One of my favorite ways to use rhubarb is to combine it with the the 'hated wild mulberry'. Birds love the mulberries and if you hang clothes out to dry--you may find it goes through their digestive systems and lands on sheets, etc. and makes a permanent stain as well as on cars, walks, etc. But the redeeming value of mulberries is that combined with rhubarb, the taste mimics black raspberry. Black raspberries are hard to source in summer unless you have your own patch, and then the birds love them, as well. I use two parts rhubarb to one part mulberries, sugar to taste, and flour for thickening--as well as a little salt. Pour into pie shell, cover with top, slit to allow steam to escape, brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. I have a discriminating 'taster' and I don't think I could tell the difference between a rhubarb/mulberry pie and a black raspberry pie if I were blindfolded. Mulberries are easily picked if you place a plastic sheet under the tree and shake the branch. The ripe ones will drop off---no thorns as on black raspberry bushes and abundant with only a couple shakes of a branch. WIN/WIN!

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