Picking the Mayor's Pears

Best Place For Them!

Several friends of mine have recently expressed an interest in brewing cider. As a result, the Mansbridge Community Orchard cider press has been working overtime. We pressed another 15 gallons of juice this weekend.

My chums used fruit they had picked from home and I had some left over from a quick trip up the Southampton Little Common with my friend Andy. It is always a good plan to have a variety of in your ingredients and so, I  added a few pears I found lying about in the kitchen. Andy did make his own cider press, but the bottle jack employed in its construction, proved too powerful for the frame! He kindly donated his excess fruit to the Mansbridge Community Orchard Apple Day.

Andy Goes Ape

After a busy morning juicing apples, we took a trip with the children to explore Peartree Green, where a work-colleague had reported seeing lots of loaded apple trees.

Hard Work but Great Fun

Our first port of call though was my daughters favourite “snack pear” tree, planted by the Mayor of Southampton several decades ago. As it turned out, there were not many pears on the tree; either it was a bad year or someone had been there first. The kids enjoyed it none the less.

Look Out, They Have Escaped!

After hiking about Peartree Green for a while and asking a few locals, we spotted a big tree that was filled with fruit; we circled around the bramble barriers until we found a path in and the kids were soon scurrying up and around the branches. These were lovely tangy red eaters that tasted a bit like sweet Coxes. Despite the bramble scars and stinging nettle welts, we filled a couple of large bags. This was about as heavy a load as we could climb back up the hill with. Apparently, there are loads more trees that we failed to locate.

Most of this little lot will go into lunch boxes and the apple store, as they look like they will keep well. We grabbed a few little pears off the Mayor’s tree before heading back home, pausing only to buy a bag of charcoal for the last bbq (probably) of the year.

The Mayor's Pears

Cider Press Party

We managed to gather enough apples from the Little Common in Southampton, the Lost Orchard of Hedge End and the churchyard of St. Mary’s in Swathling, to fill our apple store. Importantly, we had enough surplus to press out a few gallons of delicious Apple juice – or Cider as I like to call it.

I was looking forward to getting some action out of the new cider press, which we have been able to purchase with money from the Southampton Airport Community Fund. It had only been used once before by Dan, who is planning to open the Butcher’s Hook, micro pub in Bitterne Park Triangle, soon... I can’t wait for that either!

We asked some friends over, it’s a lot of hard graft and many hands make light work. Pressing a large amount of juice requires military style planning and the action goes something like this...

•          Wash the apples in a large bucket.
•          Chop the apples into quarters and remove any really bad bits.
•          Crush the apples into a pulp and fill the press using a fruit mill.
•          Press the juice out.
•          Collect the juice.
•          Compost the remains.
•          Repeat process until done.
•          Clean the equipment.

Fortunately, children really enjoy the majority of these fascinating processes and can be largely paid off with the best tasting apple juice available.

We added a few pears, kindly donated from our neighbours tree for extra sweetness; according to Dan (who is something of a brewing geek) the sugars are different and don’t fully ferment to dryness. We pressed the Red Devils from St Mary’s separately, just to see the red juice pour out. It was super sweet and we kept it apart for the children to drink as a reward.

I’m pleased to say that we did reach our five gallon target and the day was rounded off with a big barbecue for all involved. Everyone was fully tired by the end of the day, including the kids who were up late playing and, as I collapsed into bed, I slept the sleep of the deeply contented.

Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

Autumn finally arrived. Suddenly, my Monday morning ride to work was shrouded in mist, my feet wet with dew and more worryingly, my cycle helmet wreathed in October cobwebs. My legs and arms ached from a weekend of exertions and yet it was a very satisfying ache. The kind of satisfaction that comes from knowing you have realised, what you set out to achieve.

Carnage and Cleaning

The reason for my sore limbs, was that we (my family, plus some friends and their children) had pressed five gallons of apple juice, from the fruit off Southampton Common and from Hedge End. That’s a whole lot of chopping, milling, pressing and cleaning followed by a warm glow of contentment (and a bbq) afterwards. More about this though, in a later post.

