The Mulberry Tree

It's hot and sticky outside today, but I do love this time of year! It's summer, of course. When you live in Minnesota, and after the terrible winter we just had, hot and sticky days are really welcome--at least to me. There are other reasons that I like this time of summer. One of the main reasons is my mulberry tree, at least, I think it's a mulberry tree. It planted itself just outside of the fence about 8 years ago. That was the first time we noticed eat. Spike was a younger dog then, but he sure loved those berries. He would wait in anticipation for them to fall, the he would eat them off the ground. He would chase away the birds and the squirrels that landed there trying to eat their fill of the berries. When I would go outside to see if I could collect some berries for us to eat, he would sit and wait in anticipation of a wonderful, sweet treat from that tree. I noticed that the berries were beginning to change color the other day, so I went, as is traditional, to go to gather berries for us to eat. Spike waited for his treat.


He whined as I gathered some berries and ate them. He wanted his share, too. So I picked more of those delicious fruits of summer and tossed a few to him. They are beautiful!

Look at the colors of those berries! They range, right now, from dark purple to a rosy red. They are sweet to eat. Spike wasn't happy until he got his share. I love those berries, too, but more fell to the ground than I was able to harvest for jelly. I looked up in the tree, and I could see a lot of berries left this year. Usually, the birds and squirrels clean them out much faster than we can harvest them. Well, when it cools down a little bit tonight, I plan to go out and see if I can retrieve more berries. I hope so. There's a strong wind blowing right now. I can still see the berries in the tree.

I just hope that there's some left for us later on tonight!