Foraging Challenge

splodger_seedswapper

just found a couple of pics - sorry about the size though

jumblejack

Cheers splodger:j

I am definitely going to look for it. If I think I've found it, I'll pop pics on here just to make sure:T

Seakay

Nettles are easiest to forage in spring because they are all young then, but if you look for new growth then the tops can be young at any time of the year (iyswim).
John Wright says
"Although the high season for foraging Nettle is between March and May, you can use the fresh leaves picked from plants cut back earlier until November."

DebtFree2012

JJ - I am leaving it for alot longer as I read that the earlier it's bottled the more chance of gasses still being produced and explosions! I think one of the sites said total of 3 weeks - I need to check up on this though.

Will keep reports coming

DF

Seakay

If you bottle elderflower champagne in plastic bottles and store them in a closed cardboard box then if the do explode then you don't have to contend with shards and slivers of glass plus most of the sticky liquid is confined to one place.
I once had a glass bottle of ginger beer explode on me - luckily I was out of the room because bits of glass went everywhere and it was a nightmare to clean up.

jumblejack

:eek:

I am more than a tad worried about the exploding bottles.

I really really want swing top bottles as I've heard they are safer?
Not sure how true that is? I like the look of them though.
Ikea sell them but it is so far to go for me and the bottles are something like £2.50 each and id want loads.

Still not sure whether to bottle up today or leave it even longer now?

I did see something awesome on YouTube where one guy put the fizz into his 'champagne' using bicarbonate 'sausages' which were placed in the bottle neck and corked quickly. It gave a very effective sparkling effect when poured and it meant he could serve it quickly after it was produced (he was teetotal and didn't want o leave it to ferment at all).

It was a fun method that could be used for home made kids drinks too:)

Edit:
It wasn't on YouTube. It was on this awesome blog:

http://my-pickles-and-jams.com/2012/06/elderflower-champagne/

Gigervamp

The Ikea swing top bottles are not made for liquids that will put them under pressure. If you want to use glass bottles, stick to proper champagne or beer bottles, but personally, I always use plastic pop bottles.

We had a bottle explode once. It was a plastic one luckily, but it was stored in a pine box and the force of the explosion ripped two of the pine slats off.

Better to be safe even if it doesn't look as *pretty*.

ScarletRaven

So glad I've found this thread as I am very interested in foraging, so would love to join in! Though whether I'll manage to find something every week I'm not sure.

We've had lots of Herb Robert pop up in our garden recently, so will be gathering a little of that this week, and my mum has what appears to be All-Heal all over her front lawn this year, so once I know for sure what it is I may be gathering some of that as well!

Going out tomorrow (weather permitting) to a little area nearby called 'Apple Tree Lane' - I've not been down there since I was 8 years old (so a good 17 years ago!), and doubt it lives up to it's name anymore for the apples, but I walked past it the other day and could see lots of various green things growing either side of the lane... No traffic allowed up there either, so if I do find anything it won't be spoiled by car fumes

There is a street nearby that has interesting things crop up on it sometimes. Just a couple of weeks back I found a rather large field mushroom growing under someone's garden wall (left it alone due to passing cars and probable dog wee though lol), and then today I noticed some lovely plant starting to grow at the side of the road with lovely big pink flowers on, not sure what it is though as I'm not great with identifying flowers, did wonder if it was a wild rose but I'm not 100% sure on their appearance...

Definitely going to get out and about more in the next few months to see what I can track down and use though

jumblejack

Welcome, scarletraven :wave:

So glad that you are gonna take up the challenge

Most of us are fairly newbies to this and are learning everyday but it is a pleasant journey.

Hope that apple tree lane is worthy of being earmarked for an autumn forage and has a few items for gleaning now too.
It will be a lovely stroll down memory lane for you either way

If the weather clears up this afternoon, I'll be taking the sprogs out for a little excursion again for an hour with scouting around somewhere new as the goal. I love the prospect of being better acquainted with local beauty spots anyhow. We usually travel for days out and neglect the local spots so it really is a winner on lots of counts.

ScarletRaven

It most certainly will be a lovely trip down memory lane either way. I used to go down there to cut through a little jitty to get home after school, and other than in the winter when the snow made things a bit difficult, it was a lovely little walk The weather looks like it is finally picking up a bit now so I'll be off out soon

I agree about missing so much locally because of travelling a bit further for days out. Just last week my partner and I decided to have an afternoon stroll locally and found a park about a 15 minute walk from home that I never even knew existed! Despite living in this area most of my life... lol. We took the little one there on Sunday to play Will be heading back there for a better look around over the summer to see if there are foragable goodies about