Mulberry really is the Giving Tree. This simple little tree has so many uses and does so many jobs that I am just thankful every time I pass it. Our little tree is growing at the bottom of the chook run, it has access to the nutrients that wash or leech out of the compost material we dump into the chooks to be turned into humus rich soil. It doesn’t get much water (only what we tip out of the duck and chicken water pots) and has had no pruning except from the sheep and once a stray herd of cattle.

The leaves feed my silk worms (although not this year, as the leaves are more valuable as shade), the fruit feeds the humans and birds in our family, and the wild birds and possums that visit (and probably bats too, although we haven’t seen them), the tree shades the chooks in the pen and the ducks outside the fence and the leaves feed the sheep. The leaves also have medicinal uses for humans; treating colds, regulating blood pressure, regulating digestion and adding iron to the diet (to name just a few benefits). What else could we ask of a garden plant.

They can be invasive, this particular tree was grown from a seedling dug out of the river bank, but everything has it’s down side and I feel the benefits far out weigh the risks here.