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All around the mulberry bush...

Posted at 7:50 AM on July 29, 2008 by Sareen Dunleavy Keenan (6 Comments)

A co-worker told me of fresh berries in need of picking. It all sounded so secretive and wonderful, I had to check it out. When she laughed at my outfit and my intention to go back to work after spending lunch picking, I got curious. Surely I could contain the mess of picking some berries off of a bush right? Wrong.

Contrary to my childhood nursery rime interpretation of the word bush, the mulberry "bush" was taller than the house it was next to. Instead of being able to keep these berries at arms length beside me, they were dangling precariously above me, ready to drop on me at any given instance. No wonder the neighbors wanted these babies picked. PLEASE contain the mess!

I did my best. I picked as many berries as I could reach. I had streaks of purple in my hair, my clothes were dotted and my toes looked badly bruised in the places that they stuck out of my sandals. On the plus side, i did have a gallon of mulberries. Now, what to do with them?

Comments (6)

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Hi Sareen,

My husband and I live near Ann Arbor, MI, and have been known to pick mulberries guerilla-style on the town's streets. We found it often worked best to bring along a big tarp, spread it under the tree, and shake the branches in order to collect the berries. Sure looks silly, but it works really well! Of course, we were using the berries for jam so any bruising was of little consequence. Hope you enjoy them!

-Abbi

Posted by Abbi Hoiles | July 30, 2008 8:43 AM

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That was exactly what we discussed! As these berries were dive bombing us from all angles, we discussed the need for a tarp. Thanks for letting us know that this will work for the future.

I laughed as my arm got tired and I let one of the branches go and berries went flying everywhere. I could imagine being a child and using this highly effective weapon to stain my siblings.

Probably for the best that these trees were not in my neighborhood. - Sareen

Posted by Sareen | July 30, 2008 9:25 AM

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Sareen and Abbi - Love the post and comment. I learned about mulberries in a recent foraging class and the instructor recommended using a tarp, too. We took it one step further, though. We found (while cleaning out the garage recently) a long pole with a hook at the end of it - about the length of a broom handle, but thicker - and we use that to grasp the higher limbs and shake them to get the berries into the tarp. Any bugs on the berries will scatter once they hit the tarp. We have 2 mulberry trees down the street from our house - I'm sure our neighbors think we are nuts. Enjoy your mulberries .... Donna

Posted by Donna McClurkan | July 30, 2008 10:53 AM

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I discovered these last year and am amazed more people don't know about them. It's kind of hard not to notice the stained pavement under them. There are a ton of them at the end of our block on the edge of the Como golf course. Do you know what the rules are for picking them? I've only enjoyed them fresh off the bottom branches when I go for walks, but I would love to collect large quantities for freezing or jam. My next door neighbor suggested we go out with a ladder in the middle of the night...

Posted by S Kitt | July 31, 2008 12:22 PM

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I am a little tainted by our neighbor's mulberry tree that drops mulberries all over our firepit area. The droppings draw hundreds of flies. We have all tried eating them-it must take a load of sugar to make them taste good as jam. Good luck.

Posted by Gina Keenan | July 31, 2008 10:57 PM

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What to do w/ mulberries? I make a pie using any berry pie recipe. But it does require alot of sugar as someone else here mentioned.

Posted by Julie | August 4, 2008 12:37 PM