Get Outdoors

Well, the clocks have gone back, we have had our first frost, Halloween is upon us and the kids have been getting creative with pumpkins.

It has been half term and we have not rested on our laurels - We started off with a walk from Woodhenge to Stonehenge, which was a beautiful and peaceful way to approach the awesome world heritage monument. The whole place is a great deal improved since the car park and road were removed.

Another day we visited Brownsea Island in Poole harbour, something we had not done before but will definitely do again. We walked around the island and the red squirrels were superb;  we literally had to drag the kids away when it was time for the last boat home.

Later in the week, we had yet more apples to press into juice. Fortunately the weather was with us and we got busy in the garden.

My daughter and I had harvested 110 Kgs from a friend's trees, the Sunday before and we  managed to fill about 40 more bottles with the golden nectar to store for use throughout the year.

Finally, we capped off the weeks exertions with a trip from Studland Bay to Old Harry rocks, by kayak, with St Deny's Sailing and Rowing Club (a very fine institution). It was a bit windy and quite a long journey but it was exhilarating.

I probably need a bit of a rest now but with kids about, I doubt I will get one any time soon!
Don't forget to put the Urbane Forager book on your Xmas present lists!

We Made Our Own Fliping Nutella

My daughter is a fan of Nutella and spreads it on everything, including her face sometime. Seeing as we had collected a vast amount of Hazelnuts, it seemed an obvious idea to make our own.

We Made This... Ta Da!

I made "nutella" once before and destroyed the drive cog on our blender in the process. I'm sure it was on the way out anyway...

Nuts!

We found several different methods but in the end, we chose one that used ingredients that we either had in the cupboards or could easily obtain locally.

Don't Burn Your Fingers and Don't Eat Too Many Before Weighing

This time we used a recipe from Oh Nuts! and everyone agreed that it tasted even better than the real thing. Plus not a drop of palm oil was used, so no need to apologise to the environment... By the time you read this, I'm sure we will be well into the making of our next batch.

Whisk and Whisk...

INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5 oz roasted unsalted hazelnuts (also available from shops!)
• 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 3 oz (about 1/2 cup) plain chocolate, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp honey. We used some donated by friends of the Urbane Forager.
• a food processor

French Foragers Honey From Friends

DIRECTIONS:

1. The first step is to toast the hazelnuts.  Toasting nuts adds a depth of flavour that’s important to the finished product. It also makes it easier to remove any remaining skins. So place your nuts in a preheated 200 degree C oven, and toast them until they’re brown and fragrant, about 10-12 minutes. Be sure to stir them every 3-4 minutes to keep them from burning. Once they’re toasted, remove the skins then set them aside (the nuts, not the skins) until they’re no longer hot.
2. The food processor is going to do most of the work in this recipe. Start by adding the cooled, toasted hazelnuts to the processor bowl. Turn the food processor on, and after a minute or two you’ll be left with very finely ground hazelnuts. Wonderful for sprinkling on pastries, but that’s not what we’re going for, so keep processing. After another minute, the nuts will start to clump together around the blade, and you’ll find you have a smooth paste. Add a touch of salt, and you've create a tasty hazelnut butter! But we want nutella, so turn that processor back on…

3. 

   Nice...

   After about 5 minutes, your hazelnuts should be processed into a liquid. Scrape down the sides and the blade and process until there are no lumps remaining. Set the hazelnuts aside while you prepare the chocolate portion of the recipe.
4. The chocolate will need to be melted, so we used the double boiler method on the stove-top. Whichever method you choose, combine the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, and honey in a bowl.
5. If you’re using a double boiler, put the bowl on a pan of simmering water on the stove-top, and heat it, stirring frequently, until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. If you’re using the microwave, be sure to stir the mix after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating, and stop once everything is melted together.

6. 

   Messy Marbling

   Now you've barely done any work and the nutella’s almost finished. It’s magic! The final step is to add the warm chocolate mix to the bowl of the food processor that contains the liquefied hazelnuts.
7. Process the mix for 1-2 minutes more, until it smooths out, loses a little graininess, and gets shiny. The more you mix, the stiffer the nutella gets, so be sure to stop while it is still nice and spreadable.
8. We then added the mixture to clean, previously used (and we like to think), Up-cycled Nutella jars.
9. Ta Da!
   

   

   Into Jars (Before Eating)

   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

   Now also available for your Kindle

Anyone for Cherries?

I am a very regular user of the St Deny’s Community Centre, and I had been keeping a close eye on the ripeness of the cherries on the big tree in the front garden. The fruit on this tree often ripens early, a week or two before the other local trees and you need to be prompt if you want to beat the birds to it.

