Finding and Harvesting the Rare White Mulberry!

That title sounds soooo "Indiana Jones."  But in reality,  we just happened to stumble upon them while our trying to harvest regular Mulberries.   Apparently, there are a number of different species of them here in North America.  Basic categories:  Red, Black, And White.  The red Mulberries are native to North America. 

The Rare White Mulberry!

The white ones were brought here for Silk Production, as the Silk worms tend to prefer them over the other types.  Who knew Silk worms were such picky eaters? I'm sure they could learn to eat the "Bad Tasting" leaves if they found themselves in a survival situation. Or had a Mother like the one I grew up with!  ( "Eat your Vegetables! I don't CARE how bad they taste!") Then again, if you are in the silk business, you would probably want to keep the Silk Worms happy... I guess.

Black?  Or Red Mulberries?

Our harvest time was short today, because I recently purchased a tarp and spread it out under the tree branches.   A few shakes later... Cheryl is scooping them up and putting them in the bucket.  Easy!  

Even MORE berries!

It probably would have been even MORE productive, had our favorite tree been available.  However,  as we pulled out to harvest them,  we found two other people there picking the berries!  ( What are the Odds?)  It did not look like they were as "Hardcore" as we were planning to be, ( No buckets, blankets, or poles...) But we did not feel comfortable muscling in on their trail-side Snacking. Plus, there are lots of Mulberry trees along the trail... Just not as productive as those three.

See why we wanted to keep them apart?

But, it allowed us to stumble upon the White Mulberry. ( very sweet for being a Mulberry Species.) At first I thought there was an entire tree of unripened berries.  Why was this plant so far behind the others?  But when I touched one, it felt ripe!  I ate it and it was Mulberry Sweet!

  So... We picked those and added them to the haul.   Cheryl wanted to keep them separated so we did not accidentally include an "unripened" black Mulberry, thinking it was a white Mulberry.  That last sentence is rather confusing... Lots of Mulberry colors being thrown around.   Basically,  we wanted to keep them apart. 

When Harvesting with a Tarp

Cheryl is currently making Turnovers with them.  And will probably make an Oat Bake with the fresh berries.   We still have some from last year!  Frozen in the Freezer.   We really should move them out before adding to the stash. There is simply not enough room in our tiny freezer for so many berries.  ( Especially now that I have the tarp method!   We could gather them up SERIOUSLY now. 

For the rest of the day, I have been chalking near the Ball Diamonds in-between the Little League games each night.  I wanted to spread out the art a bit, as most of my murals have been all in one place. ( because the sidewalk concrete is so wonderful!)  The concrete surrounding the ball diamonds is Terrible!   Rough, jagged, cracked, and uneven.  But,  the standards are fairly low for sports stuff.  And with some Tempura Paint in my arsenal, I managed to get s couple things to work out.   Nothing too fancy!  Or detailed!  ( Not going to do another elephant here.)  But hopefully,  the kids ( and possibly a few parents) will be impressed. 

Theresa, the Park Manager, gave me even MORE tempura paint to continue doing what I'm doing.  Nice to know the Authorities are backing you when you are "defacing" the sidewalk... With Temporary paint. 

Cheryl's Store.  They take MY picture!

And lastly,   Everyone We have been running into have commented that they saw me in the Local paper... AGAIN!   Not for Chalk this time.   Instead, it was at the Farmer's Market in Kalona.   I really am not trying to be a Media Hound.   Personally, I don't like my picture in the paper. Unwanted publicity is usually something that bites you in the butt. Especially when you are on the run from the Federal Government, The Mafia, The Chinese Triads, AND the Martian Invaders. ( It's a long story, But those Aliens are Long lived and have an even longer memory.)  With a little luck, no one will pick up a Kalona Newspaper any time soon...  Or at least until after the story fades.  

Temps in the 80's today!   With enough cloud cover to prevent me from charring while doodling.  I hope the cooler weather remains for the week.   And if it is cooler in your area, I hope you are able to get out and enjoy the great outdoors.  It's a Great Place to be!  Thanks for stopping in.