The Good, The Bad, The Mulberries

I have been a connoisseur of mulberries since I was a child at my grandparent's house. Every summer, the mulberries would start to ripen and I was told not to eat them because they would give me a belly ache and I ate them anyway. Being a life long eater of them as I am, I feel I am a pretty good judge of a good mulberry. I must have a dozen or more trees on the farm. Some of them aren't any good, I will admit. But--there are a couple of trees that have the best mulberries on them that I have ever eaten! Look at the tree on the right. It looks more like a blackberry than a standard mulberry. And it tastes as good as it looks, too! I eat them by the handfuls everyday.

                                                                                                                                                                     

      And you do not have to take just my word about how tasty mulberries are. Ask Vidalia. She follows me around the tree and as I pick berries, she gets a tasty leaf snack. We stand in the pasture and eat them together each day. It has become quite a bonding time for us, as if she wasn't one of my favorites before, she certainly is now! And she is passing on the love to the next generation, too. Below is Vienna catchin on to what its all about.                                                                                                                                                           

    Many people have a prejudice against mulberry trees. True, the wild birds eat them and poop on your car. But the birds need to eat, too! A mulberry tree is a very green tree and good for the environment and good for the alpaca farm. First, they grow rapidly to give shade to a hot sunny pasture. Faster than any other tree I have ever seen. That was the first reason I planted them. They are cheap to buy, actually free. In the fall, there are no leaves to rake up because the alpacas stand under them waiting for a leaf to fall so they can eat it.

         In fact, the birds do not get alot of the berries at my house either because the alpacas have decided they are a delicious treat and eat the berries as they fall on the ground. Above is a picture of Roadie and Vienna eating berries off the ground in the morning. You won't find a berry on the ground under the 5 trees that are growing in the girls pasture! The mulberry tree the girls are under in the above picture is 6 years old. Look how big it is! It has been giving shade for years. I hope I have changed some of your minds about mulberry trees not be trash trees. And remember, one man 's trash is another man's treasure.

                                                                                      And just to show you I really do eat the berries like crazy every day, check out my fingers! lol  I've added a picture from yesterday of Little John. Still doing well. 

Talk to you soon,  Tammy