Rick Pass carves lifelike decoy ducks from blocks of unforgiving softwood, creations which have gone on to win awards.

It’s happened to some of the best of us pop culture lovers. We see a familiar spot from a film, and we get overexcited. Then we feel silly — because it was only a movie, and real people live here.

One afigcionado is making this corner of Queens a far more fruit-friendly place. Buoyed by the success of Astoria’s first-ever fig tree scion exchange in March — which brought in some 200 people to ...