Plumb Line

Around this time of year, you might find subtle clues as to the location of highly forage-able fruit, such as Wild Plums, Mirabelles, Damsons, Cherry Plumbs & Greengages.

These tasty plumbs are best eaten straight off the tree. Although they come in many varieties and colours, you can tell they a ripe when they will fall lightly into your hand, just as you touch them.

Quite apart from the juicy joy of immediately eating these beauties, they can also be turned into pies, chutney, wine, puddings, jam and hundreds of other delightful things.

I tend to eat as I go along during my lunchtime wanderings, then I pick a bunch and take them home for the family to enjoy.

Plucking Plump Plums

Plums come in a rainbow of hues and when ripe, they will drop from the branch, into your hand with the merest of touches.

Each variety will also have a unique shape and taste; they are sweet, flavoursome and very bountiful at the moment.

Our Plum Picknik was a great success but it was almost rained off by a sudden and heavy downpour. 

Fortunately, those that braved the unpredictable weather were treated with a sweet, brightly coloured feast. As soon as an actual rainbow was visible we scrambled off to the trees and quickly gathered a pretty hoard to take home.

Once enough fruit had been picked, we had a quick game of football/frisbee with the gaggle of children who had come along.

Then we rewarded ourselves with some delicious home baked plum muffins and cracked open some elderflower champagne to celebrate the first fruit of the year (we brought some of our ginger beer for the kids).

The elderflower champagne exploded in a somewhat potent manner, blowing the ceramic top clean off the bottle, it still tasted great though.

My daughter also spotted (and gobbled up) the first ripe blackberry of the season, a real bonus.

There are still bucket loads of plums in this area, if anyone would like to collect some. I aim to bring a few samples along to my Arthouse Cafe talk (if they have not already been scoffed). - This event takes place this Thursday evening, at 7.30, just in case you had forgotten.

Free Seasonal Tree id Sheets Ready

The Urbane Forager's Seasonal Tree id sheets are now available for free download in pdf format for easy printing. These very useful resources also feature in the Urbane Forager book, where they have been redesigned and updated.

They illustrate and describe various fruit and nut trees through the four seasons for easy identification at any time of year.

Currently available, we have...

• Elder (flower and berry)
• Plum (many variations)
• Cherry
• Apple 
• Pear 
• Hazel 
• Walnut 
• Chestnut

Clicking on the appropriate links will enable you to look at or download the pdf sheets onto your computer and print them out at your leisure. Do repost them elsewhere if you want to.

Please give me feedback or add comments if you like them or think I could improve upon them.

Spring is Sprung



Crocus



Spring is sprung

The grass is riz

I wonder where the birdies is

The bird is on the wing they say

But that’s absurd!

I always thought the wing was on the bird.

More Crocuses!

That old rhyme was told to me by my Father and for some reason it resonated and stuck in my head. It is traditionally sung with a thick New York accent. I have not attempted to capture this in writing, but imagine boid instead of bird etc. and you will soon get the picture.

Darling Daffs of March

The birds are in fact all of a twitter. It’s nesting/mating time and the sap is rising!

Buds Fizzing On a Plum Tree

It’s a well-known and easily remembered fact that St. Valentine’s/Pancake Day tends to coincide with the appearance of frog and toad spawn it the ponds and lakes.

More Plum Blossom Bursting to Open

Daffodils will soon fill the verges with swathes of yellow and we can once again romantically wander, lonely as a cloud.

Beautiful Springtime

The various types of plum trees and blackthorn bushes are already bursting with buds.

Plum Blossom Heralds the Onset Of Spring

After this last warm weekend (I was in my tshirt), those of us who look, will notice more flowers in the trees - the hedgerows will soon be festooned in blossom. That’s right, the white blossom you spot in the hedgerows now will soon develop into young plums or sloes, so remember where you see it- there’s no fruit without flowers…

Seasonal Tree id Skill Sheets

Here, for your delectation, is an early prototype (and probably the final version too) of my seasonal tree identification sheets. I created the many varieties of Plum initially because they are normally the first to blossom each year, heralding the start of spring with a beautiful display of blossom.



Plum Tree id for Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn

These sheets will be available on request as A4 size PDFs, making them easy to print, but I had to create this small one as a picture in order to display it here.

Do let me know if you like this format and please bear in mind, I'm not a graphic designer...

Local, Seasonal, Fiscally Enjoyable and Easy

We often get articles in the media telling us we should be, Shopping Locally, Eating Seasonably and worrying about oil but how many people are prepared to put up with (what can seem like) the inconvenience of achieving these very commendable objectives? I suspect that the answer is very, very few. However, it does not follow that we should not make an effort, and at least see what is practicably possible, in-between the strata of our busy lives.

