Ten uses for an unexpected Mulberry Tree
When we bought our new home back in October, one of the many surprises that came with it was a mulberry tree at the rear of the yard, beside the vegie patch.
WonderHubby {who takes Fridays off during school holidays, yet another way he’s worth his weight in gold} and the Bump were pottering in the yard this morning.
In between devouring tongue of fire beans and sweet lemons, they discovered that we now have some ripe berries on the tree, and proceeded to taste the merchandise there, too.
Since I always try to get the most use out of things, I decided to google uses for mulberry leaves and fruit, and was surprised at some of what I found.
- You can eat them ~ okay, no surprise there.
- The leaves can be used for raising silkworms ~ again, not a surprise, but now I know where to find them (at pet shops, apparently).
- You can make a tea of the leaves ~ not sure what it’d taste like, maybe WH will be adventurous and try it for me (I’m a wimp when it comes to trying new foods).
- The twigs are good for basket making, wood is sometimes used for furnishings.
- Mulberry tree bark can be boiled used to make handmade Japanese “shoji” paper, some European papers, and Polynesian “tapa cloth”
- Also in Japan, the traditional “chashaku” green tea scoop used in semi-formal tea ceremonies is made of mulberry wood.
- The leaves can be used as a vegetable ~ not sure about that, but the guinea pigs sure like them…
- We could build a chicken coop around it and eat them, as the fallen fruit provides very good fodder.
- Once your neighbourhood birds eat them, their poop can be used as a permanent purplish dye. - or is that “stain”?
- Mulberries have a laxative effect (which may explain the bird poop thing).
So next time you see me, I’ll be dressed in a purplish-dyed tapa cloth dress, toting a mulberry-wood tray with a mulberry twig basket of mulberries, cups of mulberry tea, mulberry leaf salad, and my hand-made mulberry paper notebook, on which I may even jot a few notes in boiled mulberry juice, if I can figure out how to squeeze it out of the birdshit.
And afterwards, you can help me out with feeding the chickens & guinea pigs.
I’m taking part in Sited & Blogged ~ Weekend Garden meme today, so please call by and check out the other participants’ posts.