A Sunday walk in the countryside and a pub lunch is a regular occurrence for my husband and I. When the weather is good, bad, and even sometimes ugly* you can usually find us a-wandering.
*I do usually object to ‘ugly’ weather – wind and rain is hardly pleasurable, but togged up in our nice warm feather-filled coats, if you’re in the mood for it, being huddled together under a brolly can be quite cosy!
It’s such a nice way to spend time together. You will see a few weeks ago now we started the yearly blackberry hunt – and very successful it has been so far! We’ve collected a good pound of berries each weekend since, enough to keep us going a couple of days and to tuck a few away in the freezer ready for those yummy autumnal crumbles and pies.
Although we can name different plants, when you start looking for food in the wild, we were surprisingly ignorant about the ones you can eat. Turns out a lot of them are edible! Even Hawthorn, which I had always thought you couldn’t eat! I think this stems from childhood – we had a huge hawthorn hedge and were always told not to pick the berries. We did have a HUGE vegetable garden, an apple tree, and a strawberry patch, plus plenty of blackcurrants and gooseberries dotted in the borders, so why would we need to pick anything else?! Credit to my Mum and Dad for maintaining it all – you just don’t appreciate the effort when you’re little!
Anyway, back to foraging. We have this tattered old book ‘Food for Free’ by Richard Mabey on the bookcase, and I’d never really taken much notice of it. But curiosity had set in then, I NEEDED to find out about all these plants and berries that I wasn’t 100% sure of! So far we had collected only blackberries, apples, and a sprinkling of raspberries.
We have also found plenty of elderberries and redcurrants on our travels – I had to look these up to be sure as there are a few nasties out there that can upset your tummy. We also managed to find hazelnuts this week:
Next on the list are damsons and bilberries; two of my childhood favourites, but it has been years and years since I’ve picked any from the countryside. I have seen some potentials, but I’ll consult my book and keep you posted!
Interesting post and skills everyone should know............
Hey, I am a bot and my goal is to bring a smile
on your face with an awww picture:
Source
This is a wonderful hobbie, you are so lucky to have this nature entertainment time and also finding free food! I'll stay tunned for the next posts :D
We are indeed, and it was surprisingly easy to get started too! It's very satisfying to make something with whatever you have found and picked yourself. We are just starting with fairly obvious things, and not trying to do everything at once. I must say I'm looking forward to the elderflowers next year, I'm quite partial to elderflower liqueur!
Nice job @cake-lady-jen! Love to hear about people out harvesting food that is destined to be waste. You rock!
Thank you, I do hate seeing food go to waste!
The things I can identify at the moment are fairly common and well-known, I don't know why people just leave it. I love to collect and grow our own where possible.