Foraging

nephilim

Good day to you all. I have an interest in botany, and in my immediate area (within 1 mile radius) there is the following:

• 1x Pear Tree
• 1x Plum Tree
• 2x Apple Trees
• 2x Redcurrant Bushes
• 2x Tomato Vines
• 3x Blue Grape Trees
• 7x Cherry Trees
• Roughly 8 Blackberry Bramble bushes
• Roughly 5 Blueberry bushes
• Roughly 5 Strawberry bushes

None of these fall into anyone's property (that I know of), so how am I placed legally to start foraging from them? My daughter (aged 2) and I have already started picking the blackberries, but want to know if I am breaking any laws with foraging them.

Best regards to all!

nephilim

londonsurrey

I am going out with a horticulturalist who looks after the borough's parks. When we walk through the parks, he often feeds me with all kinds of stuff that's foraged, and he openly discusses what is edible in the parks with members of the public, so I assume that it's all quite legal.

On our first time out, he fed me yew berries. They're sweet, and perfectly safe as long as you spit out the pips. If you eat the pips, you can face a painful death.

It's picking the flowers, wild and cultured, that they have a problem with. Some of the wild flowers are planted for various projects, like a sparrow spotting project.

londonsurrey

Big tip with blackberries - foxes spray to mark their territory. So only eat the higher placed blackberries, lest the lower ones be marinated.

nephilim

i dont pick flowers, just fruit...also forgot to mention an abundance of elderberry trees also

Barneysmom

If they're on open land and not in anyone's garden, help yourself, I do.

It's part of our culture, tradition and heritage .

Our openland blackberries are about a week from picking time.

Last year I made a load of jam and swapped some with a neighbour who has an apple tree, which I then used to make balckbberyy and apple jam.

I've heard a whisper there's a hazelnut tree not far from here on the way to Leek, so I'll go looking for it.

tilly_willow

From what I understand legally the fruit belongs to whoever owns the land, so although it may not be in a garden the land could belong to a private individual an organisation or the local council. Mostly on land where people walk freely no-one seems to object to fruit being picked, however the correct thing is to ask permission of the land owner.

emiff6

I'm surprised that blueberries are growing wild, being acid loving bog plants. What's a blue grape tree? - grapes are vines - is this something different?

Barneysmom

Not far from us on a long time ago there used to be a workhouse.

They had their own farmy gardeny type of thing and we still get a fair bit of fruit like crab apples, and different types of berry like raspberries, cherry tree, etc.

cootambear

just pick em and be done with it.

you won`t be getting an early morning knock from the OB (what with pressing other matters like chasing motorists for defective lights).

nephilim

emiff6 wrote: »

I'm surprised that blueberries are growing wild, being acid loving bog plants. What's a blue grape tree? - grapes are vines - is this something different?

Blueberry bushes near here are not that large but the fruit is lovely when ripe (according to my neighbour who makes blueberry muffins with them).

As for Blue Grape Tree...

http://www.fruitipedia.com/blue_grape_Myrciaria_vexator.htm

It is a grape that grows on a tree

cootambear

londonsurrey wrote: »

I am going out with a horticulturalist who looks after the borough's parks. When we walk through the parks, he often feeds me with all kinds of stuff that's foraged, and he openly discusses what is edible in the parks with members of the public, so I assume that it's all quite legal.

On our first time out, he fed me yew berries. They're sweet, and perfectly safe as long as you spit out the pips. If you eat the pips, you can face a painful death.

It's picking the flowers, wild and cultured, that they have a problem with. Some of the wild flowers are planted for various projects, like a sparrow spotting project.

ok, make sure you don`t pi ss him off