Spring ReFlections
Mulberries ripening on the underside of green leaves
Spring comes each year, and it never looks the same. The date might be the same on the calendar, but we never know if it will still have some frost, maybe pouring rains that flood out the fields or this year heat spikes that appear to be an early warning of summer coming soon. Observing the plants has been the most consistent way to tell spring is here for me and that is exactly what the ripening mulberries indicate. This one seems to be more in tune with the time to ripen than most of the fruit trees as the peaches and plums sometimes miss the mark with our erratic spring weather. This year the trees are not only saying its time to warm up, but also the amount of fruit they are producing is more than I have experienced observing on this farm any year prior.
Mulberries are a special fruit and sitting under the tree eating fresh berries is a flavor of spring I am looking forward to. To sell the fruit each berry is hand harvested as the stem must release from the tree with the least tension and not fall more than couple feet lest it get bruised and turn to mush in just a day or two. Discerning the color and any damage has occurred during growth to each fruit is part of the harvest process and once picked they cannot be jostled much, or they bruise and again turn to mush quickly. As they are so sensitive you will not find this fruit fresh at the grocery store, dried or juiced perhaps, and rarely will you find them at the farmers market when in season. Little containers of these berries go out in our CSA shares and if there is enough extra, they are available for purchase seasonally from our online farm stand. Sharing the vast world of flavors that are challenging to find in the grocery store is just one of the reasons I keep on farming. We see only a tiny fraction of the produce that can grow in our region when shopping at stores that ship it in, and there are so many flavors our there without getting into colors of produce that we attempt to share with our community. Our CSA members support the farm so that we can share this produce with them and if there is enough excess we also share with our neighbors at the farmers market and farm stand.