A Walk in the Parks

Civic Centre from the Park

After our success at the British Science Festival, I was invited to lead a foraging walk through the Southampton Central Parks.  Southampton city is rightly famous for its numerous green spaces,  central parks and the common, as well as its more famous connections with historic ships, Mayflower and the tragic Titanic (the Saints football club and University deserve a shout too).

Sweet Gum (Liquid Amber)

I knew this event would be challenging, partly because it was late October but I also knew there was not many seasonal fruit trees on the route. I was going to have to stretch both my knowledge, imagination and definition, for this activity. I did a quick walk through the week before and the results were surprising. 

Rowan (Mountain Ash)

On the day, the weather was fine, Saints were playing at home, and after a brisk walk, I arrived on time, hot but energised. There was a diverse group of enthusiastic people waiting, with a handful of very helpful volunteers. We duly set off to examine the trees in the first park, Hoglands. 

Gingko Leaves, Walnuts and Beach nuts

We started with the beautiful autumnal Maple trees and talked about tapping sap for making maple syrup, then we found some Rowan trees and discussed how to make jelly or preserves from the bright orange berries. The children found Horse Chestnuts (Conkers) and acorns from Oak trees. Then we found Beech nuts and talked about how these can be processed and eaten. I also suggested the children could explore the Speakers Corner and tell people what they thought.

Plenty of Walnuts

People of all ages were gathering collections of colourful autumnal leaves when we spotted our first Walnut, in Houndwell park. Much to people's surprise, we eventually found ten Walnut trees! We also examined a Gingkotree, also known as living fossils, because petrified specimens can be found. This tree is not normally edible, although some people make tea from the leaves, but a very interesting tree to discuss and appreciate its distinct, fan shaped leaves.

Strawberry Tree Fruits

In Palmerston Park we discovered wild Cherry and Plum trees, as well as Magnolia. Magnolia flowers can be eaten or cooked with, and have a ginger flavour. We found Pear trees, but the fruits were the tiny Canicular ornamental variety. There was also a suitably multi-coloured Sweet Gum (Liquid Amber), where chewing Gum originated from. This tree looked spectacular in the slanting sunlight, we found more of these autumnal beauties later.

Sweet Gum Leaves

In East Park we found more Magnolia, Plum, Apple, Walnut, and Sweet Gum trees. We also found three Cork trees, the bark of which was traditionally used to create corks (!) and other cork products. Here, we noted several large trees had fallen in the recent gales, many trees had been seriously stressed by the unusually hot summer and prolonged drought.

Beech Tree

Finally, we crossed over the High Street to West or Watts Park, there we found a Mulberry tree, which bares delicious, sweet fruits in season, and a Sweet Chestnut tree, the Chestnuts here were very small due to the drought. We also counted yet more Walnut and Gingko trees. I finally signed off by finding two Strawberry trees. Strawberry tree fruits can be eaten but they are not as exciting as they sound or look, the taste is very bland and disappointing.

British Science Festival Event Success

 

“The Urbane Forager took a lively crowd through the local common and connected people to their environment and community. There was such a buzz around this event, with people sharing foraging knowledge, apple juice and contact details for future expeditions.”

(Bella, Festival Engagement Manager, British Science Festival)

At the heart of the festival were the talented academics who created and then implemented activities aimed at engaging a diverse audience and showing them the relevance of their work to society.

I led a foraging tour for 30 diverse people through the university campus to Southampton Common, pointing out plants and trees along the way, including hazelnut, blackberry brambles, elder, hawthorn shrubs and apple trees. The group picked some apples and took them back to campus where everyone got involved with chopping and juicing the fruit in my apple press – with delicious results.

The Urbane Forager project aims to explore, engage, inspire, and empower ordinary people to be outdoors more, pay attention to their surroundings, be it city or countryside, observe the seasonal differences in plants and trees, and benefit from harvesting free fruit and nuts. I’m sure we made an impact on the day and hope to hear about the attendees own adventures in the future.

The festival was a great opportunity to reach out, both to those not normally interested and those deeply invested, in science and education, to understand what science really is.

