Another school reminiscence

Having just listened to the Food Programme on Radio 4, I am reminded of another special aspect of the school I was sent between ages 8 and 11, and that was the mulberry tree.

This was the most tremendous tree on one of the lawns, and it fed the school silkworms every year. We would pick leaves every morning and watch as the soft white caterpillars grew and grew - this was a joy through the summer term. Heaven only knows how they didn't all escape from the shoe boxes!

We weren't allowed to eat the mulberries themselves (but of course we did, and they were delicious!) - probably something to do with staining our uniforms.
But then the school holidays would happen and we never saw the full cycle through - I've no idea whether they were allowed to hatch into moths or were turned into silk thread; I'm assuming that at least some went on to hatch in order to produce the eggs for next year.

Sadly the school has been demolished and the mulberry tree is also no more.

There's heaps of information on mulberry trees here - I'm inspired to look into whether our soil conditions would suit growing one. Does anyone know? We're in the Waveney valley along the Norfolk/Suffolk border.

(I've one more reminiscence for another time....)