Hi, I have a couple of questions regarding Mulberries: 1. I read that Morus rubra (the US native mulberry) only grows to 20' in the northeast - that it only grows to 50 or 70 in the south or mid west? I live in NJ and hope that the tree is a small one (as in around 20'). 2. Will the taste of Morus rubra's berries be significantly worse then the commercial M. alba x M. rubra hybrids, such as 'Illinois Everbearing'? 3. I really want(ed) to stick with the native variety (M. rubra), but don't want to significantly compromise on taste - could I graft a M. rubra limb onto my non-native M. alba x M. rubra hybrid (sapling) so that I have both varieties - I'll actually end up just keeping most of the tree M. rubra and only a single maintained limb of the original hybrid. 4. Will grafting the M. rubra onto the M. alba (x M. rubra) rootstock minimize the risk that M. rubra often experiences of root disease (spread by M. alba)? I figure that since the roots are not M. rubra's (at least I think they don't use M. rubra to do grafts) this would be an advantage. 5. Is M. rubra self-fertile - some sites say yes - and some say that it varies. I guess if it's female, the M. alba x M. rubra self-fertile limb would fertilize it. 6. Do you think that a 10' tall and wide Mulberry tree provides all the fruit one would want; if so, I might keep it pruned small. Thanks, Steve

I have used the enzyme for wine making. Many fruits and berries just have way too much natural pectin and if you add the enzyme, they will never set up on their own, no matter how much sugar is added. If you still want a controlable syru, add a little Clear Jel and mix it with a little water and make a slurry. Pour a little in while the juice is boiling. It should be the right thickness once you determine how much of teh modifed food starch to use. If you have recipes that mention corn starch as a thickener for syrups, use less Clear Jel. Clear Jel in home canning is also much safer to use home canning compared to regular corn starch. Some of my grape based wines like port, needed to have a bit more 'body', so I would add a banana to the must. Pineapple or papya (papian) is also a meat tenderizer and is the prime ingredient in Adolphs meat tenderizer. Added to beef and allow it to marinate 24 hours will give you mush as opposed to meat. Adding citric, or better yet, the acid blend of tarteric, malic, and citric is a better choice to improve acidity of fruit juices. Its found at the same place the pectic enzyme comes from.

As some of you know, we had some rain storms roll through last night and gave my barrels their first test and they worked GREAT! I was really quite surprised at how fast they filled up.... From bone dry to overflowing in less that 1 hour of rain. The rain gauge said I had 0.86" before midnight. But, I know I was overflowing well before we got all that (becuase, much to my wifes' chagrin, I was standing outside in the rain "monitoring" the progress, while she was commenting on the state of my mental health.) According to my rough estimates; based upon my ca. 2,000 square foot catchment area, and being that one inch of rainfall provides approximately 600 gallons of water for a 1,000 square foot catchment, even if I'm only collecting @ 70% efficiency, I had the potential to collect 722 gallons of FREE WATER. But of course "The Boss (Wife)" does not want "those ugly blue industrial barrels" in the front of the house, so I'm restricted to the 3 downspouts not entirely visible from the street. Still, I think about those 557 Gallons that just washed away.... Not that I'm ungrateful for 165 Gallons I did catch mind you. But hey if it's free for the collecting, why not collect it? Next step is to get a couple of cans of Krylon Fusion paint and get her and the kids busy decorating barrels so they are not "those ugly blue industrial barrels", then perhaps she will let me hook a few more up. Maybe. Also I need to rig up some sort of gauge so I can easily and accurately determine the water-level in the barrel.

It's a Jack Keller recipe which I used as a general guide, I used no grape juice, and used half a pineapple late in the process. It was my first batch of wine. I made a Guwertztraminer from a kit which I've been drinking. Got a batch of pineapple currently aging, Banana is next: CARAMBOLA (STAR FRUIT) WINE 2-1/2 to 4 lbs. star fruit 11-oz. can Welch's 100% White Grape Juice Frozen Concentrate 10 oz. very fine granulated sugar 1 large lemon, juiced, or 1 tsp. acid blend 1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme 1/2 tsp. ascorbic acid (vitamin C) 1 crushed and dissolved Campden tablet 1 tsp. yeast nutrient 6-3/4 pts. water Sauterne, Hock or Champagne wine yeast Slice fruit thinly, place in nylon straining bag and tie the bag closed. Place all ingredients except ascorbic acid, pectic enzyme and yeast in primary and cover with sanitized muslin. Wait 12 hours, add pectic enzyme and recover primary. Wait 12 hours, add activated yeast and again recover primary. After fermentation becomes apparent, squeeze bag gently daily. When specific gravity drops to 1.020 to 1.010, drip drain bag and transfer all liquid to secondary. Attach airlock and wait for fermentation to almost stop. Rack, top up and refit airlock. Wait 30 days and rack again. Rack every 45-60 days until wine is clear and goes 30 days without dropping even a fine dusting of sediment. Add another crushed and dissolved Campden tablet and the ascorbic acid, wait another 30 days and rack again. Stabilize wine and sweeten to taste. Even if you like your wine dry, sweeten a little and taste it. Sugar really brings up the flavor of camabola. Wait 10-14 days and bottle. Allow 6 months to mature. [Author's own recipe]