Just a day after picking that unripe fig, I noticed a nice dark fig as I left for work in the morning. It was a dark plum-purple colour and I thought, now THAT is a ripe fig. I'll enjoy it when I get home tonight.
When I got home, it was gone. The whole thing had been eaten.
The fig wars have begun. This is why we tried to net the tree, birds and possums adore figs. I scoured the tree and managed to find two likely figs. The on one the left is the dark plum colour of a ripe fig, but as you can see has split open (I don't know if it's from the rain or if it was just a retarded fig, but it wasn't an animal). The one on the left was another big, unblemished one that I thought might be ripe ... and I certainly wasn't going to leave for the birds to get to first.
Here's what they look like when sliced open. It's a bit gross but they look like kidneys to me. The big one wasn't quite ripe, the middle is still firm instead of being gooey and jelly-like.
The freaky-shaped one was indeed ripe, I got one small spoonful of jelly-like goodness from it, but the rest had dried out where it split open. So I know the flavour will be lovely, if I can ever get a whole one to ripen before the birds get to them. I'm told that a big tree will make so many fruit that the birds and possums can eat their fill and still leave plenty behind, but for now it's just frustrating because I haven't been able to eat one for myself!
I do have options. I could try to put the net back up, even if only on part of the tree. Or I could use the net to make little "bags" to put over some of the branches to protect just those fruit. But in the meantime all I can see are bright red figs, pecked open, and watch the blackbirds slowly eat them across the course of a day, watching me from inside the big green leaves of the big tree.
When I got home, it was gone. The whole thing had been eaten.
The fig wars have begun. This is why we tried to net the tree, birds and possums adore figs. I scoured the tree and managed to find two likely figs. The on one the left is the dark plum colour of a ripe fig, but as you can see has split open (I don't know if it's from the rain or if it was just a retarded fig, but it wasn't an animal). The one on the left was another big, unblemished one that I thought might be ripe ... and I certainly wasn't going to leave for the birds to get to first.Here's what they look like when sliced open. It's a bit gross but they look like kidneys to me. The big one wasn't quite ripe, the middle is still firm instead of being gooey and jelly-like.
The freaky-shaped one was indeed ripe, I got one small spoonful of jelly-like goodness from it, but the rest had dried out where it split open. So I know the flavour will be lovely, if I can ever get a whole one to ripen before the birds get to them. I'm told that a big tree will make so many fruit that the birds and possums can eat their fill and still leave plenty behind, but for now it's just frustrating because I haven't been able to eat one for myself!I do have options. I could try to put the net back up, even if only on part of the tree. Or I could use the net to make little "bags" to put over some of the branches to protect just those fruit. But in the meantime all I can see are bright red figs, pecked open, and watch the blackbirds slowly eat them across the course of a day, watching me from inside the big green leaves of the big tree.
0 comments:
Post a Comment