My battle with the squirrels...

We have a magnificent old Black Mulberry Tree in the upper most corner of our yard. It's a very pretty tree with great branch structure and large fan like leaves that offer cool shade in the summer. Outside of its' beauty, what makes it particularly endearing is its' prolific production of delicious black mulberries which brings me to the title of this entry. I am at war with the squirrels who seem to have a voracious appetite for these sweet tart fruits.

Every morning I hear the dogs bark at the same time which signifies that the squirrel mob had descended in to the mulberry's branches. In most cases I have a very tolerant view of the natural fauna, a live and let live mentality if you will but these squirrels are literally squandering the fruit. I see the half ripened and newly formed berries dropped to the ground by the dozens with just the tinniest nibble taken from each one!!! It is heinous blasphemy! What's more, is that they have far easier access to a kumquat, plum and apple tree mere yards away but they insist on nibbling the unripened berries of my prized Mulberry.

This morning as I heard the dogs bark, I ran out and aimed my hose at the little vermin, giving them a thorough soaking. Ya see, my dogs sit at the base of the tree eagerly waiting for one to have the slightest misstep which means there is no exit down the trunk. In order to escape the hose, they had to scramble to the furthest tips of the mulberry's branches and make a death defying leap to the next closest tree, the kumquat. I felt a little bad because it was kinda cold this morning but also a bit smug. I'd like to think that I've made it that much harder for them to overlook the lower hanging fruits from the plum and kumquat trees, mere feet away.

By the way, in case you've never had the pleasure of tasting a black mulberry, the fruits are dark red, almost black, and resemble a very large raspberry, or a loganberry, with a delicious, but rather sharp flavor that is totally unique. I you leave them to become very ripe on the branch,
the flavor begins to ferment and seemingly turns in to a berry filled with a delicious wine. They make the most amazing preserves, desserts and drinks.