September Remembers

 

I believe Autumn will arrive quickly this year. The trees are already stressed by the prolonged heat and drought the Summer brought, as a result, many have dropped their leaves early already. Fruit and Nut yields have been affected too. 

Early Leaf Fall Caused by Drought

Apples and Pears, normally abundant by this time, are often very small or even non existent this year. We have been out and about searching all our regular trees but the yield will be sparce this year for sure.

Tiny Apples

Hazelnuts, in the city and on the common, have been affected too, the nuts falling early and many with the shells empty, without kernels. Generally, when I collect these nuts, I do it gradually - I know a couple of trees on my route to work and fill my pockets on-route each day, they soon build up.

Hazelnuts

On the gardening and produce growing front, we have struggled to keep the vegetables watered sufficiently, lugging watering cans up and down the garden from our water butts. The Butts (We have 10 blue barrels) were already dry by June and we subsequently had no significant rainfall until September. It's been difficult to keep things alive and we will be reassessing our situation during the Winter, and increasing resilience for next year.

Gardening and Home Grown Produce

Elderberries are having a great year, seemingly unaffected by the weather. I will be topping up my port-wine supply to keep us going over the dark months. I recently harvested our grapes, which have thrived well on regular buckets of used washing up water. I made two gallons of delicious red juice, so it does show that you can find successful work arounds. More on this later...

Elderberries

The good, old fashioned Medlars that grow in the University grounds are looking nice and healthy and we will be looking at them briefly during my presentation for the British Science Festival (17th September).

Medlars

Next month I will be looking forward to Walnut gathering, Grape wine and Sloe Gin making and possibly even Chestnuts.

Resilience in the Face of Drought Conditions

Farmer's Under Pressure Harvesting at Night.

Man-made Climate Change is undeniably upon us, and the evidence is easy to find. It's not just a hot summer, it's significant change. This is now, finally, being treated as a serious threat to national security. Only time will tell if the governments are acting quickly enough. I am compiling a page for reliable information, including help and support for Climate Anxiety (see below).

Hosepipe Ban and Empty Water Butts

At home, we should be thinking about our own resilience, and water butts are a good place to start, especially during a hosepipe ban. Naturally we should all be preserving water and not wasting it, there are multiple ways to do this. On a basic level you can make simple choices such as, should I wash my car or water my garden? We also save all our washing up water in buckets, to use on the garden.

Beautiful Free Blackberries

Fortunately there are still plenty of juicy, free Blackberries to pick and eat. It's a joyful activity to get on a bicycle, pedal to a local hedgerow, and fill your Tupperware boxes for later, whilst scoffing as many as you reasonably can - that's what I call living in the moment.

Blackthorn Early 

I recently spotted a tree, full of early Sloes, the fruit of the Blackthorn tree, I noticed them partly because they were unexpected but because they were very large. Anyway, as a forager, you need to be opportunistic, so I picked a bag-full and will make Sloe Gin early this year. Traditionally, you should pick after the first frost of the year, but that seems a long way off at the moment and sticking them in the freezer will perform the same job.

Big Fat Sloes

Earlier this year I thought about growing squash upward, they tend to take up loads of space, plus I'm only designated a small space in our garden veg patch. I got some 5m bamboo branches from a friend's garden and began to create a rather Heath Robinson trellis and frame contraption for the plants to grow up. With a little encouragement they seemed to enjoy their elevated position and some fruits are now forming. However, I need to keep watering regularly.

Squash and Cucumber Growing Up 

I was concerned that the watering cans were not penetrating the parched ground and was evaporating too soon. I laid a sheet of cardboard over to suppress weeds and cut holes for the plants. I then got a couple of used 2 Litre milk bottles, perforated the base a bit and buried them in the ground up to their necks. I can now unscrew the caps and fill them from my watering can ensuring that the water is deeper in the ground and less likely to evaporate in the burning sun. The next time I do this, I will make smaller perforations to slow the water dispersal, like gardening, it's mostly trial and error.

Milk Bottle Water Preservation

Thinking ahead to Autumn (some trees are so stressed by lack of water they are already shedding leaves), I checked out a Walnut tree and spotted Green Walnuts. Some people like to make Green Walnut pickles, I tried this once but it's quite a process. I really like the spicy smell of green walnuts but leave them to lose their husks and mature in to Walnuts, which can be kept easily for later use over Winter.

