Sunday, June 15, 2008

Mulberries and a Giveaway!

The mulberries are ripe!! Oh boy, oh boy!! Although I had been anticipating their arrival, it still seems like they snuck up on me! One day, everything is green and the next day, they're deep, dark purple! I have 3 mulberry trees, and the one closest to the house ripened first. The first few pickings went pretty much straight into our bellies and on top of ice cream.


I set up an old mosquito net underneath the biggest mulberry tree in the garden area and this is what I found when I walked up there yesterday. With all the rains we have gotten this past Spring, the berries are the biggest and juiciest I have ever seen them! Nice and fat and many are over an inch in size! The branches are so low to the ground with all the weight of the berries. I filled up a bucket off this tree yesterday and then today I made and preserved 7 pints of mulberry jelly.

Youngest likes to tag along wherever I go in the garden and she was my little helper, happily helping to eat up all the berries. After she had her fill, she was squishing them between her fingers until I caught her and shooed her away.

This was from yesterday, and today I picked a little bit more than that. I'll be making another batch of mulberry jelly in the morning when it is still cool and I don't heat up the house with all the steam from the cooking pots.

I still have jelly left from last year so I'm going to do something I've not done before-- I'll give away a jar of my homemade mulberry jelly to a lucky reader that leaves a comment here. I would love to hear from you and that includes you lurkers! I'll draw a name at the end of the week and send the winner their very own jar! It's absolutely delicious and wonderful on toast and homemade bread. Good Luck!

16 comments:

mishkazena said...

I just want to tell you how much I enjoy reading your posts. Your blog is one of my favorites.

Crunchy Green Mom - Suzanne said...

Oh.. how much I would love love this! Fresh Jelly, a cup of tea and an english muffin. Perfect Saturday morning breakfast with my 1.5 year old!

Oh, an I love the picture of the stained face from all the berries.

cpullum said...

Would love to try mulberries!!Love your blog!
cpullum@yahoo.com

Keri said...

I've never had mulberry jam before! Hope it's not too late to add my name to the drawing! (We just got back from vacation.) =D

Lisa C. said...

I have never tried mulberry jam. Put my name th the drawing and hope I win.

Unknown said...

Me .Me Me Me!! Put my name there!

I love mulberries, My farm has them and Family peeves was mulberries spayed on my parents truck and car. heh.

I ate them but never had them in jam.

:-)

Patty Keen said...

How about a barter, Jenny?

I'll barter several of my prims for a jar of your luscious mulberry jelly?

Barter- music to our eyes! Heh heh!

Tactile smile,
Patty

l.m. glam said...

Mmmm...I hope I win!!

lindseejo@gmail.com

ikkinlala said...

I've never tried mulberries. What are they like?

barefoot gardener said...

Ooooh, I am in! Mr. Barefoot is jealously guarding the last of the blackberry jam (he loves it), so maybe I could hide this one. ;)

Jennifer said...

homemade mulberry jam? sounds amazing!

jenny

mishkazena said...

Hmm, a Mulberry jelly giveaway?

Do enter my name as I've never taste Mulberry jelly. I don't think I've ever tasted Mulberries.

Lisa C. said...

You must be good in getting more comments!

I hope I'll win!!

Lantana said...

By all means, throw my name in! I used to pick Mulberries off of the tree and eat them on the way to school. That was in California. I guess Mulberries like warm weather?! The big thing around here are Huckleberries, because they are so hard to pick and you have to go up in the mountains and compete with the bears! But the jam is tart and delicious.

I think alot of people could take lessons from you on how to "Be Happy And Live Simply!"

Do you have a bread machine? With all of your jellies and jams it would be lovely for you to have one.

Hugs, Lantana

Anonymous said...

Hey there Mountain Mama! You came up while I was searching for an answer.

How DO you get Mulberry jelly to set? I'm having an awful time of it. It seems once it's been processed in a hot water bath, it turns to syrup. Anything unprocessed sets up in just a few hours. I've already re-done an entire batch. What's your secret?

Anonymous said...

Yummy!!! I love mulberries,
I have a mulberry tree myself, been growing for about 11-12 years, How old's your mulberry tree? :3