Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush.
Here we go round the mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning.
So is it a mulberry bush or a mulberry tree? A quick search on Wikipedia gave us an answer. Apparently it is a bush when young and a tree when mature. Well, yesterday we were glad to take a trip to a family friend’s farm down the road to find some mature mulberry trees.
Timing is everything when picking the perfect fruit. We were late in that there were a lot of mulberries on the ground already. I’m not sure when they fell off the tree, but they were black and rotted. On the other hand, there were a lot of pink, unripened berries waiting for their time. Still, we were able to collect a few to snack on or perhaps enough to make a sweet treat. (Mulberry cobbler anyone?)
We heard the easiest way to gather the fresh berries was to lay out a tarp underneath the tree then shake. Giving each chosen branch a good shake should cause all the ripe berries to fall off. While I didn’t have too much shaking a lot of berries free, Annie had a great time watching me shake the tree limbs. She would mimic the gesture, shaking her hands over her head.
And, Ellie had a great time picking the berries, too. Almost as much fun as eating them: It seems for every berry that went into the bucket, one went in her mouth. Berry-stained hands and cheeks provided evidence of that.
BERRY UPDATE: Today we walked around the perimeter of our homestead and found a bunch of elderberry and blackberry plants. The berries aren’t ripe yet, but we will be watching them close in hopes to grab up handfuls before the birds and snakes get them.
7 Comments on "All Around the Mulberry Tree"
Nice! How big is the homestead? This all reminds me of that book “Jamberry”…
We are situated on just over 2 acres or so. The previous owners cleared a lot of land but did not have any gardens, landscaping or much of anything. That works for us… It is like a clean canvas! We are slowly adding what we can, trying to utilize the land.
We have two HUGE mulberry trees at our place in Teays Valley – I miss them this time of year! Might go over and pick some this coming week!
Let us know if you get any and what you do with them. Jes’ mulberry cobbler was delicious, but we’d love to hear other recipe ideas, too.
Just wanted to share that we have a mulberry tree in our yard & last year we started making mulberry wine & it is fantastic.
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