Friday, August 07, 2009

All Around The Mulberry Bush

Ever wondered about a mulberry? This is what it looks like:


It tastes kind of like a cross between bing cherries and a blackberry, only not as strong. But it is very sweet.

Oh, and it's not so much a bush as a tree. Who would have thunk it?

2 comments:

coolwhip said...

They grew in India. Have vivid memories of needing to climb atop my bike to get at them ... and falling off and scraping my knees when my buddy let go of the bike. Apparently I didn't set aside a fair share. Do you see them up in Oregon ?

Walter Jeffries said...

Huh!?! So that is a mulberry. I've heard the name but never seen or tasted one. Over on my Sugar Mountain Farm blog on the Whey Tank Cleaning post you asked about why not a tankless water heater.

That's a veddy good question... I looked into them and had hoped to get one when we built the cottage. They look really good on paper. But they draw such a large amp load we can't handle them, at least not with our previous electric service. The newly upgraded underground service I just put in (see post later this week) will have 200 Amp service so that would be able to handle them although I still don't like the large electric draw.

One could go with propane but I intensely do not trust propane. We had gas lamps and a gas stove for years and years. They always leaked. The gas company would come out and 'fix' things but it never was fixed. This meant gas was constantly leaking into the house. I don't like blowing up. :{

The other problem is that tankless water heaters are designed for warmer water than we have. The result is all the domestic units I looked at would only give us luke warm showers.

In the end the reason I went with a tank based water heater was we wanted to put it in right away and not wait. All the research, upgrading electric, complications, ect were just going to delay a good hot shower. The family vote was for hot water, however it comes.

I do have plans for solar and wood hot water, both of which we've done in the past. The existing tank can be part of that system.

For cleaning out whey tanks and other jobs on the farm needing high pressure and hot water my plan is to get a mobile diesel powered heating pressure washer. Great for cleaning out sap lines too at the end of mapling season.

Cheers,

-Walter