Mulberry Time!

So, it's that time of year again.  The 4th of July has come and gone, and now, the warm summer sun is ripening the berries.  They always come in the same order:  First to ripen are the strawberries; next to ripen are the mulberries; then come the raspberries; and last are the chokecherries.  I have to say that the mulberries this year are perhaps the best that I have seen in a few years.  The trees in the yard itself were trimmed right down to the bare 'nubs'.  That is because mulberries have a terrible habit of growing around three feet each summer!  They tend to go crazy.  However, there is a rogue mulberry tree across the street, near the mailbox, that is so loaded that the limbs were hanging low.  And I took care of that problem today. 

 
I took the red plastic tablecloth off the clothes line.  It was hanging there because it had been used for the 4th of July picnic yesterday. I figured that it would serve the purpose well....it became my berry collector!  I also grabbed a shepherd's hook from out of one of the flower beds, and then headed across the road.

It was hot, and humid.  Sweat was soon running off my face and eyelashes like crocodile tears.  The light breeze kept lifting the edges of my tablecloth, so I removed my sandals and placed them on the edges.  I needed to keep the tablecloth fairly straight and even, if I wanted to catch all my berries!  I used the shepherds' crook to reach the taller branches.  So between the heavy laden branches and my persistence, the tablecloth soon was filled with deep purple berries.  And my feet and hands were also deep purple!  I figure it's a good thing that purple is my favorite color. I can live with that for a few days!

I dragged the berries across the road and into the house, and divided them into both sides of the double sink.  I then ran cold water over them, which made most of the 'debris' float to the top of the water.  Nonetheless, cleaning the mulberries takes a long, long time.  They are very fragile compared to most berries, and must be handled gently.  Tiny sticks and leaves and unripe berries must be removed.  And once they are cleaned, they are carefully transferred, via strainer, to the waiting cookie sheets, where I generally pick through them a second time.

When all was said and done, I had 4 cookie sheets full of berries, which yielded 5-1 gallon freezer bags full!  They are safely tucked away in the freezer now, awaiting this coming winter, when I will bake mulberry pies and dream once again of warm summer days when the mulberries ripen and soft breezes sigh through the trees.