Ruth Nakamura · February 21, 2026
Balancing a homestead where nothing goes to waste means my mulberry trees have shifted from decorative specimens into my workhorses — but only if I’m equipped to harvest them, process them, and get them preserved before that narrow window slams shut. What catches most growers off guard is that we’ve got company in our orchards. … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · February 19, 2026
A late frost hit my region that April—the kind that comes roaring in after two warm weeks have already pushed new growth halfway out—and I watched my mulberry’s early leaves turn papery and gray. But something unexpected happened in the aftermath. As the damaged foliage fell and fresh leaves emerged, the tree seemed to throw … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · February 17, 2026
Most nursery care tags tell you how tall a mulberry grows and when to water it — but they skip over something crucial that I’ve watched unfold across my fifteen years of growing mulberries here in the Pacific Northwest. They don’t explain how the soil and siting choices you make at planting time ripple outward, … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · February 15, 2026
Every summer, I’m working toward stocking my pantry with a year’s worth of mulberry preparations—jams, syrups, dehydrated fruit, fermented wine, and vinegar—all sourced from a single tree if I can manage it. The math seems daunting until you factor in how prolifically a mature mulberry bears and the versatility of each harvest batch across different … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · February 10, 2026
Your mulberry tree will become a focal point for every creature within miles. When I set out to grow fruit for fermentation — wines, vinegars, the kind of lacto-fermented preserves that develop complexity no jam ever could — I planted my two mulberries with a single-minded goal: harvest. What actually happened was I became the … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · February 6, 2026
Why I Know This Subject You know, my sister called me up one sunny mid-June, exasperated and asking how I managed to keep birds from decimating my mulberry harvest while she was losing entire branches to them. She’d done everything right—planted a promising tree, pruned diligently—and still watched as robins stripped it bare before the … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · November 29, 2025
Why I Know This Subject I walk past my Pakistan mulberry most mornings on the way to check on the younger stock, and that one tree — now in its ninth year — taught me more about deer behavior than anything I could have read. I planted it without thinking about deer at all. Just … Read more
