I'm definitely checking out the book.)

*waves from across the bay* the more fruit/veg that can be grown/eaten/shared in an urban environment, the better. takes resourcefulness to get it done. your article reminded me of this cool site: http://neighborhoodfruit.com/

Great article! THanks!

Cool article! Congrat!

Great story and great inspiration! I must check out this book immediately. I have an insatiable green thumb and am always looking for ways to display my small garden beds in a beautiful and edible way ^_^ More stories like this please!!

this is so cool my family just yesterday picked pitted and canned over ten gallons of sour cherries! from our neighbors tree. he did not have the time to process them and was more then happy to let us have as many as we could pick. it was so much fun and now we will have sour cherrie jam all year!

Great read! We always had lemon trees when I was growing up but alas -- no room for it now.

Great story, thanks for sharing!

Novella, I read your book and LOVED it! I felt like I missed hearing from you after I finished it, so it was wonderful to hear this little "update" from you. I never knew lemons could be preserved! Thanks for sharing.

great story, i like picking those small burgundy plum at the markets parking lot. Thanks 4 sharing Novella,

Great read~

wonderful story!

I love all things "farm" :)

As a southern woman i love wearing funny looking clothes, ugly looking hats and growing things in the dirt. I have a huge Granny Smith apple tree, 2 swimming pools full of strawberry plants and squash, cucumbers tomatoes in another. Farming is soooo much fun. Very cool story I'll have to try it one day.

True eco-friendly food.

What a happy surprise finding Novella Carpenter here! Great reading- just like your book. Don't mind the haters. They more than likely have not read your book. Otherwise, they would know how supercool you are. Keep it up.

I'm going to have to check this book out!

I have never heard of preserving lemons in this way. I will have to tell my dad. He has a beautiful lemon tree that produces way too much.

Yummy storry!! :)

what a great barn pendant! My dream is to someday own chickens.

Great use of something that nobody wanted. I too try to use extra produce that no one wants. If someone brings in extra produce from their garded to work for people to take, I take all that is left and then preserve them. Just last week someone brought in a bag of veggies and when i got there the only thing left was large pickling cucumbers. So I took all of them home and made pickles. I love canning and drying all kinds of food including wild harvested fruits like mulberries. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade (or preserved lemons).