Mulberries and Mayhem: A Wasp Attack

Earlier today, my peaceful mulberry foraging in the backyard took an unexpected turn. I was happily gathering ripe fruits when I felt a sharp pain, then another, and another, on my hand. A faint buzzing sound, which I initially mistook for bees, filled my ears. Panic set in, and I bolted towards the safety of my house. It must have been quite a sight: wide-eyed, clutching my hand, which, coincidentally, was stained red-purple from the mulberries, and running like my life depended on it. It must have looked like I was in some horrific accident from anoth…

Mulberries in the Summer: A Journey Through Memory Lane

A mulberry fruit. Photos by Flickr/Jep . It's the height of summer, and the mulberry tree at the back of our house is filling up with succulent morsels of deep purple goodness. Every morning, I try to harvest all of the ripe ones within arm's reach and leave the ones I can't reach to the birds and to the annoying neighbor's chicken (or should that be the neighbor's annoying chicken - think I am just going to feign ignorance) when they drop to the ground. My fingers are stained purple as mulberries tend to bruise easily when ripe, and…

The problem with red Mulberries

Mulberry Originally uploaded by Jepster Right before the mulberries ripen into a deep purple, they turn a very bright shade of red. I saw my colleague the other day poking around beneath a mulberry tree. He looked a little pissed so I decided to ask him what was wrong. "What's wrong??! What's wrong you ask?? Look at this and tell me what you see," he said, pointing to the tree before us. All I saw were red and not quite so ripe mulberries on the tree. "Exactly! Those damn grasscutters and gardeners are eating all the rip…