InFocus Magazine

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, ambrosially juicy when fresh, the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match. 

Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.

The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, ambrosially juicy when fresh, the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match. 

Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.

The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

Hari Amrit and Devmurti Khalsa, internist
founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery on Denman Island, this site
grow and sell more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more. Photo by Seadance Photography

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, ambrosially juicy when fresh, the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match. 

Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.

The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

Hari Amrit and Devmurti Khalsa, Gastritis
founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery on Denman Island, check
grow and sell more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, decease
as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more. Photo by Seadance Photography

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, ambrosially juicy when fresh, the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match. 

Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.

The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

 

 

 

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, healing ambrosially juicy when fresh, cure
the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match. Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

 

 

 

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, herbal
ambrosially juicy when fresh, visit this
the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match. Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, ambrosially juicy when fresh, the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match.

Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, ambrosially juicy when fresh, the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match.

Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, ambrosially juicy when fresh, the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match.

Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, ambrosially juicy when fresh, the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match.

Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

Consider the fig. There’s more to this fruit than one might think. Chewy and intense when dried, ambrosially juicy when fresh, the fig is woven throughout human history in ways no other fruit can match.

Consider, for instance, that the fig is the first fruit ever cultivated by humans—perhaps even the very first agricultural crop in human history. If you didn’t know this, perhaps that is because it was just recently discovered: in 2006, three scientists dug up the remains of cultivated figs in the ruins of a prehistoric village near Jericho. These figs were grown some 11,400 years ago—about 1,000 years before the domestication of such staples as wheat, barley and chick peas.The scientists saw their fig fossils as evidence of a defining moment in human history. “In this intentional act of planting a specific variant of fig tree,” said archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef to the New York Times, “we can see the beginnings of agriculture… There was a critical switch in the human mind. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.”

Consider, as well, that figs show up at significant moments in major world religions. According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the fig tree provided the very first human clothing when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. To paraphrase the archeologist quoted above, this too surely signified a critical switch in the human mind.

Figs are also particularly significant in Buddhism. This religion was born under a fig tree—the Ficus Religiosa, or Bodhi Tree. It was under this tree that a determined spiritual seeker named Siddhartha Guatama sat down one day to meditate. He stayed there for six years, until he found answers to the deepest questions about the meaning of existence. When he finally arose, he became the founder of Buddhism. Today, the sacred fig growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in the Indian state of Bihar is considered a direct descendant of that original tree, and is visited daily by worshippers who place gifts of flowers at the base of its trunk.

Hindus also hold the fig tree as sacred and it is considered auspicious to meditate beneath its branches, and to practice “pradakshina,” a ritual circumambulation around the trunk while chanting “Vrisha Rajaya Namah”, which means “salutations to the king of trees.”

Consider also that the fig’s anatomy is as fascinating as its role in history and religion. A fig is a container of secrets. Not a fruit at all, the fig is actually a rounded hollow branch holding the plant’s flowers, which bloom inwardly, in a process known as infructescence. So what we eat is, in fact, a concentrated package of hidden flowers.

Things get even more interesting when we ask how a hidden flower can be pollinated. Nature’s answer is a specialized insect known as the fig wasp, which exists in a beautiful symbiosis with the fig. This tiny wasp enters the fig through a small orifice called an ostiole, eats the fruity flesh, and pollinates the flower, leaving her eggs behind. The resulting baby wasps mature and then mate—inside the fig. They then chew and wriggle their way out. The males die, and the females fly off, covered in pollen, to enter a new fig, bringing the pollen from the first fig with them.

The catch in this symbiotic relationship is that the female can’t successfully lay eggs in female figs, and thus dies inside. The fig, cleverly, produces enzymes that digest the female wasp’s body, so that it ultimately becomes part of the fruit. This may not be something you want to think about as you enjoy a fig.

As well, consider that figs are incredibly nutritious. They are loaded with vitamins A, B, E and K; they are extremely high in fibre; and full of calcium, iron, copper, zinc and potassium, which help control blood pressure. They are high in immune-system-boosting antioxidants, as well as chlorogenic acids that lower blood sugar levels. They have proven to be beneficial for treating type two diabetes; and they contain significant amounts of luteolin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that has shown to be effective in cancer prevention and treatment.

If you consider all this, you will be truly ready to meet Devmurti and Hari Amrit Khalsa, founders and proprietors of Figs For Life Nursery and Nature Spirit Permaculture Farm, which grows and sells more than 70 varieties of hardy fig trees, as well as a selection of rare fruit and nut trees, basket willows, ground covers and more.

