We watered it all summer. We also were careful to give it as
much sunlight as possible and tenderly watched it every day. I wish I could say
that the fig tree blossomed into a towering bush covered in fruit, but sadly,
by the end of the summer, it pretty much looked the same.
Meanwhile, our good friends, Paul and Judy Kasper, had also
been growing fig trees. They had successfully grown four beautiful, big fig
trees, though theirs hadn’t produced any fruit. At the end of the summer, they
graciously gave us one of them, kindly assuming that we wouldn’t be able to
ruin a perfectly healthy plant.
It promptly lost its leaves, and ended up looking like…you
guessed it…
Over the winter, we stored it in our garage. Since someone
lives in the apartment above the garage, it stayed relatively warm through the
cold Wisconsin winter.
Summer 2012
When we pulled our wintering plants out in the late spring,
we had very low expectations for our little figgy. We pretty much assumed we
would be storing a stick on our patio for the summer. So, imagine our surprise
when the fig tree not only grew leaves, but actually grew some fig stubs.
Our first ripe fig!
Now, fig trees are very unique, in that they do not produce
traditional flowers like other fruit trees do. Most Wisconsin fruit trees produce
blossoms (like you’d see on cherry or apple trees in the spring), and then the pedals fall
off. The middle of the flower then becomes the basis for the fruit to form.
The initial fig stubs were actually the start of fig “flowers”.
If you’ve ever eaten a fig, you know that there is a juicy, soft, bright pink
center. That’s actually the flower of the fig. The fig fruit grows inside out,
so while the tree never forms blossoms, it does form a flower that stays in the
middle of the fruit.
Our first fresh fig, cut in half.
By the end of this summer, we had successfully grown 4
mature, delicious figs. We had about 20 more small, green figs left on the
tree, but since our growing season is so short, they never ripened.
So, in honor of those four scrumptious figs, I present to
you:
Four Fun Fig Facts
-There were figs in the garden of
Eden. In fact, when Adam and Eve attempted to cover their nakedness, they chose
to sew together fig leaves (Genesis 3:7).
-The fig tree is the only tree that
Jesus cursed (Mark 11).
-Jeremiah describes good figs, evil
figs, and even naughty figs that “could not be eaten, they were so bad”
(Jeremiah 24). God uses this to explain the differences between Israel and the
leaders of Judah.
-Figs are the most mentioned fruit
in the Bible (discussed over 50 times!)
If you’ve never had a fresh fig, I
highly recommend trying one. They are very difficult to get in Wisconsin, as
they are fragile and deteriorate quickly, making them difficult to ship.
If you keep your eyes peeled, though, they are usually available for a week or two in some grocery stores during the late summer. The taste is unique, refreshing, and sweet: nothing like a raisin, to which they are usually compared, and a million times better than a fig newton.
Our fig tree, just as Luke was starting to prune it for the winter.
Sunny made a cameo appearance.
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