figs in Boston
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: figs in Boston
- From: "* <R*@haasjr.org>
- Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 11:05:31 PST
- Priority: normal
In 1991 I moved to the Boston area for graduate school. I found a
small attic apartment in Somerville just outside Boston--a
working/middle class neighborhood in which many Greek and Italian
immigrants have settled.
When I moved in the first September, I observed that many families had
constructed wire "trellises" over their driveways where they grew grapes,
which hung down over the cars in the summer.
But I was shocked to observe that my Greek
neighbors across the street had a fifteen-foot fig tree in their
yard. I couldn't imagine how it survived the frigid New England
winters. The answer came in late October when I saw the neighbors
out in the yard constructing a giant insulated "beehive" that
completely enclosed the tree. I can't remember what materials they
used. It was a lot of work. Having a fig tree was obviously very
important to them, enough to inspire that kind of devotion every
fall. So I guess, as someone else said, you either love them or hate them.