The Khalsas can be found just about every Saturday selling their seedlings at the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. The rest of the time, they are either tending the orchard, fields, and greenhouses of their heritage Denman Island farm, or teaching Kundalini Yoga at their home-based studio. They love eating figs, growing figs, learning about figs, talking about figs, and selling fig seedlings so that others can do the same.

“A lot of people don’t realize how easily they can grow figs in this climate,” says Devmurti. “But there are so many cultivars of figs, and lots of them grow wonderfully here. They don’t need great soil, are drought tolerant, don’t need spraying or any special care, and they produce like crazy. You can grow figs anywhere in Canada. If you have a sunny deck and an 18-inch pot, that’s enough.” And indeed, through website sales, the Khalsas have sold fig trees as far east as Ontario, establishing themselves as one of Canada’s primary mail order fig seedling sources.

These two enthusiastic fig ambassadors like nothing better than knowing their fig trees have successfully taken root in their clients’ gardens.

“It’s wonderful being at the market when people we’ve sold fig trees to in past years come back to give us excited reports— telling us they got 100 figs that year, and how thrilled they are. It’s sweet!” says Hari Amrit, her final word perhaps unintentionally doing double duty.

Devmurti adds: “We have babies all over Vancouver Island!”

When the Khalsas moved to Denman Island eight years ago, they had never even tasted a fresh fig. Devmurti remembers his first fig, locally grown and locally sold at a Denman Island health food store, and probably picked within hours of eating. Hari Amrit remembers, at about that same time, the two of them riding their bikes along Denman’s oceanside East Road, and seeing a hand-written sign saying “Figs—help yourself.” They parked the bikes and went to explore. “There was this huge old fig tree covered in fruit, and we went and picked as much as we wanted.”

They were already farming. Figs soon became part of the mix, and then the main focus. They like to joke that they couldn’t decide which type of fig they like best, so decided to grow them all. Because the different cultivars mature at different times, they eat fresh figs pretty much every day from June to November.

The Khalsas are thrilled to be part of a burgeoning “grow-your-own-food” trend. This movement has multiple layers of significance—not just culinary, say the Khalsas.
“You can have an intellectual environmentalism, but growing food makes it practical. It creates community and moves us toward a better vision than what’s been presented, by which I mean the commercial-industrial model. There’s a permaculture saying that you can solve the world’s problems in your backyard. So maybe the interest in growing food can bring about a calming of global issues,” says Devmurti. Previous to moving to Denman Island, the Khalsas lived in New Mexico, where growing food organically was a big focus of their lives.

“We had a commercial greenhouse with a partner growing fresh herbs,” says Devmurti. “Also I was the gardener for our spiritual teacher Yogi Bhajan [founder of the Hacienda de Guru Ram Dass, where the Khalsas lived for a number of years].”

The move to Denman represented a classic example of turning adversity into opportunity. “My sister and parents were living on a beautiful farm in Alberta, but in the 1980s the surrounding area switched from a green environmental zone to heavy industry. Huge world-class refineries moved in, bringing all kinds of problems with them. The area became poisoned. The government eventually came in and told people not to eat anything grown in the region,” says Devmurti. His sister and parents were ready to move away, and Devmurti and Hari Amrit decided to join them. They were drawn to the BC coast because of the climate, the abundance of natural beauty, and the hope of finding a like-minded community.

A friend told them that Denman would be “their kind of place” and from what they could tell, it was.

“We loved the idea that the only factory on Denman Island is a chocolate factory,” says Devmurti. And they soon found the ideal property—an 80-year-old farm that originally belonged to a pioneering Denman family, the Isbisters. It offers sweeping ocean views and has a deep layer of fertile topsoil sitting on top of nutrient-rich clay. The extended family, along with several horses, moved in, and they began to farm, starting with vegetables and then transitioning to the nursery.

As well as fig seedlings, the Khalsas sell lots of other trees, shrubs, groundcovers, berry bushes, and specialty items such as basket willows. They particularly love to promote plants they feel are under-recognized in this region, plants that can grow well here and provide delicious food.

If he had to recommend one relatively undiscovered tree for this area, Devmurti would choose the Black Mulberry. “They produce lots and lots of fruit, and if you want to know what it tastes like—it’s like a cross between the sweetest, biggest blackberry you’ve ever had in your life, and a jujube candy.”

