I Do Give a Flying Fig

My first summer as a homeowner and burgeoning gardener has proven what I already knew to be true...I start out with a green thumb and then my true black thumb self emerges over time. I'm just terrible at weeding, watering, and fertilizing, plus when it's 99 degrees with a heat index of 104, I'll do anything to avoid being outside, fussing with my flower beds. I know it'll take time to improve all those skills, but I've been feeling pretty defeated and ready for a clean slate.

So imagine my surprise when God graced me with a small victory! I was mowing the lawn a couple weeks ago and saw that our two tiny fig trees — only planted by the previous owners last summer — were sprouting little green figs. My first reaction was dread. 

My mother-in-law has a huge fig tree that yields more green figs than she can even give away. When we moved into our house, I thought, "Uh oh...this is a disaster."

Last week, I was watering my plants when something caught my eye. The fig trees appeared to be covered with black dots. I stepped closer and realized, to my delight, that our green figs had already ripened into plump Black Mission figs! I don't know what we'll do when the trees are even bigger, but I was able to quickly harvest most of them (although some have been a tasty meal for the birds and the bees). I offered them up on Facebook and my comments exploded with takers! For a day, I got to be the fig fairy!

The figs themselves are succulent, a little mild and lovely. I definitely was feeling itchy to bust out my watercolors and paint them. Although I can't imagine what we'll do with them all in the future, it's been fun to share them with folks. And at the end of the day, it's nice to have at least one thing going right in my yard!