Sunshine Corner
By Esther Smith
Sunshine Corner! For a week or so in January, CFL’s kitchen is turned into Sunshine Corner.. it’s Seville orange time again!
When the Seville oranges arrive at our local wholesalers, it’s all hands on deck to get this year’s Seville Orange marmalade produced, ready to go on sale in the Farm Shop, and to be served with Full English Breakfasts in the Granary.
The oranges we purchase are imported from the Ave Maria Farm in Sevilla, Spain, and are the bitter oranges traditionally used in the making of marmalade. They are far too sour to eat raw, as was quickly discovered when some were put out on the breakfast table by mistake recently! But they make the best marmalade, so as soon as the bitter oranges are in stock, it’s all stations go!
Very kind volunteers assist in the preparation of the fruit and the oven tops in the Centre kitchen at Crag House Farm fill with jam pans, all full of shredded orange peel, with the bright 
colours lighting up the corner of the room. As the 
marmalade cooks down, the citrus scent fills the kitchen and the preserve sets very quickly, being full of natural pectin from the pips, which are cooked in muslin bags with the shredded peel.
Making this sunny preserve on a cold winter’s day is a way of bringing some colour and fragrance into a busy day and as we stock the shelves in our Farm Shop, we hope that customers will really enjoy the delicious flavour, which is produced from top quality fruit and using traditional methods.
But all this effort is not only made in order to increase sales in CFL’s Farm Shop and to help to promote the preserves we sell there all year round. All profits from our preserves are ploughed back into the work of Caring For Life, and the work of this charity is crucial in bringing light and love into the lives of many people who rarely have anything else to brighten up their day.
If a lady or gentleman has suffered a neglected, perhaps abusive and really unhappy childhood, then has found that things don’t get any better in adult life, their days can all feel dark and full of shadows, in summer as well as in the dark winter days. The work of Caring For Life is summed up in its motto: “Sharing the Love of Jesus”, and each member of staff and volunteer seeks to bring the light of His love into the lives of those they support, patiently caring, listening, supporting and just being there.
We may be able to make a lovely sunshine-filled marmalade, and we may be able to bring some light, love and laughter into the lives of very vulnerable people, but we cannot be there for them all of the time. But we can point everyone to the Saviour who said, “I am the Light of the world”, the One who can always be there, and this is a tremendous privilege.
