Ruth Nakamura · April 23, 2026
Stickiness is frequently your first clue. A glossy coating of honeydew settles across the foliage hanging below an infested section, dark sooty mold begins spreading over the stems, and tucked somewhere in that mess you’ll discover either hard, bumpy protrusions or fluffy white waxy clusters fastened to the branches. This constellation of signs points to … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · April 21, 2026
For the first three years on this property, I grew exactly one mulberry tree. It was a volunteer that had seeded itself along the fence line, and I thought that was enough. I was wrong. That single tree dropped fruit…
Ruth Nakamura · April 19, 2026
The first few years after I planted my mulberry trees, I treated the ground beneath them like dead space. I mowed around the trunks, kept the soil bare, and figured the trees would do their own thing. They did —…
Ruth Nakamura · April 17, 2026
The first time I had a truly massive mulberry harvest — somewhere around year three on this homestead — I panicked. I stood in my backyard staring at forty pounds of freshly picked fruit with absolutely no plan. I processed…
Ruth Nakamura · April 15, 2026
In the spring of my first year on this homestead, I planted a mulberry tree eight feet from my back fence. I was proud of that decision. I had done my research — or so I thought — and I…
Ruth Nakamura · April 13, 2026
In year three of growing mulberries, I stood under my first mature white mulberry and watched about forty pounds of fruit hit the ground over the course of a week. I had no system. I had no containers. I had…
Ruth Nakamura · April 11, 2026
Mulberry foliage is often overlooked in favour of harvesting fruit, yet Morus alba leaves have functioned as a brewed remedy across centuries of East Asian practice, predating any interest in consuming the berries themselves. Peer-reviewed literature reveals that dismissing mulberry leaf tea benefits as folk wisdom misses something important: there is legitimate clinical research validating … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · April 9, 2026
Mulberry stains have a way of announcing a good harvest. Left on a deck through a hot afternoon they darken to almost black, and the acrid, sun-baked smell soaks into the wood rather than sitting on top of it. That mess is really a symptom of something else: a mature mulberry produces far more fruit … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · April 8, 2026
Mulberry cultivars including Black Beauty, Chinook, Illini Star, and Ozark Premier each bring distinctive flavor profiles to the kitchen. Fermented mulberry preserves represent a time-honored preservation method that maximizes the potential of the fruit harvest and offers new ways to use mulberries year-round. When I first planted my mulberry trees, I never imagined I’d end … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · April 6, 2026
During my opening years managing mulberry trees on this property, I made just about every rookie mistake possible: I’d let whole branches worth of ripe fruit drop and rot untouched, the deck took on permanent dark stains I’m still trying to scrub away, and the ground beneath my Pakistan variety was basically a mulberry compost … Read more