Like most farmers, the Khalsas have faced challenges and disappointments. By far the worst blow came from a tiny creature—the vole. After falling in love with figs, the Khalsas made a commitment, and planted an orchard with 150 young trees. Unfortunately, voles apparently love fig trees too—at least, they love the bark. Before the Khalsas could notice and take preventative action, voles had chewed off a ring of bark around each and every tree, and the whole orchard was lost.

“It was very sad and very difficult,” says Devmurti. “But we’re re-planting. We’re doing it much more slowly and carefully.” They now wrap their tree trunks in fine wire mesh, which thus far has kept the fig-bark-loving voles away.

All their farming practices are 100 per cent organic. For instance, the Khalsas grow copious amounts of comfrey, which they make into a natural fertilizer, and all pest and weed control is done by hand. Working this way takes patience and perseverance, but the Khalsas like it that way. “It’s time-consuming, but that’s what’s involved in growing things naturally.”

Growing things naturally is at the heart of the Khalsas’ project. “We hope to show others that we can live in harmony with nature. That has to be our legacy here,” says Devmurti. Through growing figs, selling fig trees and other plants, and teaching yoga on their farm, they are sharing that sense of harmony.

“We call our farm Nature Spirit Permaculture,” says Devmurti. “This reflects the idea that you can make where you live a paradise. You can grow your own food, and you can grow ornamental plants that are beautiful and that attract butterflies and birds. You can create abundance around you.”

At the Khalsas’ farm, there’s definitely more to the fig than you might think.

For more information visit www.figsforlife.ca

 

Wes Gietz will tell you he grew up on a lake, spending hundreds of hours of solitude in the Ontario bush. His family spent two months of every summer holiday on that lake in a cabin his father built. But like many people, education, career and the modern adult life took him far away from the outdoors once he was grown. Then, 24 years ago, his brother convinced him to go on a winter camping trip, at the end of which he gave Gietz a copy of the book The Tracker by American naturalist and survivalist Tom Brown Jr.

“That book ruined my career,” says Gietz with a laugh.

Brown’s writing tapped into Gietz’s personal interest in primitive skills and the spiritual qualities of the outdoors. Over the next 12 years, Gietz would attend Tom Brown’s Tracking, Nature and Wilderness Survival School in New Jersey 10 times. The experience set him on a path that has grown into a deep interest in self-regenerating communities and cultural repair.

The path from there to here started with a simple realization. “If I wasn’t going to lose these primitive skills—because there was nobody in this part of the world who knew anything about these skills as far as I could find—I had to start teaching,” says Gietz.

So Gietz started offering half-day workshops in things like bow drill making, (an ancient form of drilling tool commonly used for fire making), wild edible and medicinal plants and shelter making. Participants were primarily single men and women in their 20s and 30s who found his classes through word-of-mouth. And they all shared one thing in common—they wanted to reconnect with nature in some fairly basic fashion.

“When we did a shelter building workshop, we would get dusty and grubby and everybody loved it,” says Gietz. “Those things are something to which we respond on a very deep level.”

Gietz started offering the workshops more and more, taking advantage of the work flexibility provided by his then-career in management consulting. By 1999, he realized there was a big enough group of primitive skills experts in the area to form the Firemaker Primitive Skills Society. The society’s mandate is to create community-based opportunities for learning, practicing and sharing ancient skills and technology. Every summer, Firemaker offers a week-long gathering for anyone interested in nature-based living and primitive skills—this year’s event will be held at Camp Gilwell in Courtenay.

As founder, Gietz sat on the Firemaker council for 10 years and is the only person to have attended all 15 Firemaker gatherings.

It was 1994, though, that was a watershed moment for Gietz. “A friend of mine, a young woman for whom I have a lot of respect, pointed at me and said, ‘Jon Young is doing this program, the Fine Art of Mentoring, and you need to go,’” says Gietz. “There was no question about it, and I said yes. “I sort of knew what ‘art’ was, I didn’t really know what ‘mentoring’ was, and ‘the art of mentoring’ had no meaning for me at all, so I was completely open and it blew me away,” Gietz adds.

What Gietz experienced is something known as coyote mentoring—a style of teaching made popular by Young, Tom Brown Jr.’s first student. It is a style of teaching that uses the natural world to engage people of all ages in the learning process. The method draws on the vast experiences of indigenous cultures from around the world, and is as much about teaching as it is about the ways of life that keep cultures intact and healthy. Young refers to that part of coyote mentoring as the cultural basket, and it is the context in which all mentoring happens. In the basket are models such as the seven attributes of the sacred human being from the Lakota, the natural cycle of learning from the Mohawk, the human journey from the Anishnaabe, and much more.