It was Midsummer when we rolled up outside the Junction Inn, with our fruit picking equipment boxes and lucky cherry socks. The first stage was to install the smallest members of the gang on the roof of the car, which we had conveniently parked directly under the tree.

Our friends soon joined us, bringing their own children along to help. We then set about filling up our containers with beautifully sweet, ripe cherries. Of course, quite a lot of the dark red fruit didn’t make it past the hungry mouths of the children (and adults).

It didn’t take long before the local kids got wind of the fact that these red things were not actually poisonous berries (despite my best efforts to convince them) and we soon had a little gang asking if they could help and more specifically to share our booty. Not that I mind, and actually, I positively encourage them to go and find more trees around the neighbourhood, there are plenty.

The regulars of the Junction Inn also seemed quite interested in the goings on. By the time we had finished, I had worked up quite a thirst myself but first, I had to get home with our fruit and get the children fed and up the wooden hill. No prizes for guessing what we had for dessert that night...

Misty Eyed Mistletoe

As December rears its frost encrusted head, we realise that just because we have had a windy spring and wet summer, it doesn’t follow that the winter will be mild. I didn’t feel at all cozy this morning as I cycled to work with sub-zero fingers and frozen tears streaking my cheeks.

I Could Easily Climb That!

On a brighter note, the children are anticipating Christmas; lights and inflatable Santas have started crawling over houses. I like to entertain myself by asking people, Have you got all your presents sorted out yet? I have a friend who always leaves present buying until Xmas eve, he swears that it is the quietest time for shopping and he can be seen stalking the streets of Southampton late into the evening, loaded down with bags, wearing a large red coat.

Big Balls of Mistletoe

As the season of goodwill draws near, Mistletoe starts to appear in greengrocers; normally accompanied by media reports that there is a national shortage of this parasitic passion arouser. Mistletoe can cost a fortune (£3.50) for a tiny sprig but it is also available for free on a deciduous tree near you. I always begin spotting the romantic freeloader around this time, and we are going to gather some again for the children to sell at the school Winter Fayre, it went down a storm last year.

A Mistletoe Seed Growing Legs

Last year I decided to attempt to grow my own but you do need the patience of a saint to achieve this. You initially need to smear a sticky mistletoe berry onto a deciduous tree, the berry contains the seed. After a long wait (provided the seed is not gobbled up by a Mistle Thrush), it sends out a couple of small tentacle like roots, which latch into the tree and tap into its nutrient supply.

Tapping Into a Young Oak

Once the seed becomes established it continues to leach the tree’s sappy goodness and gradually grows into the familiar plant. While on the subject of parasitic, freeloading passion arousers, Justin Bieber’s hair apparently went through several similar developmental stages; a fact that he allegedly attempted to celebrate with his ingeniously titled stocking filler, Mistletoe.

Stand Here With Me For a Moment x

Bolton's Bench Apple Trees

We took a picnic to Bolton’s Bench, near Lyndhurst in the New Forest. It could have been hot and sunny or pouring with rain, according to the forecast. It did both.

As the kids and I went for a quick amble along the ridge path we started to notice some stunted crab apple trees. Several of the trees were covered in fruit and I often think we should make more use of this native species.

Further along we found a tree that looked like the fruit would develop into normal sized apples. The tree was absolutely laden.

We can’t tell yet whether they will be eaters or cookers but I’m sure that there will be plenty of them and it would be a lovely place to pick fruit on a hot autumn day.

Plum Picknik & Arthouse Talk

We are organising a foraging Cherry-Plum/Mirabelle Picknik in association with the Transition Network. We plan this for Avenue Park in Stoneham. Anyone who joins us can take in a simultaneous visit to the lovely First World War shrine in the park.

Yummy, Cherry Plums

This event is suitable for families or adults. The lovely plums here are plentiful, they taste great straight off the tree. The fruit is edible straight of the tree and would be great for jam, chutney, pies, wine etc.

Bring a suitable container if you want to take some fruit home with you.

This event will go ahead regardless of the weather ;-) Showers look likely so dress appropriately, bring a brolly or just come to see where the trees are and then come back during the sunny weekend.

Event Venue:   We will meet in the Cricket pitch car park, opposite the Cricketers pub, Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh.

Date: Friday 20^th July (the last day of school for many children)

Time: 6.00 pm (this Friday evening)

Cost:  Free!

An Oak Leaf, with a Droplet of Water on it

I am also delighted to say that I have been invited to give a talk on our, Fun & Family Friendly Foraging activities around Southampton at the lovely Arthouse Café on Southampton High Street.

