Mulberry trees in the U.S. are often treated as an annoyance that stains the driveway and our kitchen floors.

Mulberry maniacs know that mulberries are one of the top 5 most important Permaculture perennials in the southeast U.S. Mulberries provide a staple food in the Himalayas, where dried white mulberries are ground into nourishing baking flour rich in omega fatty acids, and in all of Europe where the sweet, richly flavorful and extremely productive berries are pressed for wine and serve as a major food source for people.

Meanwhile, the leaves provide protein-rich fodder for animals and silk worms, and a blood sugar-regulating tea for people, the extra fruit feeds poultry, fish, and farm animals, the bark fiber makes cloth and rope, the strong, flexible wood makes bows and other tensile tools, and the tree serves multiple functions in a variety of integrated agroforestry systems.

In this half-day, hands-on intensive at Earthaven Ecovillage, we’ll be exploring all things mulberry: cuisine and medicine; botany, pruning, and grafting; placement and integration into other farming, permaculture, and agroforestry systems as living fences and other applications; culture and history.

You’ll get to taste several mulberry foods, see and discuss mulberry trees pruned for different objectives, have the opportunity to try grafting mulberries, and the option to buy affordable grafting gear and live mulberry trees to take home.

Instructors: Zev Friedman and Justin Holt
Date: May 30th
Location: Earthaven Ecovillage
Cost: $45-75 sliding scale. Add an optional grafting kit (grafting knife, tape, and 1 qt wax) for $60

To register, fill out this form here and send payment via paypal here. You can pay anywhere from $45 to $75 for the workshop fee. If you would like to also receive a grafting kit, please add $60 to the total.

You will receive a registration confirmation via email after payment has been received.