How do you remember where everything is?

[Harasimow]

How do you guys remember where that patch of giant puff balls are or where the 1st blackberrys appear? The extent of my forraging so far is elderflowers for cordial (which are everywhere) sloes for gin (likewise) and blackberrys allthough I seemed to get there too early/too late! Do you keep notes, googlemaps, gps co-ordinates old fashioned marker pen on a O.S. map or just rely purely on memory?

Is it okay to swap good forraging locations say with fellow Ishers or might that mean one spot might get "rapped" too much and you gotta find these things for yourself?

The things im hoping to try this year are, comfrey for the allotment, elderflowers for cordial and champers, sloes and damsons for gin, giant puff balls, blackberrys, nuts of some kind, and somthing to turn into wine.

Any forraging tips for a newby welcomed!

Paul

[crowsashes]

really simple, i have an enlarged photocopy of my area map nothing complex and i just mark it down i have it big as i can then write the food down with out it getting over crowded. im lucky enough to have 6 cherry trees on my front doorstep that nobody bothers to pick, not to mention the 15 odd sweet chestnut trees in the woods nearby. and the branmble covered green right in front of my house, were talking several pounds worth of berries that again just rot on the bush. ( im saving my jars up for all that cherry and blackberry jam!)

one thing i tend to do is make sure i go out with out fail on a sunday and when i can in the week. at the moment its not to often as theres not much here but in the summer i can go out 3 or 4 times a week, i know not every one has the time, i sometimes take my foraging route on the way to the shops or ill get off the bus several stops early from visiting my mum to walk my most productive route home.
i forage instead of going to the gym!

one thing i always remember to do it to take my basic kit of cotton bags, scissors, and gloves with me as it makes it just that bit easier i take a camera too when i go to new areas to photograph plants/trees im not sure about so i can identify them 100% when i get back home.

[Harasimow]

Thanks I think I will do the same, eying up a big space on my bedroom wall where I could put a large map of the area!

If anyones got any good forraging spots around Derbyshire (i live in mickleover) I would welcome them in this thread (or by personal message). I can swap a few!

[Hedgehogpie]

I do know some folks use gps, but I keep it all in my head at the moment. Having lived in the same area for over 15 years I guess means I'm extremely familiar with my local terrain, what's in it and where.

Having said that, keeping notes and photographs is a useful and good habit to cultivate and I'll soon have to start properly recording & annotating maps with findspots as part of a study course I'm embarking on.

[frozenthunderbolt]

I'm more or less a (by the) head forager, though i am devisted that the local (sustainable) pine plantation has been felled and the landscape changed dramatically - it has thrown me way out and i have NO idea where to find my blackberry patches. Having just made very successful blackberry and elderberry wine for the first time last year, and finding out that blackberry gin is good and the synergy of blackberry and damson gin is better than either of the two by themselves this is a worry to me.

[Carltonian Man]

I too tend to keep it all in my head. I don't know how it works but sometimes you just kind of know where to be. So often the same crop doesn't fruit in the same place as last year or different areas/trees produce varying quantities. When out and about I always keep an eye open for potential foraging sites (bramble and raspberry growth, nut/fruit trees etc). Also pays to take note of what your nose tells you, a lovely earthy shroomy aroma in May might indicate an area worth checking out later in the year. Likewise taking in the environment pays dividends. Ancient byways (typically marked in the UK by slightly raised banks either side and usually with dogs mercury growing) will often be dotted with Hazel trees. Hedgerows with plenty of taller trees don't get hacked right back every year so will most probably produce more (sloes, brambles etc).

[Minnesota]

The little foraging I do...it's all in my head

[Silver Ether]

mine all in my head too ... and I can spot an abandoned apple tree a mile off ...

I tell folks about some things but most folks I know can't be bothered with the pleasures of foraging ---unless they are eating something I have made as a gift ...

Still of the subject of foraging but ... The other day I made a load of fruit pies using foraged fruit from the freezer with the added bonus of being reminded of the days the kids and I picked the blackberries on a local common, climbing up a tree on another local common to get apples with the wasps not being happy with me and the blue berries I had picked on the StiperStones one evening as a storm was coming towards me and a cow frightened the life out of me by moooing at me while I was sitting in the plants... bliss bliss

[Hedgehogpie]

Ah yes, that really is the true delight of foraging. First, being out there in the fresh air. Finding and appreciating things that largely go unregarded. Then full pleasure of savouring the aromas, tastes and textures of that season, even when it's long gone and passed to memory. Last year's sloe gin will be a lot like that for me I think.

[crowsashes]

that reminds me , i really should make a loely pie out of the blackberries in the freezer.

i cant wait to see what i find this year as i only 'found' most of my foraging patches this oct/nov so there wasnt much left , well apart from the sweet chestnuts scattered all over a very steep slope! and the bag of huge pine cones for xmas decs. still trying to figure out what to do with them now! saw a cool idea for a birdfeeder out of pine cones but i think ill use the larger ones for that.

if theres anybody who forages around plymouth, id love to share info!

[Milims]

Not having had a car for 6 months means that we don't venture that far! lol! So we just remember places within walking distance. Otherwise - when we have a can we play spot the yummies and keep a notepad available!