Over the last few weeks, I would glance out the window, and wonder what was so fascinating about those bushes next to Riggs Hall. Then, one day, I spotted someone picking fruit from them. As I happened to be talking to my mom, at the time, she suggested they were probably picking figs.

I think every Sunday School student wonders how Adam and Eve could possibly have even attempted to sew clothes out of fig leaves, because we immediately think of leaves that are the size of what we know… maple or oak leaves. A child’s opinion of the first man and woman goes down even further, when they think of how silly they were to even attempt to sew small leaves together. But since I never knew how big fig leaves actually WERE, then every kid needs an update to that lesson. Still not big enough to cover their sin, of course…

Anyway, I finally went closer, to see what everyone was looking for in those bushes (trees?). They look like overgrown bushes, but “fig bush” doesn’t sound right. Many of the figs were still unripe, and the ripe ones had mostly been picked over. But as I walked down the hill towards my car, I realized that Fernow has two more fig trees on the other side. What is it with planting fruit around there? There are blueberry bushes next to the building, too.

So, I picked one off the tree to examine, and then broke it open to take a look. Yes, I have eaten fresh figs, but it’s been a long time. However, I was more concerned with taking enough pictures so that I could google “figs” when I got home, and see whether people were going to poison themselves, or whether the fruit was actually edible.

After looking at my pictures of the open fig, you might reconsider eating them. Ok, reconsider squashing them before eating. It does look like the innards of some strange creature, instead of a fruit.  : )

Since I first took these pictures, I’ve seen many more people outside of the cafe, picking figs into boxes or bags, and had some grad students asking about the fruit. I don’t know if I’m really helpful, because I had to clamp down on some of my real thoughts on the subject. Such as, do you really want to eat fruit that sits right next to the road, where a garbage truck goes by, every week, and car fumes douse them? I know, I’m so helpful, aren’t I?

Probably the same reason I never touched the blueberries, but left them for the birds. However, since my family’s been picking buckets and buckets of berries from The Happy Berry, in Six Mile, who needs the berries from some scrawny bushes on campus?

Most of the fruit still isn’t ripe, on the trees closest to Freeman Hall, so if I were to try eating any figs, I’d go for those, because they’re some distance from the road (and the garbage trucks). So, I expect to find more people outside picking fruit, during my last week at Fernow. So, I really hope everyone enjoys them.

But I do wonder, WHY did they plant so much fruit outside of this building? It’s not like the fig trees are really pretty plants. Maybe they were “planted” by the birds, and then left there by the landscaping crew? I’ll never know.