Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush

I saw a mulberry bush for the first time last week when I accompanied my son on his field trip to the dairy goat farm.  Ironically enough, that oh-so-familiar nursery rhyme began playing in my head as I walked closer and closer to the plant.

It didn’t look like a *bush* to me, more like a little tree, with sparse leaves and tiny dots of mulberry fruits attached to the branches.

The caretaker of the farm told us we could pluck the mulberries and eat them straight off the tree, but he was careful to assist us in selecting a ripened fruit.  I did not ask why, but upon googling, I found out that unripened mulberries produce a sap which is intoxicating and mildly hallucinogenic!

Anyway, the mulberry I tried (the one I was holding in the first picture) was simply delicious!  It’s like a cross between a strawberry and a blackberry.  If I could plant a mulberry tree in my garden, I could make mulberry jam! 😀