Liquorice really enjoys the out of season mulberries our tree has been giving us before Winter sets in. It started as a few tasty berries however the last few days it has yielded modest feasts for my little darling while on our morning and afternoon walks. Even my father has been obviously feeding his face with them! <vbg> If I raise a mulberry to my mouth Liquorice will look up at me with those imploring, dark brown eyes, her head tilted to one side, and my hand automatically detours as my little darling “scores” another one. Liquorice will, I hope, enjoy the full crop next Spring as much as Nanny, my previous Newfoundland, used to. I have never seen a dog, or anyone else for that matter, derive so much pleasure from making a “guts” of herself! My father and I would pick mulberries every day or second day for jam or stewing/freezing for breakfast flavorings and to have with ice cream throughout the year ahead. As we picked the mulberries Nanny would go under the tree, with mouth to the ground and moving in slow arcs from side to side, vacuuming up the over-ripe mulberries that had fallen from the tree. There would be mulberries to the left and mulberries to the right but not a one in the two feet wide strip where Nanny been.
Peggy, our Dalmatian, had a different approach. She would eat a few then decide that the ones “over there” were better and she would bounce “over there”. Continually bouncing around under the tree attracted by those mulberries that were falling as my father and I plucked others from the drooping branches, Peggy would inevitably be landing on over-ripe mulberries staining her feet purple! Peggy kept out of Nanny’s path lest her mulberry colored toes disappeared down Nanny’s mouth. When Nanny was full she would sit begging for more as we continued picking. By then though Nanny was fussy, only accepting the best “Premium Quality Mulberries”. You know those large, firm, juicy ones that you can pick without staining your fingers. Whether 12 Inches or 12 feet away Nanny would accurately judge their quality as we tossed them to her. Over-ripe ones would land wherever you tossed them. She would not even attempt to catch those. Under-ripe ones she would “bat” on to Peggy using her closed muzzle. Perfect mulberries would always be caught perfectly by my perfect Newf.
We would carry the buckets of mulberries to the house when we had finished accompanied by a seemingly plumper Nanny and Peggy with a distinct “pot-belly”. Mulberries falling from the tree would land and become tangled in Nanny’s long black coat making them nearly invisible, which was bad enough come her evening grooming session. But those that became squashed when she lay down then partly drying into a sticky purple mess were surprises I could have done without. Peggy was a very nicely marked Dalmatian and after picking mulberries with us she looked even more fetching with her black spots now matched by added purple blotches and purple feet!
We would have coffee inside leaving the girls outside as we had been caught before. You see after about ten minutes Nanny would heave and produce, in one go, the largest, most perfectly formed “mulberry” imaginable. All she had eaten congealed into a single mass. She would stand and look at it, full of pride and wonderment, then lay down to contemplate its beauty, color and form, quite savoring the moment. Then devouring it thus delighting in the flavorsome experience of consuming all those mulberries once more.
Nanny loved her mulberries. Similar course of events took place as in turn the White Mulberries, Apricots and Plums came into season however Nanny did not regurgitate them!
They must have lacked the necessary flavor that made a second eating so rewarding. After the apricots and plums Nanny’s “landmines” were full lethal shrapnel in the form of stone-fruit seed. Why “lethal”? Well pickup a hidden one with the ride-on mower and beware spectators! We did not allow Peggy to eat whole apricots and plums. She had to sit while we split and de-seeded them on her behalf, as the seeds did not pass through her easily. And I was told Nanny was spoilt!
So I am looking forward to Liquorice’s first mulberry season but hopefully Liquorice will display a greater degree of self-restraint than Nanny ever did.
24 hours later………………
Liquorice may not forgive me for having sent that post on “Mulberries” yesterday as the nocturnal “flying foxes” here in Australia are computer literate and connected to the internet. How else could they have known that we had mulberries. Liquorice and I went to the tree this morning and not a ripe or near ripe mulberry was left. Plenty of unripe red ones but not a one for Liquorice as she sat next to the tree looking up at me full of expectation.
Poor Liquorice had to settle for raspberries instead.
Our grapefruit will be ready shortly but I think that the first one will satisfy her lifetime requirements.
Arthur Witten
Liquorice – I love grapes and I love fruit so I cannot wait to try Grapefruit!