Foraging - Natures Food

katholicos

kerrypn wrote: »

Hiya, I am brand new to foraging-I was getting off the train today and at the top of the steps off the platform there was a beautiful big blackberry bush and an apple tree!!! It is ???on the train station's property(right at the edge-reachable from the pavement running alongside the pavement)

May I pick this?

With it being quite so near to where trains are passing i think you would do best to consider whether they might be too heavily polluted.

kerrypn

Its quite a way raised as the platform is below ground level but yes I hadnt thought of that, thank you. I was gutted that the bushes I remember from being a kid have been massacred and gone

ALIBOBSY

annie123 wrote: »

Have now picked what seems like billions of little yellow plums is there an easy way to remove the stone please?

If not they will end up in my compost bin, its taken me ages to do enough for 1 jar of jam.

They are supposed to float to the top as the other poster said or you can make jelly so they get strained out.

Made crab apple jelly today which is yummy, my first time apart from few small scale practices last year. Kids opened a jar straight away though and stood eating it warm from the jar :doh:.

What a gorgeous pink colour it is. Was aiming for a spiced version, but think my cinnamon stick was a bit old (from the back of the cupboard lol). Nice though.
We also got some blackberries but the kids ate them straight away. Will wait for some more.

ali x

ceridwen

Out foraging away peaceably - and there was a fox standing there eyeball to eyeball with me:eek: - this in a green enclave in an urban area....

I stood there quietly (trying not to remember about those children that got attacked by a fox recently and the subsequent couple of articles I had read by adults stating that they had been attacked as well...) and thought "You turn round and walk away from me - and we'll both pretend we haven't seen each other - okay?"

Fortunately - it did then just turn round and walk away from me.

The fallback position was that I had turned a stick I was carrying round the other way and grasped it with both hands and was ready to use it like a hockey stick in extremis - but I wouldnt have been happy about having to use it.

So - yep...foxes are definitely out and about in our urban areas...

parsonswife8

That would have scared the life out of me.:eek::eek:

ceridwen

parsonswife8 wrote: »

That would have scared the life out of me.:eek::eek:

I was quite calm actually - and went on and finished what I had come for and then equally calmly walked away...I would have probably equally calmly hit out with my stick if I'd needed to (though that would have upset me afterwards if I'd had to do that to protect myself).

Maybe I've seen so much thats scary relating to people that my "nerves have turned to steel" anyway - or perhaps I trust animals more than some people I know...

I just thought "Note to self - always take stick when out and about in case..."

Confuzzled

we've been picking wild cherries and i have what's likely the last lot in the house now. up until now we've just eaten them fresh but i am wanting to make some fruit leather with them.

if i cook them for a wee bit will the stones just float to the top like they do with plums?

ceridwen

As a follow-up thought on the fox episode - does anyone know if the local Council have to "deal with it" so to say if one reports there are foxes around - because of the risk of them attacking people?

At a personal level - should I encounter one again and it does decide to "have a go" at me - where's the best place to aim to hit it with my stick to "stop it in its tracks"? (I'd much prefer for them to just walk off and leave me alone - but just in case they don't.....)

boultdj

Aim for the nose is what I would do,not sure about council, might be worth a look at your council's web page and see if they class it as a pest/nuesence.

ceridwen

boultdj wrote: »

Aim for the nose is what I would do,not sure about council, might be worth a look at your council's web page and see if they class it as a pest/nuesence.

Thanks. Just wondering - any particular reason for it being the nose?

EDIT: Just been onto my local Council website - on the "Report it" page and I see there is a heading "Report a pest control incident". Their website isnt working at the moment - so will try again later. Would be best to get this dealt with promptly - before they have the chance to breed too much and the problem goes out of control.

<whispers: anyone know if foxes are edible? - but I'm not preparing any, if so....yuk!>