Mulberries: Free for the Taking

A sheet, a stick, and two colanders. That's all it takes to harvest one of the sweetest berries around this time of year. Chicago's rife with mulberry trees, and if you have a neighbor as generous as Claude, you just gather your tools and a couple friends and walk on over.

Claude's garden,
reminiscent of Monet's

The tree is heavy with fruit,
for now and the next time we visit.

A couple sharp thwacks with the stick and the berries rain down into our linen.

Picking out twigs.

One of two colanders
we filled in no time.

Right now Bruce is putting a mulberry tart in the oven, same as last year. I'll opt for mulberries and cream myself, a perfect celebration of the summer solstice, unless he's sharing...