He's dug up the damsons

morganlefay

:eek: I know this seems a bit specialised but if anyone can help I'd be VERY grateful: I live just north of High Wycombe. Not far away ia a wonderful PYO farm where I go and get lots of great stuff. In Sept for the past several years I have gone to get plums and, much more importantly, damsons. There were about 20 bushes, absolutely laden with fruit so sweet that you could just eat it off the tree - with a wonderful slightly perfumed taste, just bursting with juice (I'm drooling just thinking about them). I used to pick masses, eat many and rush home to make deliberately runny jam which was FAB with HM easiyo yog, made great ice cream etc etc. I also froze so many that OH got a bit cros at how stuffed the freezer was with them.
Today I have just been to get some beans and thought i'd have a quick peep at how the damsons were coming along, getting ready for me in Sept, and DISASTER - he has grubbed them all up. I saw the farmer and asked him, and he said that indeed he had, and had burnt them as 'no one picked them' . NOT TRUE, I and lots of other ladies loved them. Anyway not one tree is left.....does anyone know of anywhere in S Bucks, Oxon, Herts or anywhere round here that does PYO damsons ? Or a hedgerow I could strip ? Obviously driving too far would be uneconomic, but we will sorely miss our lovely yog puddings and other stuff and commercial damson jam has far too much sugar in and is too set.
Oh dear, I'm very sad.........

Penelope_Penguin

Can't help, but can sympathise. The PYO I used (just south of York) has closed completely. Used to get strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants for jam. Haven't made any this year - but I do have plenty of damsons and sour cherries in the garden to preserve later.

Pity you're not nearer me - you could have shared my damsons - I won't be able to use them all.

Penny. x

odds-n-sods

PYO's are finding its not economically viable to stay on business as too many people eat in the field and dont' pay for the fruit. Technically that IS theft. I see it so often when I go - whole families go and pick and eat right there and only pay for a fraction of what they have picked. I was taught to pick, pay, then eat. (not saying that is what you do OP!)

liney

Lets be fair though, the price of PYO is hiked up knowing that people will have a nibble as they go.

Angelraesunshine

ooo think my next door neighbour has them at the bottom of her garden ( might just be normal plums though) i know there is something like that that fall in my pond oo want to find out now lol were in Herts too lol


would it not be worth going to a garden center and getting your own bush? LOOK HERE

will have a look out for you

morganlefay

Thanks for that Angel, I think lots of people might have these wonderful fruit lurking in their gardens, and they do make truly fabulous jam. I did plant one tree a couple of years ago and this year it has 4 damsions on it ! But where we live we get little Muntjac deer in the garden and they nibble everything, so the poor little tree is constantly being nibbled, and only a great wire exclusion zone (which OH won't have as it would make mowing the grass difficult) can stop them. Ah well, I'll have to scour hedgerows, but thanks anyway !

MrsTinks

If you see any Morgan let me know! I'm only just up the road from you in Bicester so I'll have a look out too! If you want to go pick blackberries though there are FIELDS full near me up here My tiny freezer still has some from last year :eek:
There IS a PYO down the road from you... Drive down the A404 towards Marlow, instead of turning right at the round abotu and going to Marlow and Globe Park, turn left... it's on your left about a mile down I think I don't know if they have damsons, but worth a look?

odds-n-sods

a nibble is one thing, liney, but I have seen Mums tell their kids to eat as much as they like because this is lunch! That isn't fair on the farmer. In Canada where I used to live, if a farmer saw people eating too much, they would be told to leave, and small children often weren't allowed on the field because they would eat and not pick to take home.

This is their livelihoods after all, not a hobby, and if they can make more money selling to a wholesaler and have professional pickers take the crop in, or to chnage the crop to something more profitable, that's their decision.

liney

Well, yes i agree odds n sods, thats just cheeky.

grastgirl

Best places I know for all fruit are canal towpaths (and especially the non-towpath side). We were on a narrowboat last week and the blackberries were already out in force (some were too ripe to pick), there should be plenty now. There were also cooking apples, elderberries, plums, greengages and sloes, so there might be damsons as well. As I said getting to the non-towpath side is sometimes the key, if you're going to try it I would suggest picking your spot then borrowing/hiring a canadian canoe (for two people, one picks, one steers) and taking your collecting baskets across with you.

I probably wouldn't recommend doing this on a river as with no experience you could get yourself into a bit of trouble, whereas a canal is normally no more than 4-6 feet deep, so most adults will be able to touch the bottom if they fall in, not that I would advise it:-)

The towpath season tends to be a bit earlier than the rest of the hedgerows because there is always enough water and lots of reflected sunshine.