The Fig Leaf

Our neighbor has several fig trees on their land and they are so generous in letting us pick from their trees.  Inevitably, we'll get a telephone call that goes something like this, "Kyle, y'all better get over here and pick some of these figs before the birds get them all."  The birds love them.  Figs are so sweet and sticky.  They go from ripe to overripe in a short period of time.  And so we go over with buckets and pick a bunch of figs.

I looked over and saw that their fig trees are leafing out right now.

New leaves on the fig trees

Fig trees are very interesting for several reasons.  I was reading about a special wasp that has a symbiotic relationship with the fig tree - they both depend upon one another for survival.  For the sake of brevity, I'll paraphrase what I learned from Wikipedia about the pollinator wasp:

A mature female pollinator wasp enters an undeveloped fig through a small opening at the end.  That opening is full of male flowers.  The wasp lays her eggs in the cavity of the fruit that is covered in female flowers.  When she lays her eggs, she also leaves pollen that she picked up along the way, thus pollinating some of the female flowers, enabling them to develop.  After she lays her eggs and pollinates, she dies.

Other wasps lay their eggs in the figs before they ripen.  As the fig matures, the eggs hatch and go through the larval stage, and the pupal stage.  The male pupae mates with a female and then begins to dig out of the fig, creating a tunnel from which the females escape.  When the males make it out of the fig, they die.  The females make it out, picking up pollen, fly to another fig tree, depositing eggs to start the cycle once again. 

I'll have to admit that all that activity going on within the fig is not very appetizing!  But I'll try not to think about that as I eat figs, because they are doggone good.  They are delicious in fig preserves.  This sweet, syrupy concoction is used to make a fig cake that is out of this world!


Homemade fig preserves

We also clean fresh whole figs and freeze them in gallon freezer bags.  We'll take them directly out of the freezer and throw a handful of frozen whole figs into a blender with some kefir, honey and strawberries or blackberries and make a delicious, healthy smoothie.  In fact, when I came in this afternoon, Tricia had a Fig and Blackberry Goat Kefir Smoothie waiting for Russ made fresh from Nellie's milk.  I didn't get to try it, but Russ said it was good.

Frozen whole figs in our freezer

One more very interesting thing about figs:  Figs are mentioned in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  Who can forget in Genesis Chapter 3 that after Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and offered it to her husband, Adam, their eyes were opened to their nakedness and in verse 7 it tells us that they sewed FIG LEAVES together to cover their private parts.  Check out a picture of the first underwear below.  (Fruit of the Loom!)


The first undergarments worn by Mankind

Finally, the most interesting reference of all regarding fig trees putting on leaves comes from Matthew 24.  Jesus' disciples are asking Him for signs of His return or the End of the Age.  Jesus answers them, saying,

"Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door."

The entire chapter 24 in Matthew is very interesting to me.  Many times in the Bible, the fig tree is seen as a picture of Israel.  He said that when the branch puts on leaves, you know that summer is near.  Summer is when fig trees fruit.  Israel became a nation again in 1948.  Is that the fig tree putting on leaves?  Is summer near?  The very next verse tells us that the generation that sees the events discussed in Chapter 24 will not pass away until all these things take place!  I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the imminent return of our Savior!