A Discovery Just Past the Fence

Just over our fence to the south is a piece of property that is undeveloped, unruly, and unkempt.  You know what?  We like it that way.  It is a wild little patch of woods.  The owners are absentee and never mow.  The only problem with this is the critters.  The woods are full of rats, possums, snakes and other varmints.  Those spill over to our land and we have to deal with them.

One very positive part of that wild little patch of woods is the overgrowth of bushes.  As it turns out goats love to eat this "browse."  I mean, they tear it up.  As it threatens to encroach our perimeter fence, I chop it down with a machete and throw it over to the goats to munch on.  Lately, we've taken a tie-down for a dog and clipped one of the goats to it and put them over the fence and allowed them to eat on the browse.

Agnes eating in the woods

We stood there and watched her eat non-stop.  She drifted into the woods and the undergrowth almost engulfed her.

I glanced just to the west of where she was eating and something caught my eye.  It was a plant with different leaves than we're accustomed to seeing in the woods.  I immediately recognized what it was by its leaves - A Mulberry Tree!  Where did it come from?

About four years ago, IN THIS POST I talked about a friend who gave me some mulberries to plant.  In that post, I talk about scattering out the mulberries in the woods behind the house.  Well, lo and behold, we have success!  I can remember as a kid I would eat mulberries right off the tree at my grandmother's house.  The berries were sweet and they would stain your hands purple!  We loved them.  The birds loved them.

The problem that this small mulberry tree will encounter is competition.  It is growing beneath the canopy of privet, Chinese Tallow, and China berry tree - all invasive imports from China.  Sound familiar?

The Canopy

I have to chop down some of that canopy to allow some sunshine to reach the tree.  This will allow it to grow.  It will reach upward and outward and its limbs will bear fruit that we'll enjoy.  For that to happen, I have to get my machete and start chopping.  The goats in the pasture will enjoy eating it.

In no time, I had cleared away a lot of the overgrowth and the mulberry tree was free from some of the competition.

The mulberry tree was actually getting some sunshine on its leaves.  I will keep it cleaned up around the tree and will also spread some chicken litter around the base to give it some 'food' to boost its growth.

I'm so excited that we have had success in our own "Johnny Appleseed" project.  We will report when we have our first mulberry harvest.