Foods for free. Anything you want to post about wild foods or foraging, hunting and fishing. Please note, this section includes pictures of hunting.
Sorry to say that Selfsufficientish or anyone who posts on here is liable to make a mistake when it comes to identification so we can't be liable for getting it wrong.
OH and I have been keeping an eye on the gooseberry bush behind the bus stop - and today was the picking day So off I want armed with rigger boots, sturdy gloves and a hook and came back with enough to make about 4 jars of jam. Then on the way home I took a diversion thru the quarry and picked some elder flowers for cordial - my friends wee boy loves it - although he did think that I was going to turn it into cauliflower! Then I stopped off to pick some ash keys for pickling - apparently they come out like capers in about 3 months.
And so begins our free food season! We are lucky enough to have many apple trees round here, the lady from the pub in my mums village lets us have the plums from the tree in her car park and there are lots of bramble bushes in the quarry too - so we are never short of a crumble, jam or Dowerhouse chutney. All I need now is to find a good mushrooming field and we are set!
Let us be lovely
And let us be kind
Let us be silly and free
It won't make us famous
It won't make us rich
But damn it how happy we'll be!
Edward Monkton
Member of the Ish Weight Loss Club since 10/1/11 Started at 12st 8 and have lost 8lb so far!
Brilliant! I wish our elderflower was still in bloom but sadly it's all pretty much over now. I really ought to have made a lot more elderflower fizz while it was around. Hey ho! Lime blossom coming in around here and also meadowsweet so I'm going to have a bash at using those instead. I think it will be another good year for berries etc., most trees here look pretty well laden and are setting fruit well.
(Oh yes, and the cherries are ready!! I must remember to buy some brandy! )
Chi vo far 'na bona zena magn'un erb d'tut la mena
excellent, I have collected some cherries with my friend and found some brambles (not ready yet tho) and will go and collect some elder tomorow. I am a bit of a noob at foraging so dont know where there are apple trees or anything.
Trust me, you'll get your eye in soon enough and then you'll be in the grip of an obsession which will mean you can barely pass a patch of new ground without scouting it out for likely forage. Watch the hedgerows for the ripening of the plum family next - first the mirabelles or cherry plums, then greegages, bullaces, damsons etc. You'll be amazed at just how many things that you probably would've walked right past before that you can spot now.
Chi vo far 'na bona zena magn'un erb d'tut la mena
Are they in a wooded area? We have patches of them in our woods but all of the fruit (although it set earlier on in the year) seems to have vanished from them.
Chi vo far 'na bona zena magn'un erb d'tut la mena
Hedgehogpie wrote:Are they in a wooded area? We have patches of them in our woods but all of the fruit (although it set earlier on in the year) seems to have vanished from them.
Yes, they were on the edge of a woodland path. There was plenty of others we left behind because they straggled off into the brambly unfergrowth. None seemed to have been picked over by birds even though they were ripe and sweet.
How lucky you are! I'd earmarked the ones we'd spotted to look at once ripe but I think maybe the local rodenty critters beat us to it. Ah well, all's fair as they say...
Chi vo far 'na bona zena magn'un erb d'tut la mena
You know - I've been staring at Ash keys for weeks wondering how they could be used, thanks for suggesting pickling! I've now found the recipe on www.eatweeds.co.uk and I think I'll go get some keys this week
Keeping an eye on local Lime trees too - the blossom is out on some of them.
To check that your ash keys are worth the effort of pickling, nip one between your teeth. If you can get through it without a fight they're tender enough to use.
Chi vo far 'na bona zena magn'un erb d'tut la mena
Not really foraging, but managed to rescue loads of massive plant pots from an office building being cleared out today near where I work - handy for me because I rent and can't plant in the ground
I'm building up the courage to knock on the door of a house up the road that has a MASSIVE cherry tree that hangs over the pathway to ask them if I can have some
I changed my signature because it was rubbish; I like what you said
Go for it! The worst they can say is no. If you think it'd help your case you could always offer a little incentive to say yes by offering a share of some produce made from them like cherry jam or cherries steeped in brandy once you've harvested some (assuming they're not teetotallers!).
Chi vo far 'na bona zena magn'un erb d'tut la mena
So off I want armed with rigger boots, sturdy gloves and a hook and came back with enough to make about 4 jars of jam. Then on the way home I took a diversion thru the quarry and picked some elder flowers for cordial - my friends wee boy loves it - although he did think that I was going to turn it into cauliflower! Then I stopped off to pick some ash keys for pickling - apparently they come out like capers in about 3 months.
Brilliant! I wish our elderflower was still in bloom but sadly it's all pretty much over now. I really ought to have made a lot more elderflower fizz while it was around. Hey ho! Lime blossom coming in around here and also meadowsweet so I'm going to have a bash at using those instead. I think it will be another good year for berries etc., most trees here look pretty well laden and are setting fruit well. 
)
(thanks)
