Foraging

[Farmer_Gyles]

How about a foraging forum for those of us that like to find free food as well as grow our own??
Any takers?

[Mikey]

How about a foraging forum for those of us that like to find free food as well as grow our own??
Any takers?

I was mean't to go on a mushroom course last year but had to pull out at the last minute, missus broke her foot.

I'm all for foraging, though beyond blackberries and elderflower/berries and cobnuts (forgot sloes)I don't really forage that much. Would love to know more though, I've got enough books on the subject!!!

[Alison]

We forage as much as we can, mushrooms, apples, haws, elderflowers / berries, bramble, rosehips, sloes, wild garlic, wild cherries (can't wait for a few weeks when they're ready again ), sweet chestnuts and anything else we can identify. Keep trying to add a few more things to our collection every year. Don't bother much with greenery as tend to grow enough on the lottie but will look out for anything different. What were you thinking of putting on the thread? Am always a bit nervous about trying to id too much from photos as this can be quite dangerous, have seen too many posts on other forums of I've seen a mushroom, it's brown and looks great, can I eat it. Who knows without seeing it and even by photos you don't get to see it and smell it properly so it can be difficult so I wouldn't want to say what it was definitely.

[Farmer_Gyles]

i'd love to go on a foraging course, especially for the mushrooms .... john wright (from river cottage) is doing one in tunbridge wells in october ..... i wanna go!

[Mikey]

mushrooms I accept Alison, best left to some training, but what about samphire, dandelion recipes, burdock, types of edible nuts, wild fruits, salad leaves, beach combing for razor clams etc. I think its a really good idea FG.

I'm naturally quite tight, so the better my knowledge of whats free the happier I will be.

[Alison]

mushrooms I accept Alison, best left to some training, but what about samphire, dandelion recipes, burdock, types of edible nuts, wild fruits, salad leaves, beach combing for razor clams etc. I think its a really good idea FG.

I'm naturally quite tight, so the better my knowledge of whats free the happier I will be.

Sorry, I didn't mean that I thought it was a bad idea, I'm all for free stuff too , just wondered what in particular FG had in mind - am nosey as well as a bit tight!

[Mikey]

i'd love to go on a foraging course, especially for the mushrooms .... john wright (from river cottage) is doing one in tunbridge wells in october ..... i wanna go!

I found one in Presteigne (mid wales) he was doing a local walk for locals and was only charging £25 for the day. Well worth every penny if you compare it to others which are more like £100.

[Mikey]

Maybe also include all the various course options by region?

[Farmer_Gyles]

What were you thinking of putting on the thread? Am always a bit nervous about trying to id too much from photos as this can be quite dangerous, have seen too many posts on other forums of I've seen a mushroom, it's brown and looks great, can I eat it. Who knows without seeing it and even by photos you don't get to see it and smell it properly so it can be difficult so I wouldn't want to say what it was definitely.

there's a lot of wild food out there, but sometimes very little or very vague information .... i'm hoping we can share information (especially photos) and learn from it .... and find new ways to help each other ....

i'm finding out more and more about wild foods .... found out today about wild carrots .... World Carrot Museum - all about carrots .... i'm still trying to find a sloe bush .... seen photos of leaves and berries, but wouldn't know one if i fell over it .... it's "wild" to me, perfectly normal to others ....

[eirish]

I like the seasonality and "wildness" of foraging. I'd love to get suggestions about what sorts of places to look (e.g. damp woodland for wild garlic?) and how to use things (what to do with haws!).

[Mikey]

I have a couple of sloe bushes and crab apples, I forgot I forage crab apples too!!, in a local cemetery. Its also very good for blackberries, there be a lot of manure down that way.

Can photograph it for you if you'd like FG?

[Alison]

If you're after sloes, now isn't the best time of year but if you look in the autumn then the lovely dark berries are a real help. OH didn't believe me about the wild cherries until I pointed out some immature fruit on them.

Oh and best thing I've found to do with haws is haw ketchup although they are nice in mixed hedgerow jellies.

[Peas'n'Kews]

Last year we also found wild pears, which we ate and dried <not the ones we ate!>

And I am growing the wild onions we found a few years ago - not much onion yet, but lots of seed!

We have foraged mussels from a beach too, but were too impatient to wait for them to filter out the sand, so the meal was a bit gritty...

No-ones mentioned nettles - yummy soup!

[Mikey]

If you're after sloes, now isn't the best time of year but if you look in the autumn then the lovely dark berries are a real help. OH didn't believe me about the wild cherries until I pointed out some immature fruit on them.

Oh and best thing I've found to do with haws is haw ketchup although they are nice in mixed hedgerow jellies.

Gentle prod Alison, I think you promised me a recipe for haw Ketchup.

Sloes are at their best just after the first winter frosts, when the tree retracts some of the astringent tendencies of the berry. If you've ever bitten into one raw, you'll understand what I mean.

[Mikey]

No-ones mentioned nettles - yummy soup!

Something else!!!, I grow these on the lottie though, so they're not really wild to me..