Ruth Nakamura · July 10, 2026
I pulled a carboy off my kitchen refrigerator after three weeks and uncapped it to find something that smelled more like a chemistry lab than fruit wine — harsh, burning, with that unmistakable rubbing-alcohol bite that made me cringe. Same five pounds of mulberries, same yeast packet, same exact recipe I’d used the week before … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · April 9, 2026
I was standing on my back deck one afternoon in late July, staring at the stain that had darkened to almost black in the summer heat, when I realized the smell — that acrid, sun-baked varnish smell — had soaked into the wood so thoroughly it was coming back up through the boards. That same … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · April 8, 2026
Most people who’ve just planted their first mulberry tree think fermented preserves are basically jam that sits in a jar and gets tangy. That assumption crumbles the moment you actually taste one—and realize the whole preservation method works on an entirely different principle, requires almost no equipment, and produces something that genuinely tastes better after … 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
Ruth Nakamura · April 4, 2026
Forty-one pounds. That’s what my Illinois Everbearing dropped on me across nine days last June, and it’s the number that finally pushed me from “maybe I’ll try a batch someday” into buying real equipment instead of improvising with a bucket and a balloon. Mulberries ferment fast and hard — the sugar content and the sheer … Read more
Ruth Nakamura · April 2, 2026
On my patio right now sits a wine bottle with a label dated three summers ago—the glass still shows the faint purple stain where I set it down after bottling, a ghost-mark of the work that went into it. That bottle is proof of what happens when you take the mountain of mulberries dropping from … Read more
