Our figs

When we first came to see our house with the French estate-agent, there was a large bush-thing near the side door. The agent was pottering around the garden and almost absent-mindedly said 'ahh, a fig...'

Well, I thought that he was just doing the estate-agent-speak, trying to impress the Brits, but he was right. The fig is a green fig - not so posh as the black fig - but very good otherwise.

Over the years, due to large quantities of applied wood ash, we have watched the fig grow to a very large plant - it is now the height of our bedroom window and very wide. It has been home to many a bird - including hoopoes, a kestrel using it as a perch to spy his prey, and lots of sparrows - very noisy at dawn. We have also had families of hedgehogs camping out at its base

We nearly always have a good crop - my daughter and I both love figs, my OH and son wouldn't eat one if their lives depended on it...

It has always been difficult to use them wisely - I have made jam (but it's always bland), baked them with cinnamon and pineau (a bit like sherry), made chutney (no-one likes the pips) but this year, although there aren't many due to the drought, we are eating them straight off the tree as they are the biggest and most juicy we have ever grown!

Anyway, here is a picture of the last of this crop - we should get another crop later in the year as the baby figs are already forming, and there are lots of them - we'll see if they fall off before they're ready or not.

And it's RAINED! Yay!