As humans we learn not by our successes in life but by our mistakes or at least that has been the case for me.
The original thought of a fig trial came about by one of those life lessons of failure.
This lesson started when I purchased 2 healthy fig trees for $60 from a big box store. Both figs had beautiful Italian or French names that I should have tagged onto the trees which wasn't done, and I promptly forgot the names.
The trees loved the Arkansas heat and grew happily that summer, while I watched and planed what I would do with all the fresh figs that would be produced. Arkansas has fairly mild winters and that year was no exception with nighttime lows averaging 39 degrees but a few dipped down to below freezing. Spring arrived and I waited for the trees to put out, waited and waited till July when I finally admitted both trees were dead. The fig trees with beautiful Italian/French names were never meant to be planted in Arkansas.
I didn't take the failure well. I repeated my story to friends and a few unsuspecting strangers that innocently asked how I was doing.
Each time at the end of my rant I would say, "Why hasn't anyone gathered the information to tell us what fig trees will live and produce in Arkansas?" I finally listened to what I was saying and realized I can be that person.
The Learning Fields Fig Trial was created from that failure.
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