Medlars

The trouble with Autumn is that all its bounty comes at once; hence harvest festivals, pickling and preserves. The day after the cider pressing, my son and I also set off to pick Medlars; those medieval munchables that can be made into ruby red jelly or pale and interesting wine, amongst other things.

My son had been playing rugby in the morning but the tree was loaded with fruit and he was up the trunk in seconds, like a simian shoplifter. In about 10 minutes we had filled my bag with plenty of the curious looking, golden-brown beauties. Now we  need to think about how we should prepare them.

However, our day was not yet done! We thought it was high time to see if the walnuts were dropping yet. They were... We were bang on time and as we searched, you could hear the odd rattling as fresh nuts fell to the pavement. 

Competition, the Grey-Coated Gangster of the Nut World

The noise soon escalated into a clattering storm, as I shook the outer branches with my apple picker; I wasn't actually trying to get them to fall on my boy, as he scampered about grabbing them, but I managed to once or twice. I got one in the eye myself at one point.

Walnuts - Ripe and Ready to Drop

We Got Loads! Of course, Walnuts will keep for ages; especially with this quantity in our cupboard. They can be used in many recipes, including chocolate brownies. We also had a great year for Hazel or Cobnuts, so we will need to think of some interesting ways to utilise the nutty hoard we have squirrelled away. My son suggested Walnuts covered in melted chocolate... Unsurprising, but it would make a totally tasty Christmas treat/gift.

Finally, we rewarded ourselves with a quick trip to Mansbridge Community Orchard for a couple of ripe and juicy apples – I'm quite sure we deserved them after our afternoon travails.

Apple Day celebrations at Mansbridge will be held on the Octavia Road Open Space 26th October. Bring your own apples for pressing into delicious juice, or pick some from the trees on the day. More details soon - don't touch that dial!

Common Sense Picknik

It was the weekend of the Autumnal Equinox and there had been a rather splendid harvest moon the night before. Now it was overcast but warm.

A couple of weeks earlier, we had been on a bike ride to check out the big apple tree on the Little Common. It was loaded but the apples were not quite ripe yet, so we planned to come back soon.

On our return we bought a small group of friends along to help us pick some fruit and generally have a run and ride about. There was a large amount of windfalls on the floor when we arrived.

I guess we must have spent an hour or two picking, chatting and catching the big apples that were thrown down out of the venerable tree.  The kids ran about making the most of the last Blackberries too. After Michaelmas day they should not be picked as the Devil has (allegedly) spat on them.

Southampton Common is a very pleasant environment to pick fruit in and several passers-by stopped to see what we were up to and comment on our activities. There was even a report of another big tree that we need to check out soon.

In the end we picked about 46 Kgs of beautiful apples, the best of which will go into store for the winter months; the remainders will go into the cider press! 

Even with our harvest haul, the bulk of fruit was still left on the tree, there is also plenty on the ground for anyone without pickers.

Ruby Red Crab Apples

I sold my vintage Evans racer the other day; with the profits, I bought myself and the Head Chef, a pair of bikes more suited to riding across the Common or down New Forest trails with the children.

Lovely Lugs!

Obviously, a test bike-ride was needed and we set off along a familiar route; through the parks and along the river Itchen towards the Mansbridge Community Orchard.

Miriad jewels (From Solid Ground)

During the recent Apple Day Event, we noticed that, although fruit crops had generally suffered badly with the unusual weather this year, one of the big Crab Apple trees at Mansbridge was absolutely bending under the weight of its myriad precious jewels.

Hold Steady, Will You?

I clambered deftly through the branches and it only took a few minutes to easily fill my swag bag with the tiny ruby red gems. I tried to take a couple of photographs but I’m afraid it was quite problematic to manage the; grip the camera steady, grasp a bag full of apples, cling onto the slippery branches swaying in the wind equation. To add to my woes, on the way down, I managed to rip the bag on a sharp branch. Such are the potential hazards of foraging…

Life is a Bowl of... Crab Apples!

