......mulberries

Yogis,
Walking down our main street I spot a man standing on a step ladder under a tree. His son stands patiently beneath holding a bucket. As he pulled the branches down he would carefully pick something off and hand it down. Mulberries.

Now I have walked under that tree, oh I don’t know, a thousand times, and never realized it was a mulberry tree. I did know that at times of the year the ground beneath it was stained with small blotches of purple, but for some reason I had never made the connection. I guess I didn’t grow up with mulberries in my life.

The next day on my way back from a run I stopped beneath it and picked a couple up off the ground and brought them home. A quick rinse and I popped one into my mouth. Not bad. Sweet A unique taste. It reminded me that at one point about 10 years ago when I was changing my diet, I was ordering dried mulberries for my yogurt. No thought about where they had come from though.

At this point, Phoebe also had never paid any attention to mulberries. I offered her one on my next loop around the block and she seemed pleased. Now we both knew what a mulberry was.

A few days later I went downtown to babysit my youngest grandson. Heading out into the backyard I recognized the large limbs of a neighbor’s mulberry tree hanging over the grass. Never before had I noticed. I reached up and nibbled on a few. I asked my son if they were eating them and he too wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. It is……

Friday arrives and we head downtown, Phoebe in tow, to watch the three grandkids for the weekend. We open the door to play in the backyard and Phoebe leads the way, making a beeline for the mulberry covered grass and proceeds to graze. And graze……and graze.  Clearly, she had developed a taste. Every time we go out that is her only interest. By Saturday night she had probably eaten a thousand.

Now as a mom, I have much experience with ‘what goes in, must come out’ and I am a bit concerned. I keep asking if she has done anything yet. Are mulberries ok for dogs? She certainly doesn’t seem any worse for the wear, but time, and her back end will tell.

‘Nana! There is a poop in the grass!’ I hear. Rushing out with bag on hand I discover a dark purple, yet firm, lump filled with thousands of seeds. This is exactly the process nature uses for plants to reproduce in action. What’s better than seeds laid in the dirt already surrounded by warm compost!

We also learn that weekend that putting lawn chairs under a mulberry tree to get shade is not a good idea. As squirrels and birds shake the branches, our hair, shirts and the chairs themselves are prime targets. Fingertips purple. Mulberry is definitely a messy tree.

Monday morning run I realize that I pass under four different mulberry trees. White berries just forming, red ones ripening, but it is the purple (almost black) ones that are ready for snacking. I pass a small pile left behind by some animal. I instantly recognized the color and, of course, the seeds! What goes in must come out……

I write this to say that this world surrounding us is packed with so many miraculous things and we only notice a fraction. Those trees have always been there. It was me that finally arrived.

As I tell my mulberry story many seem to have their own. Do you?
SARAH