I thought I’d create a thread devoted to foraging for food and goodies in the great outdoors, cooking out in the open as well as in the kitchen and some of the basic equipment, tools and clobber required. It might be an opportunity to share some recipes, memories and experiences.
My avatar is a snapshot of some haws, last Autumn we made some haw ketchup with spices, delicious although this year I think I might splash out on a mouli, pushing those berries through a sieve is not the most efficient method. We made wild garlic pesto and butter, the stinging nettle season passed us by but hey ho,we’ll make up for it in the spring. I tried dying a white t-shirt with nettles using ferrous sulphate tablets as a mordant, that was a bit of a disaster. Instead of the green hue I was hoping for I ended up with a mucky brown tie dyed effect, probably down to the iron tablets.
Anyway, you get the idea, new thread… fill your boots
I love foraging - some of my ‘freebie harvest’ list are:-
Mushrooms
Rose hips
Hawthorn - leaves in Spring - Berries in Autumn
Elder - flowers in Spring - Berries in Autumn
Nettles
Brambles
Dandelions
Sloes
Wild Garlic
Crab Apples
Lime leaves
Sorral
Bilberries
Cleavers
Juniper Berries
Yarrow
Meadow Sweet
I’m all about the nettles right now…even though it’s passed. I have a bramble bush that I’m cutting back and using the branches to make twine - might even have a go at basket weaving. I’m interested in fabric dye and have tried that in the past with varying degrees of success - no mordant though.
I love learning about medicinal plants (haven’t dared to try anything yet…still a bit of a wuss with that)
I make teas with various leaves, eat lots of berries and generally just enjoy making things from natural stuff.
They are classed as noxious weed here and any growing wild are sprayed by the council.Unfortunately someone in our house didn’t think of mentioning it for a few years.
Sounds good - I might get that! My books are all a bit larger than pocketsize. A recent one I bought is called “Edible and Medicinal Wild Plants of Britain and Ireland” by Robin Harford. It’s interesting info, no pics though so its not like you could take it with you and compare what you find with what’s in the book.
Doh! I wouldn’t eat nettles!This is the offical opinion. Blackberry impacts the environment and agriculture . Blackberry forms dense thickets that exclude native species, leading to its complete dominance of the vegetation understorey and eventually the canopy
I’m glad you don’t agree with it My large spidery dense blackberry bush is a haven for all manner of little creatures, so I won’t be cutting it totally down. Plus it has wild roses growing through it, which were so pretty when they bloomed.
However, I can see how it can take over a place, I’m finding random branches winding up my pipes.
Blackberry picking again today!
It’s quite late in the year but I’m going to attempt cutting and processing bramble fibres and dry them for wetting and twisting into cordage at a later date.
There’s a lady on you tube, Sally Pointer who’s posted a few interesting videos including making cordage.
Hogweed, yes…but not these.
My large spidery dense blackberry bush is a haven for all manner of little creatures, so I won’t be cutting it totally down. Plus it has wild roses growing through it, which were so pretty when they bloomed.