Free Plums

I believe that if we spent a bit less time living our lives vicariously through electronic media (says he blogging), we would have enough spare time to do something real. I’m not suggesting you chuck your iphones through the telly; but just one hour less TV or media each night (for instance) would effectively give you another working day per week in which to do something different.

Free Cherries

Of course, no one will change their lifestyle simply because someone said that they ought to; these things have become habitual and deeply ingrained in our culture. Having said this, my kids enjoy picking fruit and the benefits of doing this as a hobby are many. I don’t really think of how much money I’m saving, when I’m in a sunny field shaking cherries out of a tree, but if you add up the cost you can soon see the amount of cash it is possible to save. Bear in mind that a Kilo of fruit tends to cost at least £2.00.

Free Walnuts

Last year we were really just getting started but we still collected…

Apples                 Over 100Kgs

Pears                   About 40Kgs

Walnuts               16Kgs

Hazelnuts            3Kgs

Cherries               Over 7Kgs

Plums                  Over 8Kgs

You don’t need to be a scientist to work out that this saves enough to pay a few bills, but the most important thing, is the fun we have doing it as a family.



Nuts oh Hazel Nuts



This year we are getting far greater yields. We have been utilising the freezer better and are learning about how to preserve and store the excess that we get. Plums are a current case in point, there are simply too many of them for us to deal with. I wish someone else would help us and make use of them, simply so that this resource is not wasted. So, if you like plums, get down to the cricket pitch (opposite the Cricketers Arms pub) in Chestnut Avenue and fill yer boots, or possibly a basket might be more appropriate.

Crab Apples - Free

There are lots more on Botley Rd, Hedge End on the fields off Stoneham Lane and on Chesil Beach nature reserve, in Bitterne Manor all in or near Southampton…

Sloes - Free, although the Gin I'm going to put them in will not be...

Pretty As A Plum

Better For You Than M & M's

We decided to check out a road where I had spotted lots of fallen fruit last year, to see if any wild/cherry plums were ready to drop yet. As we arrived, we saw quite a few plums on the road and pavement. We also found that the road bordered a cricket pitch, which was even better news.

A tree-full of yellow plums or mirabelles

We found small, slightly pointy, yellow plums (possibly mirabelles) – they looked a bit like pixie hats. We also found reddish orange plums, which were slightly rounder. There were also some green fruits and purple ones but these were still a week off being ripe.

A Tree-full of Red Plums

I find it a real pleasure to gaze up into a tree laden down with colourful fruit – just to appreciate the sheer beauty that Mother Nature can conjure up. This wonder is only enhanced when you know that you can also pluck and eat this sweet, candy coloured cornucopia and it is all hanging there for free.

You Little Beauties

The easiest way to get the ripe plums off the tree is to shake them into a blanket, this way you only get the most ripe ones. There are bound to be a few that miss the blanket or fall on people’s heads, so it’s best to get children to hold it. It takes a while to train them to keep their arms out wide and straight but once you have achieved this, you can martial them into position and give the appropriate branch a good old Heave Ho!

The Good, Old-Fashioned, Blanket Method

What seems odd to me, is that hardly anyone else is going to utilise this gift; and that they will fall onto the ground to be consumed by the birds and wasps. Well, today we saved a few Kilos from this inglorious fate and ate quite a few on the way too.

A Few Kilos of Colourful Fruit

They look so gorgeous and colourful; it almost seems a shame to eat them.

A Real Plum Spot

Miraculously, just as the cherry trees were starting to look a little empty – I spotted a Cherry Plum tree that was laden with ripening fruit. I tried a couple, then quickly filled my empty sandwich box and headed back.

My First Cherry Plums of 2011

These beautiful little fruits are always simple to spot because people do not often bother to crop them at all, hence you tend to notice the fruity mess, squashed all over the pavement.

Squashed Messy Fruit - Look Up!

Cherry plums come in many colours and will differ likewise in taste but they will all cook nicely. I have seen Red, Yellow Purple and Green varieties, all of which taste great straight off the tree. It is easy to tell when they are ready for harvesting, as they will be falling of their own accord and should come off into your hand just by touching.

Many Colours but all Plums

Closely related fruits are the Greengage, Damson, Bullace and Wild Plum. Again, they vary greatly in size, taste and colour but all can be eaten or cooked.

The Usual Suspects

It’s worth remembering (especially if you have young children) that the pavement is not always the best place to pick from, especially if it is beside a busy road. Fortunately, there is often a field on the other side of the hedge, so this is where your young pickers should be installed.

