Mulberry or Morus spp. is a tree usually grown to produce leaves fed to silk worms. Its fruits contain vitamins and minerals and a lot of antioxidants (which according to studies can prevent or slow cell damage, btw).
If you are following me on my Instagram you’ll know that I recently posted a picture of mulberry fruits and how I mixed it with my oatmeal the next day. We have been benefiting from the tree since the day it started bearing fruits. The twist is that it is a gift of nature to us and here’s the story…
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a kind mulberry tree. A bird from a random place got tired. He saw the mulberry tree and perch on a branch to rest his aching wing. The mulberry tree greeted the bird, “Hello, bird! Have some fruits, the black ones taste sweet and the reds are a bit sour”. The bird ate the fruits and thanked the tree. After a while, he bid goodbye to the tree to continue his journey. The bird spotted a place to rest again (in our small backyard) and pooped then flew again.
One day, we saw a new plant in our backyard. We did not remove the plant and years went by and the tree grew and started bearing fruit. And from that time we learned that we have a mulberry tree!
Of course I made the story of the bird and the mulberry tree because I really don’t know where the bird came from and where he ate mulberry. I don’t even know the bird’s gender. LOL. All I know is that we never bought a tree nor plant any mulberry in our backyard. Our theory is that a bird that ate mulberry fruits defecated in our backyard.
Birds may disperse seeds. There are number of ways these birds can do this – seeds attached on their wing, seeds the birds brought through their beak or claw and seeds from bird’s droppings. And whenever I see birds on a tree eating fruits I always wonder where the seeds will land and then the song Big Yellow Taxi will play on my mind. Specifically these lines:
Hey farmer farmer
Put away the DDT
I don’t care about spots on my apples
Leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Will always be thankful to the bird that gave us a mulberry tree. I can enjoy mulberry fruits for free! If you have one, try putting some to your oats.
Agriwanderist PH 