Green Walnuts

Climate Crisis Briefings - Help and Support

Man made Climate Change is now a fact of life and the more you know about the facts, the more terrifying it can feel. Even if it can feel daunting as an individual, knowledge is better than ignorance. Denial is a knee jerk reaction for some, either because they feel helpless to change the situation in any significant way or simply because they have not been furnished with facts. However, talking with like minded people can help and reassure you that you are not alone. Taking positive action in groups can also help, such as signing well thought out and managed petitions can force even governments to listen to your fears and feelings. It is through our large institutions that we can affect significant change.

A really simple guide to climate change

Eco-anxiety: How to cope at a time of climate crisis

Climate we had in 20th Century 'has now gone' - Met Office

National Emergency Briefing

Parliamentary Call for a Televised Emergency Briefing

How to deal with 'doomism' when it feels like the world is ending

Find Climate Cafes

Food shortages could hit supermarkets if no rain in next 10 days in dry areas, say farmers

National Preparedness Commission

Call for evidence launched into national preparedness and resilience

'Hotter and hotter and hotter' - Europe's new climate in seven charts

UK food supply at risk of 'catastrophic failure' by 2030, report warns

After record heat, could the Atlantic make Britain's weather even more extreme?

How the UK's extreme heat is shifting the conversation about air-con

11¾ things to do before you're 50

This blog tends to focus on family activities, but that's because we have children. Obviously, there's no reason why singletons and couples cannot enjoy all the things we do too. Every now and then I think, why should the kids have all the fun? What about the hard working adults? Clearly, they deserve to enjoy themselves too.

With this in mind, I thought I would publish the Urbane Forager's guide to the 11¾ things to do before you're 50! Needless to say, you can still do them if you are older than 50.

For any children reading this, the before you're 50 bit means that you can help your parent's in the identification, mapping, picking and preparation of these various concoctions, the alchemy of fermentation is a fascinating science lesson. However, you should not try drinking alcohol until you are old enough; you would most likely think it tasted horrible anyway.

1. Notice the first blossom of the year in the hedgerows, this will be the Blackthorn (Sloes) and Plum trees, remember where it is and add the locations to the Falling Fruit map. Check back later to pick the fruit. Plums ripen around June/July but you will need to be much more patient with the Sloes.

2. Make Elderflower Champagne, cordial is a big favourite for the children too. The Elder bushes herald the onset of Summer around May/June, depending on global warming. Remember to use pressure-safe bottles! Also, remember where the bushes are and return later in the Summer for Elderberries.

3. Pick and eat Cherries straight off a tree. What could be better? Spot the Cherry blossom when it arrives after the Plum and Blackthorn, record the location on the Falling Fruit map. Cherries will be the first fruit to ripen in the UK and you will need to be quick because the birds like them too!

4. Observe Apple and Pear blossom while the Cherry blossom is turning into immature fruit. Note the locations on the Falling fruit map (can you detect a theme building here?). Nothing beats climbing up and picking Apples fresh from the trees; they obviously make the most delicious and healthy snacks and will keep for months. You can also press the apples into  the best tasting juice or turn it into gallons of cider for virtually no cost whatsoever.

5. Have a competition to see who can pick the most Blackberries. Blackberries grow almost everywhere but it's nice to get out of the city if you can. Everyone can stuff there juice smeared faces with fabulous fruit and when you return you can freeze the remainder or use them to make fantastic vodka and gin based liquors, fabulous to break out later on after a Summer BBQ.

6. Find a Mulberry tree, if you cannot find one, plant one. I try not to tell anyone where my favourite Mulberry trees are; it's good to keep some tree locations secret. The kids go crazy over this sweet sticky fruit and I always Mulberry Gin (can you see another theme developing) along with various puddings. I still have some in the freezer...

7. Make Elderberry wine. The berries will be abundant around August and making this archaic and intoxicating brew is a very simple and satisfying process; you can watch it bubbling away and then save it until it matures. I always use some to make bottles Mulled wine around Christmas, always a good thing to take to parties, along with the mince pies.

8. Find a Walnut tree; there's bound to be some somewhere in your vicinity. Walnuts ripen along with Hazelnuts around September but you can pick exotic smelling Green Walnuts earlier (in June) if you want to try pickling, making Schnapps or Vin de Noix.

