My late father-in-law planted 5 Mayhaw trees near the shores of Toledo Bend Lake. Mayhaws resemble cranberries and are said to taste like crabapples. They are native to this area growing best in moist, but well draining soil, along creek beds and wetlands . They have a beautiful white flower canopy in February and make its small red fruit in April and May. For the last 3 years, we have helped gather in the fruit and have learned to make Mayhaw Jelly. Gathering the small fruit can be an impossible task, but we learned from our parents. We took tarps and laid them out overlapping them and holding them down from the blowing winds with cut firewood as the pictures show. We pull the tarps tight and wait for the berries to fall. This was our task today-- to lay down the tarps. The berries are already red and falling to the ground. After we were done, I could not resist gently shaking all the limbs, knocking down ripe red berries all over the tarps. Then I swept them up and used a dust pan to gather them and put them in a bucket for washing. After 2 to 3 washings, we will freeze the berries until winter when it is a warm and rewarding task to boil the fruit down and make jelly. There is nothing like your own Mayhaw Jelly on a hot homemade buttery biscuit! 
