Tuesday, November 6, 2007

The Great Fig Caper!

This might be a bit rambling, but I’m going to take a stab at it, so here goes.  Yes, it has been a while, and yes I know it’s a lot longer than I promised in my last post.

Everyone is fine on my side of the screen.  A lot of things have happened since we last got together here and I’ll try and go through a few of them.  I think it all started in August with our fig tree.  We had a bumper crop of figs this year.

As I grew up, many of my relatives had fig trees in their yards.  My paternal Grandmother had a couple of them.  Every year she would can her figs and would give me four or five jars to take back home and remember her by.  I loved her figs.  They were in this sweet syrup and tasted so good on a hot buttered slice of toast.

I got very excited when I learned that we had a really nice fig tree in the back yard of this house.  As the summer progressed and I saw what a bumper crop it was going to produce I started making my plans.  I searched the web and got twenty or thirty recipes for canning figs.  Culling through them, I found the one I thought must have been the one my grandmother had used.  I then searched for a canning outfit with the double boiler and pressure cooker, oh and don’t forget the mason jars.  Thank goodness I didn’t go out and buy this equipment.

I had made my lists and located local sources of everything I needed.  I was going to put up this fruit myself and then I would have some nice homemade goods to share with friends and relatives.  I watched the crop mature and about a week before I was going to press the go button on everything, someone snuck into our yard and stole the entire crop.  I stood in our back yard with my mouth agape as I realized that our tree didn’t have a single fig on it anymore.  There wasn’t a single fig on the ground underneath the tree, either!  On close inspection, it was apparent that some sort of snipping tool was used to cut the fruit from the branches.  You could see the fresh cut marks.

I was pretty upset, as you might imagine.  I decided to talk to the widow who lives next door to warn her of what happened in our yard. Sandy caught up with her the next day and let her know of the theft.  The neighbor had a bumper crop on her tree, too, and kindly invited us to have a few of her figs if I wanted.  Then the thieves came back a few days later and stole all the figs off of her tree.

Poof!  There went my faith in humanity.  Sigh.  It seems that figs were commanding top dollar on the grocery shelves this year.  My crop became someone else’s profit, at my expense, I’m sure.

There are several areas of the county where you can expect to see roadside produce for sale during the season.  These are different operations from the larger produce venders with brick and mortar buildings and year round inventory.  No, these roadside operations quite often sell right out of the back of a pickup truck.  When you see these micro produce stands, you can reasonably expect that the produce is absolutely right from the fields, fresh, and of very good quality.  I’ll bet my nonexistent canner that my figs ended up on the back of someone’s pickup truck with a handsome price tag.

I was having a pretty decent summer right up to this little incident.  Oh, well, next year I will rig some kind of surveillance equipment and train it on the fig tree during the month of August.  I’ll catch those sticky fingered miscreants!

I thought this entry might be a little longer, but I’ve got to run right now and get busy.  I’m taking a few days off and trying to clean out the storage unit we have kept for so many years.  It’s time to try and cull out the items we have discovered we really can live without and bring the rest home.  Believe me,there are several days’ worth of work ahead of me.  I’ll check back in here soon and share a little more of what has been going on in my part of the word.  Take care!

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to hear from you Sam. I am so sorry that a thief stole all your and your neighbor's figs. That was a rotton thing to do. Hope you catch the thieves next year. There is no telling how many years they did this before you and your family moved there. Helen

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry that this happened to you.  Your passion for the fig shows and it is a shame that someone had ruin this for you.  I say what goes around. comes around.  
On another note:  Cleaning out your storage unit is a good thing.  We can live without all those meaningless things.  It's what's in our hearts that counts.  
http://journals.aol.com/lattedah711/lattedah/    Tracy

Anonymous said...

Oh man...stuff like that really, really irks the crap outta me.   It's like the opposite feeling I get when I see stuff on the side of the road, with no one there, and people actually don't steal it.   Sometimes there's even a donation box there.
Anway, so sorry this happened to you.  Please don't lose faith in ALL humanity...just find those figsters and bring them to justice.
Good to see you again.
; )
Nancy

Anonymous said...

FIGures! People will steal anything. You get 'em Sam! Tammy

Anonymous said...

Now that's just wrong with a capital 'W'! But, I can't say that I am surprised having lost blackberries and some other things thru the years to 'raiders'. I hope you catch them next year!

Anonymous said...

Now you know how I feel when people trespass on my land and take all my morel mushrooms.

Anonymous said...

Dang! I love figs!! My grandmother had a tree too, but we ate them fresh. I have not had a fig in 50+ years and am always wanting some. When you said you had such a bumper crop I thought I would buy some from you! they are never in the stores in MN and we are too late for any that might be in Texas.Good luck next year!! Glad to see you back in Jland!  Barb

Anonymous said...

Hi Sam nice to hear from you again sorry its to report this sorry state of affairs ,I hope you catch the thief nextyear and chop his fingers off (just joking )maybe ! take care, love  Jan xx

Anonymous said...

