Why a White Mulberry Was One of the First Trees in Our Food Forest (Shade, Chickens, and Soil Health)
When we first got this land, everyone kept asking, “What are you going to plant first?”
I think they expected me to say something cute like lemons or olives. Instead, one of the very first trees I put in the ground was a white mulberry.
On paper it looks like a slightly random choice. In my head, it was the most obvious thing in the world.
We are absolutely winging it (on purpose)
We’re winging it and loving it over here. Big dreams, messy reality, and a lot of cardboard and wood chips in between.
I’m obsessed with the idea of land regeneration and food forests – not as some Pinterest fantasy, but as a really practical way to feed my family, heal a tired bit of earth, and survive 40‑degree summers without going mad.
So when I say “food forest”, I don’t mean a mystical fairy garden. I mean a smart, food‑producing machine that heals the land while it feeds us and our animals so we can be less reliant on the supermarkets and systems.
The white mulberry fits that perfectly.
The best “all‑rounder” for this spot
I picked the white mulberry very deliberately as one of the first canopy trees because it does a lot of jobs at once:
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It grows fast, which is pure gold when you’re starting with bare soil and brutal sun.
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It throws real shade once it gets going, which we badly need in 40‑degree summers.
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It feeds the chickens – both with leaves that can be used as fodder and with fallen fruit they’ll happily clean up.
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It’s tough enough to handle hard pruning and still bounce back, which makes it great for chop‑and‑drop mulch.
There are fancier or trendier trees out there, but I wanted a workhorse. A tree that earns its keep - thats what we need on this farm.
White first, red and black later
The white mulberry got the honour of going in first, right at the bottom of our garden so it can create shade and a wind brake for the smaller trees. Later I plan to add a black and a red mulberry nearby, but the white came first because it grows the fastest and will bulk up the system quickly.
Roughly how I think about it:
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White mulberry: the mass producer – fast growth, loads of leaves for ground cover and fodder, good fruit, strong shade.
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Red/black mulberries (later): a bit more of the “rich berry” experience, with generally higher antioxidant levels and slightly different nutrient profiles in the darker fruit (which the kids will love).
All three are nutritious, and all three will be welcome in our bowls and jars. But in a young food forest, getting biomass and shade going quickly is a huge priority, so white went in first.
Planting it with my little one
This tree already has a bit of family story in it.
My youngest helped me plant it. We dug the hole together, laid down cardboard around the planting area, and buried the whole zone in a heavy blanket of wood chips.
We’re trying really hard to lock in moisture and protect the soil here. Our summers are long, hot and dry, and even though we’re in a slightly cooler, wetter pocket of Portugal, it still gets intense.
So we visit the mulberry regularly, check the chips, give it a little water when it needs it, and – yes – send it some good vibes. This tree is going to do so much work for us; the least we can do is cheer it on.
Designing for long, hot summers
If we pretended our climate was gentle, we’d plant the wrong trees.
Instead, we’re designing for what we actually have: hot, dry summers, decent winter rain, and the reality that water will only get more precious over time.
That’s why we’re:
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Covering the ground thickly with wood chips to hold moisture.
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Working toward swales and better water retention on the land.
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Getting canopy trees in early, so they can start casting shade and cooling the microclimate.
We’re lucky enough to already have mature olives here, which gives us some shade and plenty of prunings. The mulberry joins that upper layer and will eventually help protect the smaller shrubs, herbs and groundcovers underneath.
Closing the loop with the chickens
One of my favourite things about this tree is how it completes a little cycle:
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The mulberry feeds the chickens with fruit and leaves.
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The chickens feed the soil with their manure.
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The soil feeds the tree (and the rest of the food forest).
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And the tree and the chickens feeds us with eggs, fruit and shade.
It’s simple, but it’s the kind of loop that makes me feel like we’re actually getting somewhere with this “less supermarket, more homegrown” life.
This mulberry isn’t just a random fruit tree. It’s a piece of a bigger pattern we’re slowly stitching together out here: resilient trees, living ground cover, animals that play a role, and a family learning as we go.
The tree that started the whole thing
When people walk through our garden in a few years, I want to be able to stop at this mulberry and say:
“This is one of the trees that started it all. We didn’t have everything figured out, but we knew we wanted shade, food, and a healthier bit of land – and this was our first big yes.”
We are absolutely winging it, but we’re doing it with intention. And right now, that looks like a small white mulberry at the bottom of the garden, standing in a sea of wood chips, getting ready to turn harsh summer sun into fruit, shade and life.