Green Plums - Possibly Bullace

These tasty hedgerow fruits can be eaten straight of the tree or made into Pies, Jam, Chutney, Cordial, Schnapps, Wine and a hundred other lovely things. Most recipes that I know do not include the stones, so you might as well take them out as soon as you get home, if you intend to cook with them.

Red Cherry Plums

You can then freeze the halves in the same way as I described for cherries. Of course, they will keep on the windowsill (as they are) for a while, if you just want to eat them as the fancy takes you.

Pitted and Ready to Freeze

It might be worth experimenting a little with drying these fruits – home made prunes anyone? Actually these things often taste a lot nicer than they sound.

Another Loaded Tree Waiting to be Turned into Chutney, Jam or Pies

I think it may be about time to get the child supported blanket out again and shake a tree or two this weekend.

Summer Plum Recipes

No Fruit Without Flowers

Even though blossom spotting keeps you engaged during early spring and is a good way of identifying trees, there is no guarantee that fruit will follow flower. So, after dancing round the May-Pole you can go back over your previous observations and check for signs of young fruit.

Baby Apples

I popped out this lunch time to see how the young cherries and plums were looking. I was pleased to see that many of the trees are looking very healthy already and I am hoping that we may be able to get some fruit in time for the school summer fayre.

Baby Cherry Plums

I also noticed that the cherry trees that had the frillier ornamental blossom rarely have fruit on them. Perhaps they put so much effort into their foppish flowers that they have no strength left for the more essential act of reproduction, or making cherries.

Baby Cherries

Cherries, plums and damsons may actually ripen be a bit too late for the fayre, but I will be keeping a keen eye on them. I was pleased though, to spot my first elderflowers of the year and elderflower cordial should definitely go well on the stall. Elderflower champagne on the other hand, will go well down well in our kitchen.

First Elderflower of Spring

Spring is always a good time to start a ginger-beer plant, we always used to help Mum make and consume this when we were kids. Although ginger is not strictly foraged, we are here to have fun and celebrate, not to be pedantic.
Recipe link Cordial

Recipe link Champers

Wasp Wars & Purple Wine Explosions

One of my earliest attempts at creating foragers wine involved wild damsons, and they turned out to be very wild indeed.

As young lads, we often used to play in the local woods, which involved a quick trip across the local railway branch line, fording the Monks Brook, walking through a cow field and hopping over a style - there was our place of boyhood adventure. There we built dens and tree houses, frightened pheasants with home-made spears, caught lizards, slow worms and grass snakes (we all now know that you should never do this) and fought wars with crab-apples and catapults.

A Lovely Grass Snake

Late one spring, we discovered the foundation ruins of a small building, we called it the Gravediggers cottage; it was probably just a couple of bricks left on the ground.  Next to it we found a damson tree bearing unripe fruit. We planned all kinds of ways to use this purple hoard once it had ripened; including, giving them to mum to make stuff out of, and inevitably… Damson wine of our own recipe.

As spring crept toward summer and we watched for signs of ripe fruit dropping, other, uninvited guests came to join the party, WASPS! The stripy blighters had deliberately built an underground nest, right beneath our tree.  To make matters worse, they were eating OUR damsons. 

Yellow Jackets at Four 'O' Clock!
 That's OK, we've got 2 hours then.

Despite the striped no-fly-exclusion-zone the insects established around OUR tree! The next day we declared war and visited teenage shock and awe upon the wasps, I think we all got stung at least once but we did manage to liberate our tree in the end.
The Damson wine did eventually get made and it cleared to a beautiful pinkish-purple hue, somewhat akin to methylated spirits. Fortunately, it tasted better than meths. I admit that it may have tasted sweeter due to our recent victory but it was sparkling too, fizzing with Champagne like bubbles. If only we had had the foresight to store it in Champagne bottles…

Looks Explosive...

Luckily for all concerned the explosion occurred at night; glass shards embedded themselves in the plaster of the dining room walls and ceiling, and the mess was very messy. You live and hopefully, you learn from your mistakes but my interest in wine making did not stop with damsons; I went on to make others including ginger, elderberry, rice and even water wine. The latter was purely to satisfy my curiosity and personal messianic complex, using only tap water, sugar, and yeast. Needless to say, it tasted quite vile and I never did manage that other thing with the loaves and fishes either.

I should point out that this terrible tale of anarchy, chaos and destruction occurred about 35 years ago, I am now older and wiser. We know, for instance, that wasps play an equally important part in the role of ecology as butterflies and we should not attack or kill them (even to protect a fruity purple hoard).

Summer Fruit Liqueur - Beware!

Now, back to the future and last year I made green walnut schnapps, which now tastes lovely despite looking like used engine oil. I also made a summer fruit liqueur, employing vodka, raspberries, blackberries and other foraged things - it is a beautiful red colour and is dangerously delicious...