It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

SDG31000

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Guys how would I go about cleaning brambles to put in a crumble?
we have lots ripe here and unpicked so I feel a picking spree coming on soon I think..

I put mine in a bowl of salted water for a few hours and skim the top with a tea strainer. Then rinse them gently with fresh cold water. I then open freeze them and put into ice cream tubs when fully frozen.
My forgaging plans for today have been cancelled due to bad weather, so today might be spent making soup. I am longing to bake something. My family is going to be so happy when I get my new oven, as the cake tins will be overflowing. Cardamon loaf cake, triple choc cookies, lemon drizzle cake....it's not even the cake I want as much as the process. I find baking very relaxing, even if the end product vanishes incredibly quickly. So much so that I get lots of unexpected visitors if word gets out that I've had a baking day.
I hope everyone has a good day. Positive thoughts and best wishes to those who need them xxxx

Hobsons_Choice

I always make my jam in the microwave. So easy - and far less messy washing up. There are plenty of recipes on the Net.
Don't forget folks, when you've finished cooking in Olive Oil, rub some on to your hands and wipe off the surplus with a paper towel. Works with any veg oil and leaves hand soft as a baby's bum!
Then, if you have to scrub pans, cut your Brillo pad in half, it's not often you need to use a whole one. (Or get down to a DIY store and buy a hank of wire wool and just use it with washing-up liquid - preferably Stardrops).

ChocClare

SDG31000 wrote: »

I am longing to bake something. My family is going to be so happy when I get my new oven, as the cake tins will be overflowing. Cardamon loaf cake, triple choc cookies, lemon drizzle cake....it's not even the cake I want as much as the process. I find baking very relaxing, even if the end product vanishes incredibly quickly. So much so that I get lots of unexpected visitors if word gets out that I've had a baking day.

I take back everything I said about wanting to hear about people's goodies. You've made me STARVING now!!!! Mmmmm.... cake....

grandma247

Can i put my two pen'rth in? It may be that people are taking lots then making jam to share out. I do this along with many of my friends. We give jars to elderly friends,young families,anyone we know that is struggling and to our own families. I do not take all that is there but do take what I have time to pick. With brambles I go over several weeks since ripening depends on where they are situated.

[Deleted User]

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mambury

I have an egg hatching!! I need to do other stuff, otherwise I will spend the day just checking......

As for the foraging, its not really foraging here at Mambury Towers as I am lucky to have a 300 foot long natural hedge that I have managed to stop OH from trimming this year and the brambles are laden with little green blackberries just waiting to ripen and then be picked, and as its all in my garden I don't have to share with anyone else other than the birds!! I also have my own mature elder tree so I am waiting for the berries to ripen there, anyone got any good recipes for elderberries??

I am off to sort the kitchen and bake some banana cake to use the bananas..... Oh, and then I need to sit down with a cuppa and make a list (or I might just spend the day checking on the chick/eggs!!)

mardatha

Kittie, reading your post from earlier, I think you should take care not to get too involved, pet. You will get yourself a wee bit down and that won't help anybody. I know it's awful what's happening, but these people wont be left ont he streets they will get emergency accommodation and have a roof over their heads. Then once they get themselves together, who's to say that their future lives might not be better because of this enforced move? 50% chance that they will be.. Women throughout the ages have had to pick themselves up and start all over again - but as long as they and their families are safe then its not the end of the world. Although for a wee while it might seem so. Let's all light candles for them anyway.

cat_smith

mardatha wrote: »

Brambles here have a long way to go before they're ripe, and the rasps and tayberries are very poor this year. We have 11C and torrential rain AGAIN so it has been a really horrible dull wet summer here.

I know. Its so frustrating hearing about you all foraging, harvesting veg etc. Our brambles are no where near ripe, I've had one handful of sugar snap peas, no tomatoes or courgettes and the slugs ate all my runner beans and french beans while I was on holiday. Grrrrrrr. Very bad year in the garden for me.

greent

The rioting (aka mindless vandalism) hit here in Gloucester last night Small scale, only - but we're only a small city. Can't see it being any better over the weekend, either

Disappointing to read of suggestions of poisoning people and wildlife with regards to spraying berries

We are off to feed the ducks and swans down at the canal shortly (the canal is at the end of our road) and hopefully pick a tub of blackberries to go with the apples my mum has given me

ChocClare

Well, I'm back with a carrier bag full of lovely ripe plums, so I will be "processing" those today. I didn't take them all in the end :rotfl: What I've got is plenty to be going on with and I've realised there are actually two trees all tangled together, and the other one is a Victoria which isn't completely ripe yet. I've left all of those and will revisit in a week or so to see if they're any riper - and if someone else has had them in the meantime then fair play to them!

Where I get my plums is a common where there are masses of fruit trees, brambles and elderberries. Pears are looking a bit small this year (that's what happens when trees are left unpruned/unthinned I suppose) but there are MILLIONS of them. Has anyone got any (clean) suggestions as to what to do with lots of small pears if I decide to pick some? And does anyone know WHEN is the best time for pears?

My own pear tree has two - count 'em - TWO pears on it. But they are looking fine. Am I right in thinking you pick pears when they are still hard? I always think of Eddie Izzard and his mantra about pears that they stay rock hard in the fruit bowl until you go out one day and, as pears are ripe only for TWO HOURS, that is the time they are good to eat: you come back to a pile of rotting mush in the bowl