A Minor Miracle

16 years ago

I don't know how good people are at associating stories with user names so a short recap. My older brother started making Italian fig cookies a few years ago which sent my Mother and I off on a fig quest that eventually brought me here.

I was and am feeling pretty good since we could be at ~100 trees of ~8 different varieties by the end of summer. We had sold off our developed ranches and bought unimproved rural land so that is the target.

A constant topic of conversation when it starts about figs was an orchard owned by some relatives. Repeated requests over the last 30 years for cuttings fell on death ears.

My mom remembers the trees as being old in the 1930s when she was a little girl. My memories were not quite as fond in that I remember her brother-in-laws father who owned the property as a viscious SOB who used to beat me like a rented mule when he caught me eating one of his figs. Evil Clown had a switch the size of a buggy whip and used to run along behind me whipping my 8 year old carcass like we were in a harness race! I still have issues!;)

So last night I am talking to my Brother and his Wife. I told them I had trouble finding the spot where the trees were since there weren't any landmarks. I don't know how they did it since they hadn't been there in 40 years but they remembered the road names and directions exactly! Impressive!

It had just rained the day before and even with exact directions I managed to get confused a bit, but then when you see the picture you will understand:

{{gwi:764377}}

Success! This is all that remained of turn of the century fig trees that were known throughout Santa Clara County as the best figs available. The 7 or 8 trees that once spread in a canopy over the creek were all gone except for this sole surviver. For anyone that wonders if pruning helps a fig tree, well this is what happens if you don't; maybe 1/4 of its original size from death and disease and it fellows are long since gone. I am hoping it is one of the originals or at least a sucker with the same genetic makeup. Trunk is about the size of a fire plug but I remember them being pruned slightly different. Some berba figs are starting to poke out so it looks good.

I would describe it as feeling 'fig whole' again. It was like we had lost a childhood toy years ago then found it in a corner of the attic. I admit with modern techniques the figs we have now probably taste as good as the old ones. The thing is if the figs just taste as good as we remember and compare to a modern fig I will be happy.

Rick

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Comments (5)

dieseler
16 years ago
Hi Rick,
nice story very nice, i enjoy to read them.
The switch i remember well growing up in a suburb of chicago we had a family nextdoor to us and in the summer the whole neighborhood had there window open. Well i used to see there father come stroming down the front porch steps and get a switch off the front tree , strip its leaves and moments later i would here the kids screaming as the homes were but a few feet apart seperated by a gangway.I know they heard me and Anthony as dad used his leather belts.
Anyways im sure the figs old or modern a fig is a fig and depending on what type it is hopefully when you grow a cutting or go back and taste them in season you will have good memories.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Best Health
Martin
jsvand5
16 years ago
Great that you could find the tree. I hope they are as good as you remeber. I am assuming you took some cuttings while you were there? It will be a great feeling to have your own tree after all of these years. Good luck, I hope they root easily for you.
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fatnsassytexan
16 years ago
Great story, Rick! I too, hope they are what you remember. Glad you were able to find it after all this time.Keep us posted. Tim
ricortes
Original Author
16 years ago
Affimative on cuttings and thanks for making public your trials and trevails on rooting. The advice here really got me off my duff.

I will go back and check how the figs develop. The area is close to housing developements but the immediate area is so wild it is unlikely I will be able to get any tree ripened figs. I could see the tracks of what looked to be a huge blacktail buck. Deer seldom let fruit get to the ripe stage, more likeky as soon as it non poisonous they eat everthing. I have seen them hop around on their hind legs like a rabbit picking fruit ~7-8' of the ground before. We have a lot of birds in the area that feed on figs too.

As much as I can remember about the figs is they were large, ~2 times the size of a Mission and maybe just a pinch larger then a good sized Brown Turkey. The skin was purple and the flesh was strawberry red. It could be a result of where they were planted, next to a creek, but the flesh was really juicy, more moist like a melon then a banana.

I will certainly keep everyone posted as to the results. Figure about a month or two to see if the cuttings root. I have to double check but I think they ripen fairly early since I was usually helping out on that ranch during the apricot season ~July. It may turn out of be a common variety that people here are familiar with or something that hasn't been seen in a while.

To guage how good these were, my family makes fun of Mission figs for size and taste, almost like they aren't worth eating, but these were prized. My mother says these were shipped to Chicago and New York an fetched a price of ~nickle a piece in depression era USA. This implies 20 figs were a days wages. I'm sure some of the new varieties like LSU are probably as good but still...

As stupid and 'waste of time' as this sounds, I may go back to clear out the dead limbs and weeds from around that tree this summer. Kind of like getting an old friend who has fell on hard times a shave and a hair cut.

Of course I will get cuttings for people if it turns out this is an unknown variety and still produces true fruit.

Rick
ingevald
16 years ago
Rick,
Thank you very much for posting your story. Mentioning the vicious sob made me think of the film 'The Orange Thief' and I made a separate posting about it (a different scenario all together). That is absolutely terrible that you were treated that way. Fruit should be shared from trees with children and they should definitely not be beaten. That makes me boil to hear about this. Fruit trees are a fabulous tool for teaching kids about food production and enjoying the fruits of your labors.

I am interested in hearing more about this re-discovered tree that was established before the 1930's. If the figs don't all get eaten by the wildlife, perhaps you could get a good picture and describe it.

Wishing you well,
Ingevald