“I wanted to learn that model, because the conclusion I came to was this is a different way of life and it’s cohesive and I want to bring this home,” says Gietz.

Gietz attended the Fine Art of Mentoring three times and then started offering programs for children in the Comox Valley based on what he had learned.

In one of the early programs, he took a group of students out to a wooded area in Comox. The group spent some time wandering around, exploring the area before Gietz turned to the kids and asked if they would be interested in building a fort. They agreed and started gathering materials to build the fort. In fact, what they were building was a debris hut, a form of emergency shelter.

While gathering the materials, the kids found some bugs they’d never seen before. Gietz hadn’t seen the bug either, but informed the kids that he had a field guide in his car that might have the answer. One boy was so fired up about finding out what this bug was that, when the group eventually got back to the car, he reminded Gietz about his promise of the field guide and spent 10 minutes searching the guide for the bug, which he found. In that one day of playing and having fun, those kids learned two important things—how to build an emergency shelter, and what bugs lived in that wooded area of Comox.

“It was so much fun, and it felt almost effortless,” says Gietz.

These early mentoring programs eventually grew into the Togethering, a five-day program on Vancouver Island for people of all ages who want to experience and learn firsthand about coyote mentoring. Over the five days, participants create a village, live within the cultural basket, and learn about cultural skills such as: How do we pass knowledge on to others in a way that is empowering, effective, and fun? How do we enrich our lives together as well as in solitude? How do we address differing interests and needs in a healthy and respectful way?

“The Togethering is much more powerful and enjoyable because we are all together—all ages—and there is more time to settle in,” says Gietz. “And we have a lot of fun.”
Gietz points to the skits participants put on at the end of the Togethering to capture the highlights of their five days.

“It’s really important to laugh at ourselves, and some of the ways they’ve portrayed me are hilarious.” For example, Gietz used to have a ponytail, and one year a boy tied a bunch of twigs to the back of his head to imitate the hairstyle. Just to make sure no one could be mistaken about who he was poking fun at, the boy had even managed to convince Gietz’s wife Gloria to lend him one of Gietz’s hats.

Today, programs like the Togethering, and other nature-based mentoring and rites of passage programs, including a Vision Quest and 24-Hour Solo, make up what Gietz refers to as his vocation. Bilingual in French and English—and learning Spanish as well—Gietz holds Bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and English, and Master’s degrees in biochemistry and public administration. With 15 years of consulting experience in training, strategic planning and human resource management, Gietz has taught at the University of Victoria and North Island College.

He is no longer in the field of management consulting, and when asked why he does what he does, he provides a simple answer. “I could say I think this is how we save the world, but that is ambitious,” says Gietz. “This is a way of being with people that offers much greater satisfaction with life, and it works. We have lost so much in our ability to live together and be together.”

Gietz notes that modern, western society is one built on separation—we live in separate houses, we are schooled by age groups, and we pursue individual material well being.
“The separation is so pervasive and so much presented as a desirable thing, we don’t realize how damaging it is,” he adds. “In the mainstream society I grew up in, we don’t honor our elders. We warehouse our seniors, and there is isolation around all of the age groups.”

The result is a society that disempowers everyone. Young people are never given the opportunity to learn who they are or gain a deep connection with their sense of self, and anyone beyond retirement age is left wondering what to do with themselves.

“It was said to me that if young people are not guided through rites of passage by competent and loving elders, they will burn down the structures of society just to feel the warmth,” says Gietz. For him, that quotes captures the power of mentoring to heal cultural damage, and create a community that is always looking at itself and saying, ‘How do we get better?’

In fact, he sees those changes all the time in participants at the Togethering, some of whom experience intense emotions and a deeper spiritual awareness.

“We don’t pretend we’re going to make it a spiritual event—that’s not what it is,” says Gietz. “We do acknowledge the presence of the sacred. When I was a kid, I would read stuff about Indians—which is what we called First Nation peoples then—and how they would do ceremony before they went hunting and stuff and that felt right to me. Tom Brown Jr. is the same—of course the physical and the spiritual are connected. Any path that has been rewarding to me has said that.”

“So to add to your question about why I do this—it makes my life meaningful and I think it’s a pretty big contribution.”

For more information about the Togethering, which takes place August 13-17, or any other of Gietz’s programming, visit his Facebook page (search WindwalkerWesGietz) or go to www.windwalker.ca