As I bite into a lush fig from artist Linda Rosenfield's tree, I taste not only the summer's growth, but the seasons of healing this tree has brought.

Rosenfield planted the fig in 1986. She didn't pay much attention to it until six years ago in June, when she was in deep sadness over the death of a friend. "The tree was magical that day," says Rosenfield, describing how it appeared luminous.

She began photographing it. At first, she says, she felt obsessed with the tree, and then it became an object of meditation. Rosenfield followed it from the first new leaves in spring and watched tiny figs appear, grow large, and ripen.  Ripe figs do not last long, so she began taking figs with her and giving them to friends.

In 2001, she shared some of her photos at a small show at the Shane House Gallery. She documented how life and death were intertwined; as well as photos of bright green new leaves and leaves in their fullness, she also showed leaves turning brown and crinkling. She featured not only figs picked at their peak of sweetness, but also those that dried on the tree. In a nighttime exposure, branches stand out starkly as they are illuminated by a flash.

After she showed these photos, people began bringing Rosenfield all sorts of fig items, from horticultural information to recipes, photos and postcards. When her mother visited Italy, she sent Rosenfield a marzipan fig; someone else brought her oilcloth with a fig pattern from Mexico.
Rosenfield researched figs and continued to photograph her tree, and felt that it was bringing her back to life. She then selected eight photos and compiled them into The Fig Directory. She re-photographed her original Polaroid emulsion transfers and printed them onto transparencies, selecting short quotes from her journal to accompany each photo. The hand-bound book begins with a description of her process of healing, and ends with a recipe. Some of the photos can be viewed at www.paperworks. info/pages/LindaR.html. 

The Song of Songs talks of the return of spring when trees put forth their green figs (2:13). While Rosenfield did not know this phrase from the Torah, she lived that renewal through her tree. Trees have always been meaningful to her. As a child in Brooklyn, she wrote a report on the trees of New York state, and photographing trees has played a prominent role throughout her life. Currently she is reading a book that features Tree of Life imagery in Judaism.

Rosenfield has also shared her enthusiasm for trees by joining a committee in Armory Park, where she helped neighbors plant hundreds of trees. As they grew, she learned about pruning.
Trees are pruned after the first frost. For figs to get optimal sun, there should be good spacing so that branches don't cross. An orchardist told her that you want a bird to be able to fly through the tree, says Rosenfield.

Common figs do not produce true seeds, so prunings that are pencil-thin can be saved and rooted. Rosenfeld recommends placing cuttings in a bucket of sand and water; they root well without rooting hormone and are not prone to rotting as they can in pure water.
Once the cuttings have roots, they are transplanted to pots. The trees need to be at least two years old before they are placed in the ground.

Since fig trees can grow very large, they need to be located at least 18 feet away from a building; they thrive on full sun. Rosenfield doesn't believe in staking trees; she thinks that allowing the tree to be whipped about by the wind produces a stronger, more flexible tree.
While her fig tree has done well without fertilizer, regular watering has a big impact on fruit production, says Rosenfield. Her tree produces three crops each year, rather than the usual one or two. Figs can be enjoyed raw or made into a wide variety of foods. Rosenfield recommends Claudia Roden's The Book of Jewish Food, which includes fascinating information, such as the belief, held by some, that Eve's tree may not have been an apple - it may have been a fig.
Deborah Mayaan is a freelance writer in Tucson.

Pastry recipe makes most of figs

Figs in a Blanket
(otherwise known as Fig Rugele)

Courtesy of Linda Rosenfield, The Fig Directory

Cut 10-12 fresh figs lengthwise in half and then cut each half into thirds so that there are six pieces per fig. Place them in a bowl and mix with 1 cup sugar. Let them remain for a while. Liquid from the figs will be drawn out.
Next, make a flaky pie dough. Your favorite recipe will do. Mine is as follows:

1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup Crisco
1 3/4 cup white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 to 1/2 cup iced water
small bowl with
   1/2 cup sugar

Cut shortening (to the size of peas) into the flour/salt mixture, then add enough water to make a ball of dough. Refrigerate the dough in two waxed paper-wrapped parts for 1/2 hour. Between two pieces of waxed paper, roll out a ball of dough. Add a little flour to keep it from sticking.
With a knife, cut the dough into one-inch strips. Drain the figs and sprinkle them with cinnamon. Place a piece of fig at the end of one of the strips and roll it up until the pastry overlaps a bit. Cut it off and continue rolling fig pieces until all of the dough is used. Press each fig pastry into the bowl with sugar to coat the top of each.
Arrange the wrapped figs on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes. Remove pastries from the cookie sheet immediately.
If you don't have a tree in your yard, fresh figs are available seasonally from some health food stores, including Aqua Vita (Country Club and Glenn, 293-7770) and the Food Conspiracy Co-op (412 N. Fourth Ave., 624-4821).

Fig varieties suitable for Tucson

The University of Arizona Pima County Cooperative Extension recommends the following varieties, which have been found to do well in the low desert.
Black Mission - A large, long-lived tree with medium to large pear-shaped fruits. Flavorful for eating fresh or dried. Well adapted to elevations below 2,000 feet.
Brown Turkey - A large tree with bell-shaped medium-to-large fruits that are best eaten fresh. Less prolific than Mission. Best adapted to elevations of 2,000-3,000 feet.
Conadria (white) - Tolerates heat well and produces fruit that is good when eaten fresh or dried.
White Kadota - Fruit is good for canning as well as eating fresh or dried. Hot weather aids in ripening.
Additional information on fig trees can be found in Desert Gardening: Fruits & Vegetables, by George Brookbank.