A couple of months ago, Mrs K, the lovely little Miss K and I were invited to attend a very good friend's wedding that took place in Orlando, Florida.  All excited we packed our bags, loaded the Ram and off to the magical land we went.  The night before the wedding the guests got together (mostly family members and close friends of the bride and groom) for the traditional rehearsal dinner.  It was a very casual event and not at all suit and tie.  Just a comfortable gathering where everyone had a chance to meet and have a great time.  The couple actually did all of the cooking and the food was first class and out of this world!!  Some "responsible" drinking was involved as well!  During the dinner we were introduced to our friend's aunt, a very nice lady named Barbara.  Ms Barb and Mrs K were talking up a storm after a couple of glasses of vino and my lovely wife thought it would be quite hilarious to reveal at that very moment my hobbies!  "By the way" she said, "my husband is very into collecting and growing..." OH NO I thought in a panic, not at the wedding!  "figs!" she continued and "oh yeah, he also plays soccer" she (very masterfully) added.  GREAT, now the lady thinks I'm a complete nutcase, I thought again but tried to remain as cool as possible.  "Is that true?" Ms. Barb asked.  "yes ma'am, it is" I replied, " I love soccer!"  "Guess what," Ms Barbara replied, "I have a fig tree in my backyard!"  Holy cow, whaaat?  I thought and the first thing I wanted to do was give my wife a high five!  It turns out that Ms Barb is not crazy about figs but her late husband and his family just loved them.  She told me that the tree was there when they bought the house seven years ago and the previous owners had found it there when they bought the house 10 years before that.  That would put the tree in the 20+ year old category.  Another important detail is the location.  Ms Barb lives in Slidell, Louisiana, a town about 30 miles east of New Orleans.  (We all know that Louisiana could very well be THE fig capital of the US due to the LSU program)  Long story short, the wedding was as fine as weddings get and we all had a blast.  I, of course, was already thinking hard and cooking up a plan to go to New Orleans (I'm sure you guys know why....that darn fig!!!) and guess what friends?  I did not have to try very hard as Ms Barbara invited us to go to Slidell for Mardi Gras!  Fast forward to the weekend before last and you find me loading up the Ram once again and 467 miles and 6 hours later (oh I know, hemi, lol) and finally I was staring at it!!  The tree is very dwarf-like for it's age but by the appearance of the bark you can tell that it is an old tree!    It was very grayish with lots and lots of nodes and stuff growing on it.  Louisiana looking stuff, lol!  From her description it was a dark fig with a red center.  We looked at many fig pics online and she reacted to the Macedonia black from the "trees of joy" list of varieties with "oh that's it".  Please understand that in no way do I claim to have that fig!!  It could end up being anything, but my gut feeling is that it is indeed a good find.  Looks like nothing that I currently grow, single trunk and no evidence of root suckers; dwarf-size and all those nodes!!  I will take a trip again down there in August and sample the fruit, maybe even meet and share with other forum members (from the surrounding areas or those who can make the trip) who can actually help identify it.  I gave it a hair cut and brought back a bunch of cuttings in different sizes. 
I am offering a minimum of 8 (according to size) for $ 10.00 including shipping and packaging.  Please do not add any more money, ten bucks is really enough to cover my expenses.  Please PM me and I will respond to all with my paypal address. 
I am dedicating the story and all the figs we eventually will get to Ms Barbara and her late husband, who unfortunately passed away at a very young age from the bad disease.  We had a great time at carnival and Ms Barb made us all feel at home.  Thank you Ms Barbara for sharing the legacy and to you my friends, thank you for your time!

P.S. - This offer and story was originally posted in the new forum (our figs)
I have been experiencing trouble logging in on the figs for fun forum for the past month by means of a 404 error message each time I click on the "forums" tab.  Last night was the first time in a long time I actually was able to log in.  This was the only reason why the story was not posted in both forums simultaneously. 

Super offer Chris, and what a wonderful story.

Thanks very much Wayne. I' m having a hard time loging in on the forum again When I click on the " forums" tab i get the same 404 error not found message ! Any help you'll be deeply appreciated.

ChrisK, maybe you should delete your cookies (which I hate to do..remembering passwords is killer).  Clean out the Cache.  Sometimes sites get corrupted and you need a fresh approach.  Nice story.  There are only two figs I need now, and those are on my wish list.  Good luck!

