tiny figs and blue moon promises

in late spring the nice man at the garden store gave me a sad little fig tree for free.  he made me promise to take care of it and do my best to save it.  i took it home and put it in a big pot with great soil at the side of the house that gets good southern sun.  it's a good spot:  the place where all the herbs grow, there are butterflies and an old bike.

it didn't die as i think he expected.  but it didn't do much else.  it grew a few new leaves that remind me of a preschooler's clumsy drawing of a hand.  you know the one, where the hands are giant compared to the little stick body and look as it they are wearing mittens?  i really didn't know what to do to "save" it, other than give it some water and say hello every morning.  often i felt like i should be doing more, that a real gardener would have some fancy ph-soil additive or grafting thingamajig to give it its best shot in life. 

this morning i was doing a bit of extra tending to the pots at the side of the house.  i knelt down to pick some leaf litter from the soil of the fig tree's pot.  out of the corner of my eye, i saw several tiny green balls hidden underneath the mitten leaves.  figs!  two were turning purplish brown and let go of the tree when i touched them.

i ate them for lunch with goat cheese.  they were delicious.

tomorrow is a blue moon.  i read somewhere that it is a good time to make a promise to yourself.  i haven't yet decided what my promise will be but whatever it is i plan to just do my best and not worry about any fancy planning or techniques.  i will give my promise the best possible environment, lots of light and remember to check in with it every day.  i won't get discouraged when things are looking funky and progress seems doubtful.  i will trust that it will bear fruit. 

it's going to be delicious.