Foraging - Natures Food

Living_proof

Crikey!

As someone who has lived in the country for 30-odd years of my adult life I am immensly relieved to see that some interest has at last been taken again in the value of food for free. For years food has dropped off trees and gone to waste and now times are hard again some of you are continuing the age-old pursuit and squirreling things away for winter.

Good on you and waste not, want not. I don't see the problem with someone picking all the available fruit - it will merely encourage more to come.

ladylouise62

I am always aghast at how few people seem to use the fruit growing in their garden (and this year being very good for apples etc, I could weep!!!). Even if they don'r want it, there are loads of people who could use it, or surely even local shops who might take some off their hands.

Living_proof

I agree ladylouise and plum trees round here are bending over under the weight of unpicked fruit. The wasps will get it first of course. One lady at the CBS I go to now and again has a big garden with lots of plum and apple trees and gets a tonne of plums each year which she sells very reasonably. I feel guilty not using some of my chives - but I have grown them for a decorative border and it would be nigh on impossible to make good use of all those!

splodger_seedswapper

SusanC wrote: »

I need to try harder - I still only have 600g and my rosehip syrup recipe requires 1kg. I always think I've got more than I have - they're lighter than they look.

i didn't really forage the rosehips - they came from my (and next doors) garden

the wild rosehips (in my area) aren't quite ready to pick yet - and take more time to pick than those from a garden dog rose

wilroda

I have picked 10 kgs of them!!

Just made a load of bramble jelly and more to do!

KazLA

SusanC wrote: »

I need to try harder - I still only have 600g and my rosehip syrup recipe requires 1kg. I always think I've got more than I have - they're lighter than they look.

Just found this thread after making my first ever rosehip syrup - you beat me - we only managed 200g from the bush in the garden! (from a bush that I didn't know was of so much use!), but I divided the recipe down to use that amount, as a test run - loved it, so did the children, so we need to try to get lots more! (and some more jars...)

kinkyjinks

ladylouise62 wrote: »

I am always aghast at how few people seem to use the fruit growing in their garden (and this year being very good for apples etc, I could weep!!!). Even if they don'r want it, there are loads of people who could use it, or surely even local shops who might take some off their hands.

Every day for the past 2 months I've watched apples in a corner of a garden turn to the most gorgeous red colour while I've walked to the lottie. This week I took 2 that were overhanging the fence. OMG they are the nicest apples I have EVER tasted. They are so nice that I'm going to 'man up', knock on their door and ask them if they will swap some of them for a homemade apple pie/runner beans/squash/cauliflower.

At the very worst they can only say no, but if they do they had best tell me the variety of apple!!!!

squeaky

Hi

We have a thread on foraging so I'll add this one to it. You'll need to read from the beginning to catch up

floyd

Well yesterday was a planned blackberry forage but they were absolutely terrible, tiny and so few of them we started to think we might have wasted our day. That was until we spotted the motherload of sloes growing all of which were lovely and ripe. Some had even gone over which surprised me as they aren't usually that early.

I have to thank a kind gentleman who shouted down the embankment to my friend and I and said "You're looking in the wrong place if you want blackberries" and directed us to a new location where the berries were better but the sloes were incredible.

Has anyone in the North West seen any good blackberries still coming in the last few days? I don't want to spend an age trawling the various sites I know of if I'm too late to get any

adelight

I had my first successful forage recently- parasol mushrooms! They grow like crazy and noone else seemed to pick them (but someone online said they did when they lived in the area) and are delicious I shall be going back for more in a few days. Apparently porcinni mushrooms are in abundance there too but I don't feel confident identifying them.
I've also spotted loads of sweet chesnut trees, I opened one and it wasn't quite ripe so I'll go back once a week on my way home from work to check.

I've also seen loads of crab apple trees (small red ones?) but I'm not sure if they're good for eating/stewing, I don't really fancy making jam.