A Happy Coincidence and the kindness of others

This morning on our way to drop of Violet at her nursery school, Gabe asked me what songs my mom used to sing to me on the way to school when I was a child. I told them that because we drove down a road called Mulberry, my mom used to sing "Here we go round the Mulberry Bush." I then started to sing it to her and then we all sang it together.
When I got to work this morning I checked my email and in my inbox was this post from a forum I belong to called Free Stuff Japan.

Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013 00:56:36 +0000
Subject: [freestuffjapan] Free Mulberry Bush (Nagoya)

This spring we've started new Mulberry bushes. The good news…….. Cuttings were more successful than anticipated. We have a couple dozen potted and willing to share.

This variety bears deep purple berries. Great taste right off the bush. A lovely treat with breakfast yogurt. Into jam making? Dive in! You won't be disappointed.

The bushes grow to about 3 meters very quickly if planted outdoors. A bush this size will probably yield 5 liters of berries, enough for a few jars of jam.

The bushes are just taking root, so shipping isn't recommended. This a pick up item only.

If interested shout back to arrange a hand off, or drop by to grab a bush of your choice.

Nagoya area

I couldn't help but giggle out loud and then told Gabe, he'd never guess what was in my inbox today!

I showed it to him and he too was shocked at this happy coincidence. He suggested that I email the person back and tell him about our morning. (Sharing happiness is never a bad thing)

So I replied with this:

On Apr 5, 2013, at 11:07 AM, Steph Craft wrote:

Hi ****, I wish I could take one of your mulberry bushes but I live in Ofunato, Japan. I just wanted to send you a message to tell you how much your post made me smile. This morning as we were driving our daughter to nursery school my husband asked me what songs my mom used to sing to me on the way to my school as a child. I started singing "Here we go round the mulberry bush". My daughter giggled and then asked if we were driving around a mulberry bush right then. We told her no and that there weren't many mulberry bushes in our area. It just struck me as so funny and such a coincidence that your posting popped up in my inbox this morning. Just wanted to share. Hope you find some great homes for these bushes! 
Cheers, Steph in Ofunato

Then after I came back from lunch I was surprised with this in reply:

Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013 12:01:07 +0900
To: stephaniecraft@hotmail.com

Steph,

Thanks for the delightful message.

Ok, you got one!  I'll send you one around late june or july.  Roots should take by then and and I can figure out a means to pack it for delivery.  

From what I can figure out about the English song and my reading about, mulberry was not originally native to the UK.  I guess early traders brought it there by ship or it arrived as early as Roman times via the silk road.  Anyway, the British really love their mulberry jam!  I'm American, but addicted to the jam, too.

Our first tree, from a nursery, was about 25cm tall 4 years ago.  Now it's close to 4m tall.  I was lucky to find a larger tree in the wild last year.  Between the two I harvested enough berries for our first batch of jam.  Heavenly stuff!  

Early March I found the 2nd tree had been cut down recently, so did some reading on propagation …….  Bless the net for the info!  I learned cuttings could be taken and went to work.  I've wound up with over 30 successful plants.  I've planted a few more here and some in the wild.  All are going strong.

Stay in touch and I'll be happy to keep one for shipping when I think it's strong enough.

So it looks like come this summer we may be the lovely caretakers of our very own mulberry bush to go around. Smiles abounding.