I said that this was going to be brief so I am not going to go into any fine detail– you have that power with the internet. But KNOW THIS:
store-bought lemonade often doesn’t contain lemons, or even the natural essence of lemon. The flavours are man-made (chemical) concoctions. And there is a whopping amount of sweetener (probably a corn sweetener in Canada/USA). You will not get any real nutrition
from this ‘false’ lemonade, and, indeed, will probably have a sugar spike and an energy crash if you drink much of it.

REAL lemonade, made from actual lemons that grow on trees in the sun is full of excellent nutrition. I suggest that you use the lemon as we did in the smoothie recipe… peel it, leaving lots of the white, cut it into quarters and remove seeds (they are bitter), and whirr up in the Vita-Mix with water and honey or stevia. Adjust the sweetener to your taste, but as you become more used to eating “raw”
you will actually need less intervention from other sources (read: you will cut down on sweeteners and condiments).

What’s in a Lemon?

• Lemons have unique flavonoid compounds that have antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. Lemons can actually influence a cell’s decision to divide or die and can “juice up” the immune system.
• The ample Vitamin C in a lemon is a neutralizer of free radical damage. Inflammation is always a sign of ‘un-health’. The Lemon is a hero in preventing and decreasing inflammation.
• Eat lots of lemons and other vitamin C rich foods and lower your potential to develop cancer, heart disease or arthritis.
• The limonin and liminoid compounds unique to lemons and other citrus, have been shown to help fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon.
• While lemons can pucker you up and taste tart and sour, they are surprisingly refreshing. Real lemonade (made with real lemons) can quench thirst on a hot day like no ‘false’ pop drinks can ever hope to do (in fact, the chemical brewed lemonades actually make you more thirsty– I wonder why?

So, go out and get hold of some lemons while the sun still shines! I recall that our younger son was quite allergic to oranges, but he could eat lemons with no reactions.

Pure lemon essential oils are pressed from the skins of lemons. The liminins and liminols in pure therapeutic-grade lemon essential oil are concentrated. Just a drop can make several ounces of lemonade. Here are some of the other uses for lemon essential oil (some quite unexpected):

From: Karen Jenkins-Green Subject: RE: tree sap removal

Hi Rachel,

My son and his friends use Lemon oil to clean tar off their surfboards and boogie boards. What used to take them an hour of scraping now only takes a few minutes. They sprinkle lemon oil on their boards, wait a couple of minutes, then wipe clean.

Blessings,

Karen Jenkins-Green

Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 JOY From: Caleb

Subject: Lemon Testimonies

Fellow Everyone, One of my team members runs a flower shop and constantly ends-up with sappy fingers. She was delighted the first time she tried lemon oil. She had never used anything that worked so…instantly.

Caleb

Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 JOY From: Denese D Swinehart

Subject: lemon

After cleaning fish lemon oil removes fishy smell from fingers instantly!

It’s also good to use in the dishwasher for sanitizing and fragrance! Lemony clean smell will fill the room when opening the machine. Nice!

Denese

Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 JOY From: Megurugirl

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Yesterday we went to the Courtenay Fall Fair.  It was an entire surprise– like stepping back in time to my childhood… or more like stepping into an idealized childhood, like the one in my Grade three reader.  The sky was blue, the sun shone warmly (although it DID sprinkle a little at one point), and there was a gentle, friendliness everywhere that conflicts in my memories of the loud and sometimes frightening noises of the fair and midway of my childhood.  There were the pretty girls on their pretty horses (we had missed the gymkhana events the day before). 

There was all sorts of ancient farm and steam-powered machinery that my Dad would have enjoyed seeing.  The threshers looked like they had done it in their long-ago youth and were not that excited about doing it again in their age.  I have to wonder how long such demonstrations will go on if they are driven by the “old-timers” now.  Will today’s fourteen-year old be interested in five years time?  Will our generation step into the volunteer’s role (unlikely).

Of course, the ‘livestock’ figured fairly prominently, since it was an “agricultural” fair.   The poultry house contained familiar and weird chickens, and the turkeys gobbled around outside.  Cows mooed and their dung smelled.  Being Vancouver Island, surely the “Dog Owner Capital” of Canada, maybe the world, there were dog obedience and sports demonstrations running all through the day, including sheepdog presentations.  I’ve never seen dogs as part of a fair before.  We watched and clapped and then recognized that our own little doggie was trapped in a hot car down the road, so we went and walked and watered her to appease our thrill-seeking consciences.

Outside the poultry house was a particularly huge “Fleming Giant” rabbit that drew a crowd of interested kids.  I’m not sure if it was a male or a female… large in any case, and velvety soft.  The teen owner clipped its toenails, much to the fascinated delight of the youngsters in tow.

Of course there WAS a midway, but it was mostly “kiddie rides” of the vintage variety… with the addition of bouncy houses (or whatever those blow-up castles are called) and a climbing wall.  Very quiet and civilized, I thought.  The Medieval Society had a tent, but either they had quit their dancing and “court” demonstrations on Saturday, or we had missed them when we went to walk Zoe.  We were a little disappointed about not catching the jousting or whatever.

There was a little of something for everyone.  The necessary junkfood (cotton candy, popcorn) and greasy outdoor fare (this is Vancouver Island so there WAS fish and chips alongside more exotic food) and some excellent musicians to serenade us while we chowed down.

I was thrilled to find a regular washroom.  There were porta-potties all over, but I much prefer a place where I can wash up.

The “indoor exhibits” were of the old-fashioned variety: baking, art, needle arts, flowers, vegetables and fruit.  There was this tomato as big as your head… surely not naturally-raised I wouldn’t think– quite grotesque, really, and not the kind you can imagine slicing up for a sandwich.  I thought of our myriad still-growing tomatoes at home and felt a pang of guilt for not watering enough, or whatever. 

There was a darling pair of booties that caught my eye and got me thinking about knitting for my upcoming little grandchild, and for my current knitting-neglected little granddaughter.  Guilt again!

The flowers were, of course, striking.  Huge, bright, perfect.  And then there were the bees!  The local beekeepers’ association had brought in a glass colony hive (complete with a queen) and had set up to talk about honey and related products.  It was very exciting to find that these “hobbyist” beekeepers only produce raw honey and that besides selling it at the Farmers’ Market, they also sell honey on-line and right out of their farmyards.

Honey is a somewhat controversial issue for “raw vegans.”  On the one pole of opinion are those who claim that honey is an animal product, plain and simple, and that it is, like milk, the theft of one species’ sustanence by another (man).  At the opposite pole are the raw vegans who see honey as a vegetable product that has merely passed through the bee without compromising its vegan integrity.  I guess I would fall into that camp, particularly where raw (unpasterized) honey is concerned.  You can find out more about these Comox Valley Beekeepers here.