The sidewalks on the northwest side have gone purple-black and slippery. Mulberry season is the most democratic forage in Chicago — the trees are everywhere, on parkways and in alleys, and almost nobody picks them.

What I'm reading

• Mulberries: the fruit under your feet — white, red, and black mulberry all grow here and all ripen to dark. Lay a sheet under a loaded tree, shake the branch, collect a quart in five minutes.
• Black raspberry vs. black cap brambles — the arching, whitish-blue canes along preserve edges are coming on now too. Hollow core when you pick = raspberry, not blackberry.
• A note on city trees and lead — fruit itself accumulates very little; rinse, don't stress, but maybe skip the tree leaning over a busy six-lane.

Field note

The alley behind the Kedzie Brown Line stop has three mulberries that drop straight onto the pavement. Picked a yogurt container's worth standing up, purple-handed and happy, while commuters stepped around the stains they didn't know were food.

— Jenna