One of the things that made Happy Acres so attractive to us before we bought it was the large, mature trees in the back yard. Someone here long before us nurtured the trees, and allowed them to grow up into the giant specimens they are now. The biggest of the lot are two elms and a mulberry.
elm and mulberry trees
The mulberry and one of the elms are growing close together, their tops and branches intertwined and mingling. But at this time of year it’s easy to tell the two apart. The mulberry is the ones with all the birds in it!
mulberries
The mulberries are just now getting ripe. They’re not quite ripe enough for my tastes, but the birds see it otherwise. I think half the robins in the county must have flown in for the occasion.
the object of their affection
It’s hard to get them to sit still long enough for a photo. And plain dangerous to stand very long under the tree, what with mulberries and bird poop dropping down from above.
mulberries litter the ground
The ground beneath the tree is already littered with the Ones That Got Away. Birds will get many of these later. But they won’t get all of them of course, and so the place is covered in many mulberry seedlings which we must dig up before they all grow up and we have to rename the place Mulberry Acres.
robins are giddy with excitement
Having a mulberry is great news for the others fruits we have ripening right now, most notably the strawberries and cherries. Most of the birds would much rather eat the mulberries, and that takes the pressure off the fruits WE prefer.
So for the next few weeks, walking around in the backyard will be tricky. Perhaps I should dust off my trusty Alcan blue hardhat, left over from my working days. Better safe than sorry I always say!
We don’t have one of those trees, but someone close by does and we find a lot of these in our yard. Along with the very colorful bird poop these berry eating birds leave behind! Yes, I’d wear the work hat! LOL.
Do you do anything special with the mulberries? When I was a kid growing up in the inter-city, the only fruit trees that grew in our neighborhood were mulberries. I still remember the taste and the purple stains left on the concrete sidewalk!
I really don’t know what to do with them, other than eat one occasionally. The birds seem to like them better than I do!