Medlars

One of the young women, a volunteer, said she really enjoyed the whole thing and that she wished her Nan could have joined us because she would have loved the event.

Further reading:

Banned from picking berries on Southampton Common | Daily Echo

The Urbane Forager: Blackberry Ban Battered!

People's National Emergency Briefing

Some of you might already know about Chris Packham's film, for those that don't, I suggest having a good look at what is being proposed. 

There have already been over 3000 community briefings, mostly in the UK, and anyone who wants to do their bit can host the free (but ticketed) film. I'm hosting one myself in Southampton this month. It's very well supported and there are numerous guides and support systems, to make the process as simple as possible. 

The film is not available online or via normal media. The intent is to access government, parliament and the prime minister, as directly as possible with focused petitions and by inviting your local MP to watch screenings of the film.

Seedlings to Soup

Squashes Growing on Bamboo Frame 

Is there anything that gives greater fulfilment that planting a seed, and watching it grow?

Autumnal Chilli

When my son was three, he planted an Apple pip, that grew into a small tree, that was transplanted to our allotment, where it eventually reached twice my height and produced fantastic fruit. 

Squash and Chilli Harvest

Interestingly, every Apple pip will produce its own unique type of Apple tree, the fruit will be quite distinct from the parent tree. This is one reason I don't fret about "Heritage Apples", although, I do have a favourite tree.

Squash, Ready to Roast

Earlier this Spring, I planted some left-over seeds from last year, Squash, Cucumbers and Chilli. To save space, I created a bamboo frame, for the Cucumbers and Squash to grow up. As the plants progressed, I had to train them up the trellis, constantly watering them to mitigate the drought conditions, they soon flowered.

Roast Squash Soup

We ate many of the small Cucumbers in sandwiches, but Autumn is harvesting time. I cut the Squash down and made a super tasty soup, based loosely on a Mary Berry recipe, including home grown Fennel seeds and Chillies for heat. 

Apple, Blackberry, Pear and Quince Crumble

Eating the soup was the culmination of a half-year’s worth of nurturing and tending, it was suitably tasty and satisfying, and I made enough for two days. The Squash’s offering deserved a decent farewell. So, my wife made us a delicious Apple, Blackberry, Pear and Quince Crumble, to top it all off.

Pressing Needs

Garden Grapes

When Autumn arrives we always get very busy. There's lots to harvest and lots of juice to press and process. First up this year was the grapes growing in our garden. I crushed them first, with a potato masher, then squeezed them, within an inch of there tiny lives, in our decade old apple press. Two Gallons are now bubbling away merrily in demi-jons. I was tempted to pasteurize the delicious juice but fermentation is a simple way to preserve fresh produce.

Grape Juice

Next up was the apples and we normally gather around two hundred Kilograms from parks, car parks and common ground around the city. However, this year the crop was massively depleted by relentles heat waves and consistent lack of rain. 

Apple Picking

Almost all the trees have been severely stressed and as a result the fruit yeild was way below par. Many of the trees had tiny apples and a lot of trees had no fruit at all.

Telescopic Game Changers

However, over time we have mapped out a vast amount of fruit trees, and this gives us many options. Even though the harvest was poor by comparison to any other year, and we've been doing this for fifteen years, we still managed to collect enough to make it worth our while.

Northam Apples

I didn't have time to weigh them but we definitely had over one hundred kilograms, and this was more than enough to cover our event at the British Science Festival. This event was attended by thirty plus people, and I led a short fruit and nut based walk over Southampton common, assisted by my family and the BSF volunteers. On our return, everyone mucked in with the chopping, milling, pressing and drinking of juice.

Apple Day in the Garden

Then a couple of days later, we did it all over again in the garden. We had our own harvest festival with friends, family and lots of fruit. Plenty of the juice got guzzled straight from the press, I pasteurised eight bottles as mitigation against the apocalypse, and two gallons were donated to a young cider maker who helped us with our picking endeavours.

The Juice is Loose
(British Science Festival)

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