Figs

Discussion in 'Food & Drinks' started by Ken Anderson, Mar 23, 2018.

  1. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Yvonne Smith
    While still living in Phoenix, one of the stations was doing a story about the sanitation department. A video was shown of a worker opening a manhole sewer, revealing the inner walls lined solid with gigantic roaches. He stated they estimate the average sewer as having about a quarter-million of them. Disgusting sight it was, I reflected on the then-current wave of criminal activities going on, and thought tossing an apprehended thug in one of the sewers for a day or so, followed by promise of return incarceration for repeat offense, might prove more rehabilitative than jail and slapped wrists.

    The image below does not even come close, but the idea is there:




    • [​IMG]
     
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  2. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We now have two fig trees, and there were baby figs on both of them last summer; but they vanished before they got ripe enough to eat. I am not sure if the squirrels (or birds ?) ate them while they were still small and green, or if the heat of the summer caused them to fall off.
    The same thing happens with all of our fruit (peaches, berries) so it is probably the squirrels feasting away on the baby fruits.
    Anyway, each year, I keep hoping, and I snipped a few branches off the largest fig tree and planted them, in hopes that these grow.
     
    #17
  3. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Good luck, Yvonne. My neighbor had a large fig tree/bush in town. Every year I would watch the squirrels come and strip the tree bare, just before the figs got ripe enough to pick. Once in a while they would miss one.
     
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  4. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Okay, that answers that question ! At least I know what is happening to the figs. I will look and see if I can find something non-lethal (we love our little squirrels, too, and don’t want to hurt one), that will make the fruit less tasty for them. Maybe strong mint, coffee, or cayenne in a spray bottle ?
     
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  5. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Are the trees small enough you could put a net over them?
     
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  6. Lon Tanner

    Lon Tanner Supreme Member
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    I live in a section of Fresno called Fig Garden. The entire area was once all Fig Trees. BTW I love Fig Newtons.
     
    #21
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  7. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We did that to try and save the strawberries, and the next day, I found I had trapped and killed a poor little bird in the net. If I have to kill living creatures to save the berries and fruit, I am not willing to do that.
    So, we got rid of the nets.
    I am trying to move the strawberries in places that the birds are less likely to steal them, but the peaches, blueberries, strawberries and figs just never quite make it.
    I am just going to have to find something that will work and not hurt the little hungry birds and squirrels.
     
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  8. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    My lifetime association with Figs has always been through their Newtonian configuration.

    I like 'em!:)

    Hal
     
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  9. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Sam’s club has nice boxes of fig newtons, flavored either raspberry or blueberry, although both flavors mostly just taste like a regular fig newton.
    The ones from Sam’s Club are made with whole wheat flour; so as a little snack now and then, they are probably as health as anything in the cookie category.
    Our fig trees are leafing out nicely, and the one out back has really grown; but we have yet to get even one little fig from either one of the fig trees.
     
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  10. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I have never loved Fig Newtons, although I probably ate a ton of the stuff when I was a kid because my dad liked them, so we always had them around, while we didn't always have snacks that I liked better. I have never tried them as an adult.
     
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  11. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    Ugh, don't mention grubs to me. We have an infestation in our front yard and a stupid armadillo keeps digging up the lawn to get the grubs. :mad: I have put enough poison out there to make the yard glow in the dark, but so far the grubs (and armadillo) are winning.

    Oh, and I don't like figs, either. The fresh ones are kind of slimy or something. Ick.
     
    #26
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  12. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I'm always in a "try new food" phase. Dried figs and dates had their turn in my trying to get more fiber in my diet.

    The best recipe I had was dried figs stuffed with feta and wrapped in fresh sage leaves and prosciutto, crisped in a frying pan, drizzled with a balsamic glaze. Those were pretty good, but not enough to make it on my routine rotation.
     
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  13. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    I'll take the prosciutto; you can keep the figs. :D
     
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  14. Al Amoling

    Al Amoling Veteran Member
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    I'll take the figs and meat. You can keep the work.
     
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  15. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Our fig tree is getting larger each year, and it has quite a few figs on it this time, so we are hoping to actually get some figs from it this season.
    Bobby has been watering it almost every day, to help the figs get nice and plump.


    286FC71B-4E6A-4DCA-B4B7-8A7698E82C82.jpeg 37855A45-E8FF-4294-A2F2-4C3D3A071252.jpeg
     
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