Figs in the Wild

Where we live, some things do not grow on trees. The first of these things is money. 

In the midwest we learn very early from our hardworking parents that even though we might think it does, 

"Money doesn't grow on trees". There  are no two ways about it. 

Those go-go boots are not gonna happen for you even though everybody else has them.

Other revelations take much longer for some of us to receive. When your life-long relationship with a fig has been exclusively with its twisted sister the Newton, it is hard to imagine that the raw source of the crunchy, weird, brown filling could be a wonderful and amazing food like the succulent, naturally ripe fig.

It seems like something out of a fairy tale too incredible to be true, but there are parts of the world (some even on our own continent, but in this case beautiful Provence, France) where you can walk up to a tree, pick a plump purple fig, and enjoy it on a splendid sunny day, while standing in an olive farm parking lot.

Hmmm...will they tell us next, that dates grow on trees and anchovies swim in the sea?