This week I'm in San Diego at a conference and part of the afternoon agenda yesterday was to go to the San Diego Zoo Safari in Escondido. Excellent visit and attraction. Pricey but nice if you come this way seldom.

Anyways while walking back from the Africa tram lamenting about how i wish my weather was this warm and my own figs would be ripening I spied a fig tree bearing fruit just past the Lion enclosure. (A lioness was on the roof of a Range Rover resting.) I reached over the railing and pulled a few branches down closer to get to find ripening ones. The birds partially ate most of the jammy ones already but there were a few pretty close within reach with my name on them.

The figs tasted semi sweet, not jammy, on the drier side and mildly figgy, a nice crunch of the seed. Skin was not tough at all. They could have used a few more days but I'm not complaining. On a sale of 1-10 I'd say they were a 7. I think a fresh "7" rated fig off the tree is perfect in my book all day long compared to having no figs at all.

Wish I my clippers, a knife, or even rock to get a few cuttings. Co-workers thought I was nuts grabbing fruit off a random tree but I don't think the tree minded. Hadn't told the Mrs. yet....

Thank you Mother Nature for the afternoon snack!

Shame on you being unprepared!  :)

Congrats on the snack it looks like a good fig.

Thanks Bob! I wish I had remembered to hold a quarter for a size perspective but the last picture of the one I bit in half that baby spans 3 on my fingers which is the width of my iPhone 5.

I hope you made a stop to Stone brewery or Lost Abbey while you were there. Stone makes some very good varieties. And from what I've heard, the tour is unforgettable.

Didn't get a chance to visit Stone as we were on tight schedule but would have loved too. Maybe next time. We get the pale Ale back East on occasion and its pretty good I must admit. Right now I'm waiting for the conference to wrap up so I can go for a visit with Jon. :-)

I drive by Safari Park on my way to work...guess I need to renew my yearly pass and go check out the tree. :-) Maybe it's a Calif wild fig, a seed dropped by a bird?
Sue

There's a couple of trees I saw with different leaf patterns all dark fruit. Bring your clippers and go late in the day during the week. :-)