Suzi

Chriss is it by eden isles or oak harbor. Thanks. I just want to check it out i wont take mych from it!! Lol

Oh never mind its in someones back yard. Lol

Chris, I have had no problems once I created a shortcut, I had a problem in the past. If you have already done this then this info is for others that have not.
Go to F4F website- click on forum- right click in a blank space, a dropdown will appear- click on create a shortcut, a box will appear, click yes and a shortcut will be created on the desktop.
Whenever, I want the forum, all I do is click on the shortcut and I immediately get all the great posts by members.
If you do not want to go directly to the forum, then leave out "click on forum" step and you will have a shortcut to the F4F website.
Hope this benefits someone. Good luck and good growing.

Thanks for the great info Wayne. Doing all this on my iPad so I don't know how to right click , I can go to the topic through the alert on my mail box and by clicking on the url . Once I get to the topic and want to return to the forums page is when I get the 404 error . I can access my pm box through older alerts also with no problem. It is the forums page that has the bug!

Hey Suzi, thanks for the tip, I completely missed it before and I m realy sorry for that. This thing drives me crazy. Just when it all seems normal and running ,that darn error shows up!!! Grrrr. The other day I did the whole story on my iPhone and just as I was proof reading I hit something on the screen and lost the page.. All gone. I think I stick to growing sticks and leave technology for the smart people ! Lol

What an awesome story Chris! Thanks for sharing! It looks like that tree aged well and is well adapted to LA climate. Very interesting find. And lol I know I feel the same way when people start talking about my fig interest. For me, it's a strange combination of embarrassment and pride haha

Dan couldn't have said it any better. Lol thank God this one turned out in triumph !

Great turn out guys and gals. Thanks very much for your trust on the story and taking on ,on the task of spreading the legacy ( and of course enjoying some awesome figs in the future;))
I still have a few cuttings left, enough for four or five more packages. Please let me know ...so I can get them on their way tomorrow.
Best regards to all.

Ok ,all gone. Thanks again for the great response.
I can't wait to get the good news that everyone has successfully rooted grows them .please keep posting your progress !
Happy growing!

Chris,
  I got my package in the mail today.  What a crazy looking bunch of cuttings!! ;-)  These cuttings have more nodes than I've ever seen on a branch!  I just can't imagine encountering this tree in person -- it must have an aura around it.
  I've got the cuttings soaking in AB soapy water now.  I love getting cuttings from the deep south (and the pacific northwest) -- I have to work to get them clean. There are like 4 different species of moss and lichens growing on these things...I almost hate to remove them!
  Thanks again for the offer.
Cheers,
Jim

Thanks very much Jim. I left all these things on them . They don't seem to be bothering the mom tree so.. The seem very quick to root in spagnoum . (Less than a week)Please keep updating your progress. Best of luck!

Thanks for the generous number of cuttings, Chris! They went right into sphagnum moss!

Thank you Fiona. Best of luck with the cuttings!

Chris got my cuttings today ,just want to say unbelievable amount of nods ,counted 1 with 16 nods , thank you Joe oh and 4 went right in coir 

Thanks Joe ,very much . Good luck rooting , and keep us posted on your progress . The Slidell cuttings are now spread accros the country. Let's see who will be the first to report mission accomplished and post the first photos of a little plant and who knows, God willing we might get a fig by the end of the summer!

Hey Chris    Your slidell fig is enjoying a vacation outside of Tampa.   Snug inside their bedrolls waiting for revelerie.   I didn't wash anything off.  I figured if it aint broke dont fix it.   Thanks loads for the opportunity.  Joyce

You re very welcome Joyce . I'm glad the cuttings are enjoying the lovely Tampa sun. We could deffinitlly benefit from some of that ourselves so next time we're driving them down! lol, best of luck with your rooting efforts and thanks tons for your support!

This pic was just sent to me. Breba and main crop on the same branch and both pretty large for early May. So Looks like a very early fig with breba and quite possibly more than one main crop!

I was looking at the photo again and all the fruit looks like main crop. Sorry for the confusion. Doing it on my phone at work and it's not easy to pick out details. Please let me know what you think. Thanks .

Hey Shailesh . Good to hear from you again. If you could take a couple of photos of your cutting and post would be deeply appreciated! I'm glad your cuttings are doing well. I had very good luck with them also!

Oh this is torture,I'm having a hard time opening the pics. You're very welcome Shailesh. and thanks for the update! Here are mine. Four levels of growth.