9. Gather a great load of big, fat Chestnuts and roast them over a fire, we use a BBQ or chimenia because of our small garden. It's a great way to warm up and celebrate Autumn. Also roast Chestnuts make an ideal accompaniment to fireworks on Guy Fawkes Night. Don't forget to prick them first!

10. Make Sloe Gin. A very simple process, resulting in a fantastically plummy tasting liquor that is just the ticket for those chilly, dark Winter nights and also make the perfect Christmas gift for family and friends.

11. Bring the love into your house! Find and cut a big bunch of Mistletoe. Actually, it is easy to find and more complicated/dangerous to collect but with a little ingenuity and improvisation it is possible. Your loved ones will hopefully be delighted and you can give some to friends and neighbours too.

¾. Upcycle the left-over gin-soaked Sloes that you used to make your Sloe gin (10) use some to spice up your Mulled Elderberry (7) wine or to include in your home-made Christmas Plum (1) pudding.

Super Solstice, Cool Yule & Natural New Year

Christmas is coming and thanks to our virtually Paleo diet (that bit is probably a lie), we hopefully won't get too fat.

We chopped down and decorated a small tree; the children gathered plenty of greenery and made a wreath for the front door.

We also harvested enough mistletoe to bring the love into our house during the Halcyon days and well into the New Year. We spread plenty around our neighbours and friends too.

I have been very industrious in my bottling of Sloe Gin, Taybury Gin, Mullberry Gin and Cherry Vodka. It all looks very stylish in neat square little bottles.

Meanwhile my wife was making mincemeat with the children and we soon had a tray filled with hot mince pies to add to the mix, this made the house smell very seasonal.

I made several bottles of Mulled Wine. This time I used 2013 Elderberry Port as a base and poured it over the Sloes that were left after bottling the Sloe Gin. I added some nutmeg, cinnamon, all spice and cloves and left it to soak for a couple of weeks. I then strained off the resultant potent brew and bottled it.

This archaic alchemical potion won't just warm the cockles of the heart, it will blow the bloody doors off it! Perfect with Mince Pies when visiting friends...

Have a Super Solstice a Cool Yule and a Happy New Year! x0x0

Now, That's a Christmas Tree!

Don't forget to put, the Urbane Forager book on your Christmas present list. 

Order your copy now!

You can buy this lovely book for your friends and family from all good book-stores or Amazon.

the Urbane Forager: Fruit and Nuts for Free

Author: Alan Gibson

ISBN: 978-1-78507-300-7

The best Urbane Forager images are now on Pinterest. Please follow & share.

Sloe TV

It is that time of year again, when we start to think about gathering Sloes. In Celtic folklore, the Blackthorn occupies a dark and possibly even sinister area concerning Samhain (the precursor to Halloween), and facing your own mortality. Certainly, once the leaves come off the trees, they can have a somewhat foreboding skeletal look about them.

You can make many interesting things out of the wood of the Blackthorn tree but the most popular use for the Sloe Berry is deliciously plummy Sloe Gin. You should get your Sloe Gin started by mid November, if you want to have it ready in time for Xmas. It can make a very welcome gift, especially if you store it in decorative bottles. Lore states that you should ideally wait until the first frost, before you pick them (alternatively, sling them in the freezer). After this these highly astringent fruits apparently ripen and taste sweeter.

Obviously, the name of the Blackthorn contains a barely veiled warning, it can be a prickly business, but picking these bloomy blue/black babies brings its own reward. To make Sloe Gin, simply immerse your Sloes in Gin, add some sugar, to help bring out the juice. Leave the mixture to steep for at least a month giving the jar a regular shake (every day for the first week, then every week for the following month or so). Some people recommend piercing the sloes with a thorn first but my experimentation has shown this to be unnecessary. 

I picked mine during lunch-time walks and ferried them home each day in my sandwich box. I already knew where the bushes were because I had spotted to Blackthorn blossom in the hedgerows in March. I filled a large Kilner-jar with berries and then topped it up with gin and a little sugar. I taste it regularly, just to check, then filter off the debris before decanting it into bottles. All that is then required are some decorative labels.

To get a bit more product from your efforts, another top tip, is to reuse the gin soaked sloes by pouring red wine over them, I'm using Elderberry Port from 2013). Leaving them to soak further, produces a fortified wine, ideal for the winter months. I like experimenting, and can't see any good reason for not giving this a go. I then intend to take this a stage further by using the resultant brew to make mulled wine!

Don't forget to put, the Urbane Forager book on your Christmas present list. 