Eventually, the bikes, crab apples and family were all returned home safely. Here the leaves and stalks were removed and the fruit was washed. Last year we made some scrumptious Crab Apple Chilli Jelly. This year, I’m going to make Crab Apple Wine. We may return later to collect some more to make jelly again, there’s enough left on that tree to fill a whole jam shop.

Mmmmmm! This Looks Exotic.

Elderberry Portal

During our recent Stonehenge walk, we noticed a lovely load of Elderberries hanging off a group of trees. Elder has a suitably ancient and mystical bent; it is occasionally known as the fairy tree.

The flowers arrive just in time to provide Summer drinks for picnics (or Pickniks). Later, around September, Elderberries ripen; they are poisonous raw but become very useful when processed.

A Positive Abundance of Elderberries but No Container!

Last year I made Elderberry Port and this has proved to be my best country wine to date. If I were a wine connoisseur I might describe it as eerily full bodied with a magical reminiscence of rubenesque berry fruits, a delightfully gay nose leaving a lingering unfathomable essence… It is proving very popular and I felt that it was high time to replenish our depleted wine cellar.

We decided to go to Southampton Common, to hunt for Elderberries. This is where we had gathered our Elder flowers earlier in the year but it seemed that the blackbirds had filled their boots before we arrived.

We fell back on picking Blackberries, which were very abundant and we were pleased to meet several other families doing the same thing. The Old Graveyard on the common seemed a specially popular spot too; we even discovered Raspberries there.

Butterflies seem to like Blackberries as much as Plums

I was beginning to think that we had left it too late for the Elderberries, but eventually had a fruitful forage in Hedge End during my lunch-hour. I ferried the berries home in my sandwich box each day and froze them in batches, until we had a sufficient amount.

We also picked a good amount on Danebury Iron Age hill fort (always a great spot for a picnic and run about).

Ready For Freezing

I'm now just waiting for my yeast to arrive in the post before going to work on this little hoard. Elderberries can also be used to make jam, syrup, wine, magical potions etc…

Blackberry Ban Battered!

In a bizzare case of, I fought the law and there was none, the city council have stated that there are in fact no laws banning the picking of fruit by families and friends on Southampton Common.

Hurrah!

In fact, it turns out that the very designation as Common Land (the clue was in the name), allows locals to use it for fuel, clay and taking berries and other wild natural food. Hopefully this will put the argument to bed and everyone can Keep Calm and Carry On, enjoying the wonderful green breathing spaces that Southampton is rightly famous for, in a respectful and appropriate way.

Saturday's Sun Newspaper
(Click Image to Download Shaun Aquilina's Wave FM Report)

According to an article in Thursdays’s Daily Echo a new code of conduct is to be drawn up to clarify proper behaviour regarding the Common and the Urbane Forager is to be invited to contribute to it.  Rest assured, I will press for the inclusion of a clause stipulating that family berry, nut and fruit picking should be allowed; although I would personally object to boar (or even squirrel) hunting, brick making (currently allowed apparently) or damaging woodland in the pursuit of fuel.

Front Page of the Telegraph Friday 7th Oct 2011
We Know Which News is The Most Important

I would like to stress that I have never had any personal issues with the City Council, the Hawthorns Urban Wildlife Centre or the maintenance staff that do such a lovely job of keeping our wonderful parks and common so beautiful, I simply wanted clarification of the bye laws.

I would especially like to thank Matt Smith and Sally Churchward of the Echo for their support and Shaun Aquilina of Wave 105 FM. Of course, everyone who supported the the campaign, visited the blog or told people, played their part and I thank you all. It seems that the article went "Viral" and spread, rather like blackberry jam.

Here is where our story has been so far...

Daily Echo

Daily Telegraph including Saturday's front page!

The Daily Mail

BBC News including South Today on BBC1 TV

This is Hampshire

IT News Post (possibly a mistake?)