As if hens weren't enough, we are also adding a mini-orchard to our little homestead this year. No self-respecting locavore can be without a fig tree:

Currently chilling in the bathroom; itching to go outside!

It's not like we've been in the habit of eating tons of figs, but there's just something so appealing about growing them at home. Our climate is just barely hospitable enough that we should be able to nurture this little guy next to the south side of our house—lots of sun, plus protection from the northern winds. Edible Landscaping, where we bought the tree, certainly manages just fine: Right outside their office door is a huge, happy fig.

Also at Edible, we bought two pears and two paw paws, which still look the way the fig used to: exactly like dead sticks.

Perfectly natural at this time of year.

They've been mulched in all winter and, we hope, will be ready to blossom soon. We've got some nice sunny spots picked out for them. Growing fruit will be a whole new ball game for confirmed veggie gardeners like us; pruning is basically a foreign language to me, as is the notion that one has to wait years (not weeks or months) before one's plants begin to produce food. But it's all part of digging in for the long term.