Order your copy now!

You can buy this lovely book for your friends and family from all good book-stores or Amazon.

the Urbane Forager: Fruit and Nuts for Free

Author: Alan Gibson

ISBN: 978-1-78507-300-7

The best Urbane Forager images are now on Pinterest. Please follow & share.

Winter Warmers

Happy New Year Readers.

Lighting Over the Itchen River

The weather here has been relentless and unforgiving; we did manage to enjoy the storms in Devon after Xmas but beyond this we have been largely confined to quarters.

A Huge Beech Tree - Blown Down on Cheesefoot Head

After bottling up another batch of Elderberry Port, and with Sloe and Medlar wine currently on the go, I took the opportunity to test some of the adult drinks we had created this year.

Storm Waves in Hope Cove

Here then, is a quick round up of the fruity flavours that I have experimented with over the last year.

Elderberry Port, Medlar & Sloe Wine, Cider

•       Elderflower Champagne. It took two attempts and some exciting explosions but we had great results in the end. Lessons learned for next Spring/Summer. Plenty of Elderflower Cordial to keep the kids happy throughout the year.
•       Mulberry Gin. Definitely dangerously delicious! I had to fight the children for the Mulberries.
•       Blackberry Vodka. What’s not to like?
•       Raspberry Vodka. A nice contrasting compliment to the other fruit liquors .
•       Cherry Brandy. I think this still needs some tweaking or perhaps I just don’t like it very much.
•       Cider. 11 Gallons this Autumn and it tastes much nicer than last year. We will be made some Mulled Cider and mince pies for Christmas parties. Lots of Apple Juice for the children too; I think pasteurisation may be called for next time.
•       Medlar Wine.  Currently bubbling away nicely, last year’s batch is not bad at all.

  

  Medlar Wine 2012 Vintage

•       Elderberry Port. Recently bottled, very successful in previous years.
•       Sloe wine, still busy fermenting in the demi-jon.
•       Sloe Gin, a plummy favourite that makes a popular gift. Also a great nip for those cold winter nights.

Awesome Autumnal Update

Trick or Treat

We might well be heading for a cold/wet/windy/frosty Winter, but no one complained about the sizzling summer that ripened everything, ready for the bumper Autumnal harvest this year.

Crab Apples at Mansbridge Community Orchard

Elderberries were abundant and we picked a sufficient amount to make a gallon of Port from one tree, during a Picknik at Danebury Iron Age Hill Fort.

Red Devils at St Mary's

It’s hard to get across just how many Apple trees there are on public land, loaded with free fruit. We live busy lives like everyone else, yet the children and I collected over 200 Kgs of delicious ripe apples this October and that was before we even ventured into Mansbridge Community Orchard.

Apples by the Bucket-load

Our Apple store is filled to the brim, a stock which should easily last us into next Spring. We created 11 Gallons of Cider, so that  should last longer, even after talking thirsty friends and Christmas into account. It beats me why anyone buys apples from the supermarket.

Autumn Beeches and Holly

A couple of brief but timely visits to local Walnut trees yielded more than enough to see us well past Christmas. Hazelnuts were also prolific this year, these I mostly gathered by filling my pockets during lunchtime forays around Hedge End; I didn't need to look anywhere else but I'm sure there were plenty everywhere.

A Great Year for Shuffling Through Dry Leaves

Some of our favourite pear trees have been shamefully destroyed but fortunately friendly neighbours came to the rescue and we poached some and added a load more to the cider; judging by the taste, this was a good idea.

Plenty of Nuts for Xmas

We seemed to be too busy pressing apples to collect many chestnuts this year. I visited Telegraph Hill, but spent most of my time simply soaking up the special atmosphere.

Squash Army!

My son scrambled up the Medlar tree in the University grounds and in about 10 minutes we had picked enough to make a new batch of wine. I also picked enough Sloes, during my lunchtime wanderings around Hedge End, to make Sloe Gin and Sloe Wine.

Crackling Lightning

We are still eating our way through the army of squash that we grew at our allotment; it was a very good year here too and my shelter and fruit cage are still standing after all those exciting storms. 

Selling Mistletoe for the School Xmas Fayre

This Winter, if I find time, I will be building a compost heap, from up-cycled pallet wood on the site (that's how exciting my life is). 

Bye Bye Office, for a While Anyway...

Enjoy your Christmas holiday and let's hope for a brilliant New Year.