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.
