Don Bay has been in the citrus business for over 50 years now, and according to him, his most recent growing endeavor has been the most challenging. Alongside his son Darren and grandson Luke, Don cultivates Sumo Citrus®, one of the most difficult fruits to grow. The Bay family runs San Joaquin Growers Ranch in Porterville, California, one of the farms where the fruit is grown in the United States.
Sumo Citrus was originally developed in Japan, and is an extraordinary hybrid of Satsuma, Orange, and Mandarin.
The fruit is temperamental, and it can take time to get a thriving crop. The trees require year-round care, and it takes five years from seed to fruit until they're ready for harvest. Thanks to expert citrus growers like the Bay family though, Sumo Citrus have flourished in California. Don and his son Darren worked together through trial and error to perfect their crop of Sumo Citrus. Darren is now an expert on cultivating this famously temperamental fruit, and his son Luke is learning from him every step of the way.
Don, Darren and Luke BayAll photos courtesy of Sumo Citrus
"Luke's been involved as early as he could come out," Darren said in a YouTube video.
"Having both my son and grandson [working with me] is basically what I've dreamt about," said Don. "To have been able to develop this orchard and have them work on it and work with me — then I don't have to do all the work."
Down the road from the Bay farm, Kellie Neufeld's family turned empty farmland into a thriving Sumo Citrus crop in just six years. They've spent every week during those six years tirelessly working on it and watching it grow. "Sumo Citrus is what we're leaving behind," Kellie said in a video. "It's what we're leaving to our kids."
The pride she feels for what she's built with and for her family is palpable.
Kellie Neufeld (center) and her daughters
Kellie wasn't always a farm girl. Born in Orange County, she didn't get introduced to farm life until she met her husband at college. He grew up on a farm, and once they got married, he showed her the ropes. Together they have 35 years of experience growing citrus between them and relish the steps it takes to bring Sumo Citrus to market, especially harvest time.
"Harvest is the most exciting time," said Kellie. "I let my kids miss school, we come out here, I bring donuts and cookies for the pickers." Each fruit is handpicked and laid in bins rather than tossed in large carts to keep them in prime shape for market. It's a laborious job, but Kellie and her family wouldn't have it any other way. They're determined to protect their product from harvest to market.
Julie Imbimbo of Strathmore, CA has also made growing Sumo Citrus a lifetime endeavor, even when life got particularly hard. She worked on the farm at Paradise Acres with her husband until 2015 when he passed away from cancer. Even after he was gone, she continued cultivating without him, determined to keep his contribution alive.
Julie Imbimbo
"It was extremely important to me that this was his legacy," Julie said in a YouTube video. "It broke my heart that he never got to see [his fruit] being harvested. I made the decision. This was going to be my life. And our life. And my connection with him."
This love, care and dedication go into each Sumo Citrus you find at the store. It's why the mandarin hybrid with a knot on the top has garnered a sizable following from citrus fans. Not only is it delicious and easy to eat, but there's no mess, so you can take it with you wherever you go and not worry about a juice explosion.
If you're looking to develop a healthy snacking habit, there's no better moment. Sumo Citrus is only in season from January through April, so now's the time to stock up. Start the new year right with an enormous, super-sweet fruit like nothing else out there, grown by people who've dedicated their lives to perfecting it.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.