Hi Sam, its good to see you posting! I cant believe someone would be so low as to sneak into someones yard and steal figs, how mean is that. People...I can totally understand your faltered faith in mankind. I hope you catch those rotton thieves, for you and for your kindly neighbor.

Anonymous said...

Well I'll be damned!  A fig thief is at large. Since I am a "foodie" I can tell you that fig recipes are everywhere and the fall festival shows I have been to have featured figs.  It must be the year of the fig!  I've gone to a local french restaurant and it had fig items listed and even the food network has fig recipes. I would say you had some "gold" in them thar figs!  I would be highly pissed.  (Excuse the language, it's the southern girl that is deep in me) On the other hand, I am sooooooooo glad you finally posted!   Anne

Anonymous said...

I hope that you figure out who's doing the dirty, "Matlock"!
("figsters"...funny)

Anonymous said...

What a bunch of creeps!  I think I'd have a motion detector light trained on that tree next year. And perhaps a chicken wire fence out about three feet from the longest branches, all around the tree.  I'm sorry that happened, but you've got a whole year to design a security plan for your fig tree.  Happy sorting, Linda in Washington state

Anonymous said...

Ooh!  That would make me so mad!!  How can they get in your yard without you knowing??  Maybe you need to rent an attack dog for the month of August.  LOL.  If we don't hear from you again, have a great Thanksgiving!

Anonymous said...

I can't believe someone would do that! Rudeness.
I have never had a fig...and wouldn't know one if I saw it I think...lol.
Good to see an entry from you...Have a great holiday...in case you don't do another entry before then   : )

Tracie

Anonymous said...

How awful ~ and on so many counts...  The blatant disrespect and thoughtlessness, the intrusion upon your property and your happiness...  Just so wrong.  I hope you're able to find the thief, and yet I hope you are able to find peace concerning this incident as well.  

::hug::
Michelle

Anonymous said...

Sorry that someone else took off with your fig crop, Sam. If you're busy, you're busy. Hope those that eat the stolen figs will get a good dose of the runs.

Anonymous said...

(((((Sam))))  SOOO good to see a post!  Those fignacious vagabonds!  I would rent-a-pooch next year...one with BIG teeth!  I love figs, too...actually one of the trees I am considering for my yard...if ever we recover from this drought!  Oy vay...we can't water...PERIOD.  Good to see you. ;)  C.

Anonymous said...

Hi Sam, it's good to see an entry from you but not nice to hear what happened to your figs. I remember Sandy pointing the tree out to me. It seemed like such a lovely quiet neighbourhood but I guess that's just the place where thieves would strike. I'm sorry they took your neighbours figs too. Nothing's sacred any more, seems if people want something they just go right on and take it. I hope next year they'll leave them alone so you can enjoy them. Jeannette xx  

Anonymous said...

I had to smile giggle a bit that is to funny but its funny the way you expressed it, i am sure the whole incident was not since you were planning the whole thing then poof saying hello to yoiu hope for better figs install a camera ,,,,,, pop up lights a watch dog tire nail thing ...... lol be creatuve

Anonymous said...

I didn't know anything about fig until last year, someone was comenting ow good they are.I don't think I've even eaten one.
Surveillance should do the work next year..
Gem :-)

Anonymous said...

Not only surveillance equipment but a very loud, screeching motion activated alarm should do the trick.  Scare the heebies out of them!  

Not funny at all.  What may seem a small thing to 'them' in reality is a violation of your personal wellbeing and privacy.  

Glad to see your post Sam. Look forward to seeing more and reading about what items you folks can live with out!

Anonymous said...

oh no that is awful that someone would take those figs! I use to make fig preserves when we lived in Alabama. ummmm!
It's good to hear from you :)

Gretchen
http://journals.aol.com/ksgal3133/LivinginSavannah2

Anonymous said...

That is terrible!

Anonymous said...

oh no!  what a disappointing situation.  Bad enough that they were stolen, but when you get your taste buds all ready for them.....well, that's just wrong!

Anonymous said...

How terrible!!!! You will have to rig up an alarm next year :(.  We had trees cut down and someone came into to our yard and took all the wood...I cannot image people who have the nerve to steal.

Betty

Anonymous said...

Sam I am so sorry that someone snuck into your yard and stole your entire crop of figs ~ how low down they must have been to do such a thing ~ and then come back and steal your neighbours crop ~ thank goodness you didn't buy all that equipment ~ hope you will be able to set up some kind of surveillance camera next year ~ can understand you losing your faith in humanity ~ Take care ~ Ally x

Anonymous said...

Missed you!!! Welcome back.  I lost 13 fig trees in Katrina and will try yet again when i AM HOME AND CAN TAKE CARE OF THEM.  I, too, remember the taste from childhood and have been trying to reporduce the experience for years!

Anonymous said...

