scrumping

[dibnah]

after being let down with a vast supply of apples I thought my new cider press would never get juices flowing, however today while visiting an organic farm -which I may get a job at -on the journey home passed an apple tree by the side of the road heaving with apples, as I am a good forager there were two tub trugs in the back waiting for the opportunity.I managed to pick one and a half tubs and further down the road found another two trees I will be back tommorow. yippee

[mrsflibble]

cool! I've found an apple tree on public land in my local park. the locals would NEVER pick fruit from the park and...*shock* eat it, so I'm quids in lol!

[goldy1]

Are you allowed to forage in public parks?

[Andy Hamilton]

Are you allowed to forage in public parks?

Grey area, I always have. Ideally you need permission from the council but why let it go to waste?

[den_the_cat]

. Ideally you need permission from the council

which will take six weeks and three departments

there's not really a difference between parks and foraging from hedgerows, hedges and verges must be owned by either the farmer/householder or the council, so picking from a hedgerow is possibly more a case of 'taking from the rightful owner' (aka farmer) than picking from a tree in the park (where the owner is clearly the council but we all know that the Mayor isn't going to pop down and pick all the apples off 'his' tree)

Woodlands would have the same argument too I imagine.

[mrsflibble]

I forage in my local nature reserve, (www.noakbridge.net).
the locals as I have mentioned, nobody in this local area would pick fruits from it (or dig up dandelions...*ahem* lol!) cos theyd all prefer to buy them in little plastic tubs from waitrose ... "ooo, 100g blackberries for only £2.95, my that's reasonable isn't it harold?!"
I also use my mum's garden for dandelion supply, and my friend's, and I'm planning on trying acorn coffee from the oaks right outside my flat...

[Merry]

My daughter phoned me to say that my grandsons, aged 9 and 12 had come home from blackberrying v. upset because a number of their school friends had seen them picking and started sneering at them.
"God. you`re so poor - you`re really SAD - you can`t afford to buy food at your house - " etc.
Didn`t know what to say to make them feel better really. Peer contempt is such a powerful thing innit?

[Muddypause]

Are you allowed to forage in public parks?

Grey area, I always have. Ideally you need permission from the council but why let it go to waste?

I have a feeling that if you were to ask the council for permission to forage, they might, as a matter of course, say no. I can't help feeling that current trends of litigation may require them not to positively permit such uncontrolled activities. I mean supposing someone picked a poisonous mushroom, and then sued the council for negligence, since they had been granted permission to forage.

I know it sounds daft, but didn't someone once sue Mcdonalds(?) for selling coffee that was hot (and won the case). I suspect public liability insurance now has plenty of unreasonable clauses in it to make sure we can't hold other people liable for the stupid things we do.

On the other hand, I also suspect that if you don't ask for permission, then it might, in practice, be difficult to stop you, providing you are sensible about it.

[2steps]

I've always picked in public parks and never had a problem. there is an apple tree in the car park at asda that I pick from too

[Chickpea]

My daughter phoned me to say that my grandsons, aged 9 and 12 had come home from blackberrying v. upset because a number of their school friends had seen them picking and started sneering at them.
"God. you`re so poor - you`re really SAD - you can`t afford to buy food at your house - " etc.
Didn`t know what to say to make them feel better really. Peer contempt is such a powerful thing innit?

Yes, kids can be gits.

But it's got to be an important lesson in life I suppose. You can:
1) do your best to fit in and never do anything that you will get teased for, never do anything different from the crowd, or
2) say "Sod them, this is me, this is who I am, this is what I like to do, and if my friends can't handle it, I'll get some different friends".

When I was a kid, I tried really hard at option 1) for years, but I never really succeeded. Whatever you do, you'll be ridiculed by someone. I was really miserable during those years. Then I went for option 2), met a bunch of people who liked me as I was, and I married one of them and I'm still in touch with most of the others. That made me much happier.

But I don't think you can learn this lesson from being told it. I think you've got to try the options for yourself and see how they work for you. Everybody gets teased at school. The bully gets teased. The popular kid gets teased. You've got to do something about bullying because it's a totally different matter, but you can't stop the teasing. It's the hardest thing about being a kid. It's a b*st*rd for their parents too. I want to personally beat to a bloody pulp anybody who teases my kids, but I'm running out of places to hide the bodies.

[shiney]

There's a tree FULL of apples falling off in a garden near me. I am going to go and ask the old fella in the house if I can go and get some of them. There's also a beautiful quince tree just heaving with fruit too. Every year I watch and wait for them to fall on the path!

And as far as kids go picking blackberries etc...my little one loves to scoff blackberries, whilst the other kids in the street just throw them at each other. Makes me mad!

[2steps]

grrrr that reminds me, there is a plum tree growing on the walk to school. I had planned on picking the plums for some jam. The old building there is being mad einto a college so I was going to pop in and ask if they'd mind. But now school is back I find that someone/people have taken ALL the plums off the tree and crushed them on the floor what a terrible waste!

A house near here has soem sloes growing in the front garden right near the street and I collect up what falls over the fence and our neighbour has a huge apple tree in his back garden and as you said the apples just fall to the ground and rot along with the blackberries growing around it. Last summer I decided to be brave and ask if he minded me taking a few and he said 'sure, take as many as you like. we never use them'

[den_the_cat]

I wish people would ask, I suspect very few people would say no if they're not using the fruit themselves.

Merry thats really sad, all I can suggest is your grandkids look back at then scornfully and say "don't you like blackberries then?". Its pretty stupid not to take something nice for free if its legal. I suspect if someone was handing out chocolate bars or Adidas the other kids would take them.

[dibnah]

I pick happly from hedge rows and public parks in full view of everybody and have never been stopped, it's kind of an arogance thing, I will do it, try and stop me, attitude, also I want people to see me doing it and think about it, what ever they think.

Kids are cruel is was bullied as a child and wanted to home educate our 3 year old but now am giving him the chance to make his own mind up. Its sad how one comment can stay with you for years and make you change.

[digiveg]

I would have thought that as a public park is a PUBLIC place, it's a bit like 'common' land. I'd just go for it. My hobby is metal detecting, and parks are OK as they're designated for 'public recreation'. I reckon picking fruit is another form of recreation, don't you?