Seasonal Almanac

The poor mulberry tree (Morus nigra) in the backyard is planted in the wrong place – right under the enormous white cedar. It doesn’t get enough sun and was rather neglected before we moved in. Last winter, Redmond gave it quite a heavy pruning and it grew back in Spring with much vigour. When we returned from Japan in December Lucas showed us the young fruits on its branches. This consequently led to high hopes.

A few weeks later I noticed the fruits were gone (possibly eaten by possums, birds or both) and over the summer after extensive searches, we only found two more. The leaves are starting to yellow and Redmond gave it a little prune. He stacked up the cut wood to dry. The consolation is that Mulberry wood can be used for barbecue or smoking to produced a sweet flavour in the food.