Fig masacre.....that is just wrong.  I hope you catch the thief.  Welcome back to the land of Journaling.
Sharon

Anonymous said...

Fig stealing is just so wrong on so many levels. I have huge fig trees in my back yard & had a great crop this year.  Sometimes kids steal them & once or twice I looked outside & found people working on my house~ taking a break~ realllll close to them ;-), but never organized thieves. So sorry about that. ~Mary

Anonymous said...

Yeah ... that happens here in Florida all the time
with avocados and mangos, better luck next year Sam!!!
                                   *** Coy ***

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you back.  Missed you.  Remember picking figs and eating them fresh from the trees at Momma's and MaMa's houses in the summer?  But if they cut them off, they really worked hard unneccessarily.  Take comfort in that!  You just give a slight tug and they pop off - at least the kind we had.  Really miss the figs!

Love you, Cousin Lynn

Anonymous said...

    Hi, Sam. Missed you! Sorry to hear about your figs. I know my husband has been bugging me to pick him up some when I go to the store. Haven't seen any at all this year. Word of caution though. If these airheads are brazen enough to steal your figs right out of your back yard, I wouldn't put it past them to steal any type of surveillance equipment as well. Just like on that episode of MASH when Klinger tried to buy Hawkeye's Poloroid back from the theives who took it, you'll come across your cameras at a flea market, and won't be able prove it's yours.
Jude
http://journals.aol.com/jmorancoyle/MyWay

Anonymous said...

What a bunch of CRAP!! Nothin's sacred in the good old USA anymore. Why respect someones "FIGS", when you don't respect anything else, including yourself!!

Enough ranting. Good to hear from you again. I've been absolutely non existent of late, and have no reason, just lack of time and lack of desire.  Rich (Rambler)

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry about your figs!  That is just pitiful.  My mouth was watering as you described getting things ready and looking forward to canning and then enjoying your figs.  I hope they come back next year and you catch them fig-handed!
Lori

Anonymous said...

Trail timers......thats exactly what you need. Hunters get them, and they are reasonably priced these days, to keep track of animals comings and goings, but I think it would work perfectly in your situation! They work day and night and take great pictures~
I'm sorry that happened to you!!
Rebecca Anne

Anonymous said...

Well, that really blows!  Stealing people's fruit off their trees!  Who woulda thunk it?

I haven't acquired the taste for figs... its a texture thing with me, I'm sure.. lol

Forget the surveillance equipment, get yourself a nice big female dog :)  Females are more protective of property.  That'll teach the fig-nappers!

Good to see you here, of course I'm not around much these days either.. lol

Miss you~

Cat

Anonymous said...

how weird....just couldnt let your fig flag fly, huh?
Love
Marti

Anonymous said...

I am a friend of Guido and have often seen you post on his journal.  I just wanted to come by and wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.

 
http://journals.aol.co.uk/jeanno43/JeannettesJottings/

Anonymous said...

Happy Thanksgiving Sam!!!

Hugs,
Dona

Anonymous said...

hello sam, thanks for the welcome. Sorry to hear about your figs, my mum loses her plums to a pair of squirrels every year, she can't quite beat them! Good luck with your figs next year. take care mrs t x
http://journals.aol.co.uk/mleppard06/eternity/

Anonymous said...

That one blew my mind, Sam, although, I have to say, I'm getting way too used to these kinds of stories. People do what they want now, and would probably have some kind of nonsensical explanation for the theft, probably wind up blaming you somehow.
Maybe rig up some kind of motion detector lights. And then send me your address and I'll sit in the yard with my 12-gauge.

Sorry about that, Sam. That just stinks.


Jimmy

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh!  People are so evil these days.  We have a fig tree in our yard.  I haven't even checked it since we are moving this week.  Thanks for stopping by to visit me at my journal.  We did find a place.  I will post pics as soon as we get set up.  We are downsizing quite a bit, as we are moving from a 1700 square foot house to a 980 square foot mobile home, but there are no stairs.  It is in a very nice park, with a pool, tennis courts, and volley ball net, so it can't be all bad.  They even cut your grass for you.  We really like that.  Will leave more time for us to enjoy life.  At our ages 48 and 52, that is a PLUS!

Blessings!~

Susan

Anonymous said...

Wow, Sorry to hear about this. Did this happen right in your backyard? I wonder if the machine that they used made much noise. someone should have heard it.

Anonymous said...

Der Sam, oh my goodness Sam!
I am terribly sorry to hear about this!
Is there a way you can have fruit that those people cannot get to?
ummm can you create a wall around your center garden that you can lock? then perhaps you can do this in teh future!
Sam please write in my Thanksgiving and Christmas and Chanukah entries and leave your link for us so people will come by!
Thanks! Best Reguards to your wife and family this holiday!
hugs,nat

Anonymous said...

I had a fig tree when i lived in Israel.
http://journals.aol.co.uk/acoward15/andy-the-bastard/

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