The fun and healthy family foraging activity of identifying fruit and nut trees on local public land, locating them on a map and then picking, eating, processing and preserving the produce.
We visited Devon for a short
break in April and as we walked around the countryside and woodland paths, we
could frequently smell the pungent aroma of Wild Garlic.
There are places where whole
banks are swathed with Garlic plants, many of them now in flower.
There is a plant in Devon that is
related to the Wild Garlic and seen by some as an invasive weed; locals call it
the Triangular Leek, it tastes and smells very similar to the garlic.
Our children like to make Garlic
bread by finely chopping Wild Garlic leaves, mixing it with butter, then spreading
it on toast. It makes for a very tasty substitute; we have also done this
with chives that we found growing wild at our Southampton allotment, we toasted the bread
on a fire this time.
Elderflowers are now blooming in the hedgerows, heralding the onset of the Summer months. Plums are ripening and I have already seen red cherries in some early trees.
