Sometimes, All You Can Do Is Plant A Seed
And let them eat figs
My friend has a fig tree in her garden.
In May, she hangs garlands of CDs or DVDs (that she painstakingly saved) from the tree branches. The shiny discs spook the birds and squirrels.
She begins to harvest in July. The figs are quite good — fleshy and mildly sweet.
The tree bears a lot of figs. My friend and her husband soon tire of eating them. The kids refuse to look even sideways at the fruit.
Nonetheless, my friend and her husband pick every ripe fig.
The figs start piling up in the fridge.
“I’ll make preserves,” says my friend.
But a week or two later, she is swamped with meetings, housework, and kids’ schedules. “Who has time to make preserves?” she asks.
She dumps the figs into plastic piggly-wiggly bags and distributes them to family and friends.
The F&F aren’t always crazy about figs. Sometimes, they make excuses not to take the fruit. Most times, they are too polite to say “No.” They eat a handful of the figs. The rest meet their fate in the garbage can.
Meanwhile, the shiny metallic garlands ensure the birds and squirrels don’t get a bite.