In my guise as the Urbane Forager, I will give a short talk on practical foraging.  I will cover legalities, tree identification, health and safety, the objects of his project, the public free fruit map, my rather public Blackberry Ban spat, the campaign for a Community Orchard in Mansbridge, my free fruit for all manifesto and my hidden agenda, to bring back scrumping.

Hopefully, I will bring a selection of different plums or other fruit along for people to sample.  Please spread the news and bring lots of questions to help me along.

Event Venue:   Arthouse Café, High Street, Southampton. See the link on the left-hand side bar.

Date:  Thursday 26^th July

Time:  7.30 pm

Cost:   Free!

Rustic Fruit Cage Completion

Ta Da!

The weather finally relented enough for us to get down to the allotment space that we are sharing with our friends. The main aim I had in mind was to complete the netting surrounding my rustic fruit cage, which I had constructed from coppiced hazel and also to see if the slugs had eaten all of my squash plants yet.

Muck Spreading

When we arrived, the first thing we noticed was how high the grass had grown; it was easy to lose the children, which was nice! Actually, in truth they were quite helpful weeding, sowing carrot seeds, planting strawberry runners and chopping down the grass.

Getting Planted

Stretching the netting over the cage was no mean feat and definitely a two person job. This was largely due to the wind, raspberries and the fact that it kept snagging on the rough hazel. Eventually we had it covered, as they say, with only a tiny scrap left over.

Taking Shape

Now, finally the project is completed, our raspberries, tayberries, blueberries and strawberries can now be left to ripen without being gobbled up by our feathered friends. We are looking forward to harvesting the soft fruits now that the hard work has been done.

Door Frame

The door works and even some of the hazel staves used to prop up the fruit buses are starting to grow. I even briefly entertained the thought that it might be possible to grow a fruit cage out of hazel; although, I suspect that this might be a bit too much of a quixotic idea, even for me...

Door Added

If you would enjoy the challenge of building a similar construction or simply read about our allotment activities, follow the sequence of links below…

Netting... Done!

1.       http://theurbaneforager.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/attack-on-manure-mountain.html

2.       http://theurbaneforager.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/another-lot-of-allotment.html

3.       http://theurbaneforager.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/rustic-fruit-cage-contruction.html

4.       http://theurbaneforager.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/rustic-fruit-cage-continued.html
5.     http://theurbaneforager.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/allotmenteering.html

There were times when I thought it would never be finished.

Cherry Picknik Anyone?

Can't Reach These!

I went out for a walk around the area of Hedge End where we picked our cherries last time and was pleased to note that there were plenty more close by waiting to be gathered.

Big Sweet Red and Juicy

I also found a tree with some tasty larger cherries by the side of the path, so I decided to spend a little time seeing how many I could reach. It was a bit tricky because I had no picker and there were lots of stinging nettles but I grabbed a bagful anyway.

My Fruity Lunchbox

I also noticed on my rounds that baby hazel nuts are now visible, although not nearly ready for picking. That will have to wait a month or two yet.

A Nut Cluster 

However, the cornucopia of Cherry Plums, Mirabelle’s, Bullace, Greengages etc. (cue long list of different and confusing names) are looking bountiful and they look as if they will ripen in a week or two. Rest assured, I’ll be keeping my eye on them.

Pluckable Plums

Till then, if anyone fancies a Cherry Picknik in Hedge End (close to the railway station), please register your interest here, by email or on the Facebook, Mansbridge Community Orchard page.

The Tester Passes Verdict

Magnificent Muesli

I realised that we still had a large stash (several Kgs) of last year’s hazelnuts squirreled away in a cupboard and brought a basket load down to see if we could utilise them in some way. It didn’t take long for the kids to notice them and they were soon happily cracking away and munching handfuls of healthy nuts and making a merry mess of the carpet.

My partner then decided to make her favourite homemade muesli. I was subsequently tasked with cracking enough nuts to create a massive biscuit tin full of delicious, crunchy oat-based cereal. I’m sorry to tell you that the exact recipe for this blend of wholesome ingredients is, apparently, top secret.

I can’t remember how exactly how many nuts she used that night but I lost track of the plot of the film I had intended to watch; you need to concentrate or you can get tooth-challenging shell fragments in your muesli; not a good thing at bleary breakfast time.

While I was on the job, I thought I would make a box of tasty trail mix to take to work; I added our last walnuts, some raisins and any other titbits that could be foraged from the cupboard – The resulting combination made a pleasant contrast to my daily cheese sandwiches.