mulberries

[asakiyume]

The two berries I used to pick and eat as a kid were mulberries and black raspberries (a different fruit from blackberries--we had no blackberries where I grew up but plenty of black raspberries). Black raspberries grow on prickly canes, and you can find them in abandoned lots and beside railroad tracks. I was a pro at finding places to pick them.

Mulberries grow on trees. When I was a kid, there was a copse of three or so sapling-sized mulberry trees on my street, at the edge of someone's property, and we used to walk by them and pick the berries off. Not as flavorful as black raspberries, but pleasantly sweet.

Now all but one of those mulberry trees is gone, but that one tree! It's huge. The berries are waaaay up high, out of reach, but I saw a mourning dove enjoying them. And they fall from those high, high branches down to the street.

grand mulberry tree



mulberries



These berries, though, come from a different tree, across the way. You can see below that the berries on this tree are more in reach ;-) (I don't recall this tree from when I was a kid--I think we just preferred being on the other side of the street for our collecting.)

the tree across the way

Comments

[asakiyume]

It would be wonderful to hear bees' drinking songs. I'd like to get those lyrics and melodies.

[squirrelitude]

Interesting, I had heard of it as a southern thing, but mulberries do just fine up here as well. :-)

and oh my gosh, that story

[smokingboot]

Here's to that!

[wayfaringwordhack]

Except she never will. She considers it weird and uncouth. ;)

[asakiyume]

Quel dommage--tan pis pour elle

[wayfaringwordhack]

Exactement ! :P

[wayfaringwordhack]

The kids and I were just out gorging ourselves on gooseberries, with a few black currants and tayberries thrown in for good measure. We have red and white currants, too. I planted a mulberry tree here that gave its first fruit this year (well, two at the same time, but the one in the field is behind because it is a poor abandoned baby. :P). I also dug up a mulberry sapling in our yard in Lebanon and brought it here. Had to give it a good whack to make it fit in my suitcase, but it is taking off!

[noachoc]

When I bought the house, one of the things I wanted was a mulberry tree. I finally bought one. It's only three feet tall (and I got exactly one mulberry off of it last summer) but someday I hope it's huge.

[asakiyume]

Someday it will be--just you wait! We planted an apple tree I'd grown from a seed and an oak tree we'd grown from an acorn when we moved into this house in 1999. Now they're both HUGE. ... Admittedly, that's over 20 years (but not much over), but the time does keep going by!

[asakiyume]

I'm so amazed you were just able to bring live agricultural material over like that! The French aren't worried about invasive species or pests or things? Maybe because France already has mulberries?

I brought a tiny packet of fresh chile peppers back from Colombia and had to promise to eat them to let them pass. (But now I've saved and planted the seeds muahhahaahahaha so when American agriculture goes under due to an Amazonian pest, you can thank me)

[wayfaringwordhack]

The expression in French that applies here is: Ni vu, ni connu (not seen, not known).

They asked no questions, so I told no lies. ;)

Bwhahaha. You are a spicy rebel!

[athenais]

I've never eaten a mulberry. They're not at all common here. I don't think the coastal region is good for them, although I'm sure someone, somewhere has grown them in their garden in the warmer parts.

[asakiyume]

That's interesting: I would have thought they'd grow okay in your area--I mean, in the Northeast the winters are colder! But plants are picky: they may want something else they can't get in the SF area (... which is where you are?) Or it could be your area has too much of something they don't like. Who knows!

[athenais]

I'm a ten minute drive from the coast and ten miles south of San Francisco. It's very cool and foggy here in the summers. I suspect they need more seasonal temperature fluctuation than we get.

[orange_scissors]

They are easy to root - just cut off a small, thin branch and stick in soil. I have some that I rooted about 4 months ago and they are about 1 meter tall. They'll produce berries in a few months. In Laos, would be in Feb. but not sure about growing in the US.

[asakiyume]

Wow, okay, I will try! My husband will be happy for this news too.

[orange_scissors]

I can't figure out how to include a photo in a reply - so I'll add a photo of the mulberry sapling on to LJ.

[asakiyume]

I'll click through to it and take a look!

[orange_scissors]

I just posted a photo of one of my saplings... and ended up writing about the work I had done with some weavers on starting to help them with re-starting their silk thread production.

[asakiyume]

I apologize for being so needy, but can you put the link to the post here? I no longer have an LJ account, and I I'm ashamed to confess that I can't remember your LJ handle.

I am as excited to read about your work on restarting silk thread production as I am to see the sapling!