Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

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Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

Postby George Collins » Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:19 am

I didn't have to work yesterday so after helping my uncle a bit with his walnut grove, I gathered the six kids that live at home and we went to check on the state of the mulberry crop. The first tree we went to gave us our first ripe berriother the year. As it is a small tree, no one got more than one or two. What it gave in abundance though was excitement for mulberries are our favorite berries. We hurried on to the next tree and it too had a few so by now we are really charged up. We went to Youngblood's cow pasture where he has a couple trees,one small, one large and both of which are lonely, isolated trees in what is otherwise a vast, pastured expanse i.e. full sun baby!

We checked the small one first - LOADED! But to tall to reach from the ground and not big enough for more than a couple kids to climb. I boosted a couple up and left them in purple-lipped delight as the rest of us sought greener pastures. (he he he - I made a funny.)

As we approached the big tree, we could see em hanging LONG before we got there. Looked like bunches o'grapes they were so thick. I've been eating mulberries now for a few years. And what the pear was to fruit, the mulberry was to berries - discovered late in life and once so, they became the instant favorite. I know where every tree is within walking distance and where a whole bunch of others are within driving distance from my home. All the kids love em as much. They regularly report on new mulberry tree finds. The list is always being added to (and, sadly, occasionally subtracted from). But of all the mulberry trees I know about, all but two are either in full shade or on woodland edges. Only two fruiting specimens I know of receive full sun. And that whole thing that Plants For A Future says about a tree being shade tolerant but not fruiting heavily unless in full sun is SO true. Cause as we approached this large tree, standing in full sun, I gained an image that will likely be etched in my mind for all time. I've never seen so many ripe mulberries on one tree. We grabbed a few off of the only low limb the tree has, gave them all to the six-year old, gave him my hat and up the tree we all went minus the six-year old. The two we left in the previous tree made quick work of its small stature and were soon perched beside the rest of us. To anyone that might would have happened upon us, I'm sure we looked like a troop of orangoutangs. And to be honest, I felt kinda orangoutangish.

There were plenty of times one of us would be hanging upside down with arms and legs wrapped around strategic strong points as we pressed all sorts of issues to get to those morsels of syrup used to enliven the taste of ambrosia. We gorged ourselves. The hat left with the six year old was to give him something to hold up so we could drop berries to him which we did often but not nearly often enough for his tastes. And they better not ask Daddy to help them get one they can't reach because one of two things would happen: I'd eat it myself or drop it to the little one with the hat.

"But Daaaaaaaa'aaaaaaaad!"

"Learn to climb better and you could have gotten it for yourself. I didn't go to the trouble of climbing this here tree to feed you."

We next hiked to the creek, (the banks of which was the scene of my recent snake wrangling) to check on the trees there. Most had good fruit, some of which was unreachable without potentially damaging the tree but a couple had really heavy crops that we were able to strip bare of ripe berries.

All total, we hiked for about three hours covering probably 5 miles in the process. Actually, four of em hiked 6 miles. My oldest daughter and I took a detour to go get a replacement swamp chestnut oak seedling and while we were thus engaged, the rest found a mud hole and got so muddy I wouldn't let back in the truck.

And the Collins kids are a wee bit harder. One step closer to the Spartan ideal.
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Re: Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

Postby matt walker » Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:00 pm

Sounds like a great day George. You know, I have no idea what a mulberry tastes like. I'm going to have to look into their range. Perhaps I can grow one here.
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Re: Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Thu Apr 19, 2012 10:48 pm

Mulberry is something that I have never tasted either George. Must be one of the joys of living down South, ;) Hope it makes up for the summer heat. :D
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Re: Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

Postby George Collins » Fri Apr 20, 2012 3:46 am

According to Willisorchards.com they are adapted zones 4 or 5 through 10.

As for the taste, imagine a really, really good dewberry (some folks calls em black berries but everyone round here knows they's really called dewberries) and then add in a little-teeny-tiny bit of citrus-like acidity and just a pinch of BAM! and a hint of DAMN! and there you have it.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"

"If you can't beat them, bite them."
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Re: Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

Postby matt walker » Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:21 pm

Huh, I should be able to grow 'em then. Time to do some research, thanks again!
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Re: Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:35 pm

I looked them up too Matt and found some varietys that are cold hardy, but many won't grow north of zone 7. I do not know if the taste is the same for the cold hardy varietys. There were several types that will grow in zone 5 and south, and 1 or 2 that grow much north of that. George is right about the zone 4 and south. I do not know why they have never gotten to be popular around here. Maybe the cold hardy varietys have not been around for ever and we have just never picked up on the fact that they are now able to be grown here. Sounds like a gooseberry thing to me, they are very popular in some places, but not around here. Maybe we need to branch out abit when it comes to our food choices.
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Re: Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

Postby matt walker » Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:49 pm

I'm all about branching out these days! That's really interesting, it seems they would be a slam dunk here in what they call zone 8. It's a really weird zone 8 though. Zone 8 is the same zone as Tallahassee, but I see temps above 70* only about 10 days a year or so, and then, not much above, ever. I'm going to check local sources and try to get some specific info for my area.
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Re: Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

Postby Lollykoko » Sat Apr 21, 2012 2:34 am

Mulberries grow like weeds around here! Of course they are good trees to have in an orchard, because birds prefer mulberries to any other fruit. I've eaten mulberries in the past, but always felt a little strange about it, like I was tasting my cat's food or something. I need to get over it, though because I have several mulberry trees near the campsite and one in the yard here at the house. I think they are available at low cost through the Arbor Day Foundation, but I left the booklet at the campsite.
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Re: Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

Postby dave brenneman » Sun Apr 22, 2012 8:18 pm

We had a mulberry hedge in Va; had a rabbit hutch up against them for a while.
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Re: Mulberry Pickin Collins Style

Postby GrahamB » Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:00 am

I've just planted five mulberry in the orchard, that I got in the fifty tree package from the Missouri Dept of Conservation. They were just twigs when I planted them but boy have they taken off. They have been in the ground for two weeks and they are already thowing out shoots and leaves.
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