Free Food

tiff

I just said I would like to relieve people of unwanted fruit from their trees as I would like to use them for making jam/chutney. I plan to drop a couple of jars of chutney to the people who donated the fruit as a thank you. (Its my first time making it though!) I also offered to pick the fruit if necessary.

I dont think its cheeky, its a great idea!

redsquirrel80

Noticed this morning that the tangle of spiky bushes which constitutes the little bit of garden outside my flat has some blackberries in it.. yum!

Jillinoz

Don't worry, it's not a lecture on punctuation from that incrediby irritating Lynne Truss, instead it's a great feature from The Guardian on foraging for free food, as the intro explains:

What better way to reduce food miles than by snacking on weeds and wild plants? Jill Tunstall gets some tips from a professional forager


http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving/story/0,,2154440,00.html

Hope it provides some food for thought

squeaky

Hiya,

Thanks for the link.

I'm going to add this post onto this year's "Free Food" thread to help keep all the good ideas in one place.

miniloopie

Fantastic idea to ask people for any excess fruit... I've just posted on my local freecycle site... not sure how many replies I might get since I live in the city but you never know.
Also planning to ask the parents for any spare fruit from their garden!

Thanks all for the ideas :T

miniloopie

Just wanted to say that within 10 minutes of posting on my local Freecycle I had two replies - one from a lovely lady offering to let me pick as many cooking and eating apples as I wanted from her trees... and another offering me some fruit they have leftover from a big shop that needs using before they go away - how great is that!
I'll be off to collect/pick asap :j

dolly123_2

I Got Given A Large Bag Of Plums To Stew, Picked Up At The Side Of The Road, 2 X Large Summer Cabbages And Picked 1 Pound Blackberries, Off A Roadside Bush - If That Counts.

tiff

miniloopie wrote: »

Just wanted to say that within 10 minutes of posting on my local Freecycle I had two replies - one from a lovely lady offering to let me pick as many cooking and eating apples as I wanted from her trees... and another offering me some fruit they have leftover from a big shop that needs using before they go away - how great is that!
I'll be off to collect/pick asap :j

Well done, I collected mine today, donated by freecyclers. One lady has plum trees on her allotment plot and also at home and just couldnt make use of all of them. She helped me pick them off the tree too. I am off tomorrow to collect jam jars from another freecycler. Just a shame I had to buy cinnamon sticks and white wine vinegar for the recipe!

balmaiden

Love this thread!

Ever since I was a young girl ( old Granny now ) I have made use of any wild foods usually blackberries, nettles elderberry/flowers and mushrooms, but I have found nuts and wild strawberries.

I love reading others enthusiasm on the subject, as a few years ago we lived for a few months in a house which backed on to a housing estate which housed mostly poor single parents on benefits. To the side of us was a huge school field which absolutely dripped with blackberries and also that year, was covered in mushrooms. I never ever saw anyone but myself pick either things.

I appreciate that not everyone is sure which mushrooms are safe, but blackberries!! When did this knowledge cease? I could have wept when I saw the children on that estate missing out on the joys of blackberry picking, and yes I did suggest it to some, but they thought I was crazy, I think.

tiff

Our Irish relations think we're crazy too "the birds might have been at the berries!". My MIL says its not something they generally do over there. When we stayed at my SIL's my kids couldnt wait to go and pick the lovely large blackberries down the lane, its a great feeling to know you are the only ones picking them and can go back any time lol