After a hellish week at work, I thought I'd be kicking back this weekend with the last of my Girl Scout cookies and watching a marathon of Law & Order; but I surprised myself by FINALLY getting motivated to prune the lemon tree in my backyard. With my recent abundance of lemons, I figure I could give some away to family and friends and a card with the list of handy uses for lemons collected at Hippyshopper. Take a look at more photos along with the tips after the jump!
[ A crazy find during the pruning phase: a heart-shaped lemon! ]
Anyone need lemons? No, really...and this is only a small percentage of the lemons we picked!
Handy Household Uses for Lemons from Hippyshopper:
- Remove limescale from draining board and taps - Use half a lemon to rub over stainless steel draining boards and taps. Leave a minute, rinse, and shine with a dry cloth.
- Freshen up your dishwasher - Use half a lemon and jam it onto an upright in your dishwasher. Shells fresh, helps cut grease, and has got to be more eco-friendly than those plastic lemon shaped things that you can buy to do the same job.
- Exfoliate and clean your feet - Mix up some lemon pulp and brown sugar and get rubbing. Rinse and moisturize
- Highlight your hair - Much better for you and the environment than commercial bleaches. Mix the juice of one lmeon with one teaspoon salt, and apply to hair with a comb. Get out into the sun for a couple of hours. Do some vegetable gardening, tend to your lemon tree, go for a walk, you get the picture. Don't do this too often though, it will dry your hair out
- Keep fruits from browning - Add lemon juice to freshly cut apples or pear slices to keep them from turning brown
- Repel weeds - Sprinkle lemon juice around areas in the garden to repel weeds (but not near plants you want, but cracks and such)
- Polish Copper pots - Use lemon juice plus salt to turn tarnished copper pots shiny again
- Cat Pee Repeller - If your cat has a favorite chair or sofa that it likes to pee in, make a lemon-water mix and spray it on the spot and the cat won't go there again
Nan carefully inspecting 1/10th of the lemon supply.
Got another use for a lemon? Share it with us!
Originally posted by Grace on AT:LA.
Care for your wooden cutting boards: rub them down with a half of a lemon and coarse sea salt.
Get rid of that stale smell in your garbage disposal: drop 1/4 lemon and run the disposal. Remove the leftover rind and compost it. Makes the kitchen smell lemon fresh! (Yes, many of us know that better to compost or put food scraps in the trash than down the drain, but once in a while...)
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Also for the garbage disposal- I cut the lemon into bits, drop them in an ice cube tray, fill the tray with vinegar and then freeze them. Whenever the garbage disposal gets a little stinky I just throw a few in and grind them up. The ice sharpens the blades and the vinegar and lemon take care of the odor!
view mrs. jones's profile
thekitchn has had some amazing looking lemon recipes lately.
view SFGail's profile
Limoncello! I just started a batch in my kitchen with the peels of 12 lemons (use organic, not sprayed) and two bottles of grain alchohol. By the time the weather is hot, I will have a refreshing after dinner drink.
view saradanger's profile
I'm so jealous of the over-abundance of lemons! They're so expensive right now, but I always have to buy some every week - I use them for everything in the kitchen (cooking and cleaning)!
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Hi There,
I'm in Sonoma, CA and I liked your picture with your dogs and the lemons. I'm recording my first CD, and I wanted to use that picture for the cover. We're a small local blues band.
Would that be alright with you? I'll send you a copy of the CD when it's finished.
Cheers,
papajon
PS My wife's a green interior designer specializing in healing environments and I'm a K-5 music teacher (and 6th grade environmental science summer school teacher).
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Lemon juice ginger juice black pepper salt = fast & effective ayurvedic treatment for diarrhea. I'm sorry to say I'm sure it works!
Love the pics. I wonder if I could post one of them (properly linked & attributed) on my blog at coldgirlfever.blogspot.com.
Thanks!
medicine girl
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