Young Plums (Go For it!)

Beetroot, Pear and Walnut Salad

My wife made a deliciously zingy and very healthy salad, using Beetroot, Pear and Walnut, she also added thinly sliced Turnip, Avocado, crisp Watercress and leaves of Jack by the hedge (Garlic Mustard), from the garden. I supplied the Walnuts and added some Hazelnuts for fun; these nuts were gathered last year during October and September, they keep very well in cool, dry conditions. Apples will also last throughout the Winter, if you store them well.

Walnuts and Hazelnuts

The recent heatwave has kept me out of the midday sun and I decided it was high time to pick the Elderflowers that I have been planning to make champagne with. I got on my bike before it got too hot and cycled over to the local park, beside the river. I got a heady citrus waft off the flowers, as I approached from downwind. I filled my bag in a matter of minutes, getting covered in yellow pollen in the process.

Elder Tree in Flower

The other simple ingredients are Water, Lemons, Sugar, and a dash of White Wine Vinegar. By the time you have this little lot mixed together in a bucket, the kitchen smells terrific and gives you a strong taste of things to come. It is left (covered) in the bucket for 2 days, then the debris is filtered out and the liquid transferred into demijohns for fermentation.

Ready for Fermentation

After a couple of weeks the fermentation should have slowed down enough for bottling in Pressure Safe Bottles - but a word of caution... If fermentation continues too much under pressure, you might, at best, lose half of your lovely Elderflower Champagne all over the room where you open it. Far more dangerous, would be exploding glass bottles, so please, do keep a regular eye on anything you have bottled and always use suitable Pressure Safe Bottles!

Green Cherries

Ongoing observations include, keeping your eyes pealed for immature fruit. If you have identified a likely tree by its blossom, revisit it later, to see if any young fruits are developing. I have already seen young Plums, green Cherries, and tiny Apples and Pears; regular checking will keep you in tune with seasonal developments and ensure you are ready as fruit ripens. I recently noticed Fennel growing out of pavements in the city.

Fennel

Nasturtium are starting to grow in the garden, these are one of the most likeable garden flowers. The leaves and flowers can be eaten, or added to a salad to liven it up. They taste peppery, a bit like Rocket or Water-Cress. The Latin name, Nasturtium, translates as "Twisted Nose!"

Nasturtium 

Strawberry Powered Bike Rides

This year's Elderflower Cordial has been Pasteurised and safely bottled, thanks to my daughters efforts.

At the time I was too busy, brewing up a double batch of Elderflower Champagne, it always seems to go too quickly.

We had a blissful half term holiday, camping and cycling in France. We did not realise initially, but it was the week before the D Day 75th anniversary, and there was a great deal of preparation going on. 

We spent most of our time on our bikes; the French do know how to make perfect cycle paths and networks. We would cycle from one town to another, along peaceful, nature laden pathways, without a single car in sight.

On one of our cycle trips, we spotted a large patch of Wild (Alpine) Strawberries, so we called a short rest break. We proceeded to feast our faces on these delicate little juicy fruits, before setting off again, fully rejuvenated.

Cherry, Honeysuckle, & Too Much Fizz

We have been out gathering big, juicy, beautiful Cherries. The ones in the picture above are not yet ripe, they will turn dark red and almost black when they are sweetest and ready to harvest. However, if you want to be sure of beating the birds, you might want to pick them when they are dark red and ripen them in the safety of your windowsill. 

Apparently there is a different sort of Carbon Dioxide crisis now. This one due to a shortage not an excess. Well I can tell you that we have more than enough for now. I have been venting off my  supercharged Elderflower Champage. Normally I can manage this safely, but just occasionally, I fail to re-clip the stopper quickly enough -  with some entertaining results.

I have also been out collecting Honeysuckle, to help with flavouring the latest batch of Unity brewing Co. seasonal ale. My kids love these flowers and suck the nectar out of the backs.

Elderflower Everywhere

You know that Summer is coming, when the Elderflowers begin to pop their snowy white heads up through the fresh green hedgerows. They add a delightfully subtle, citrusy aroma to city park and countryside walks.

My kids always get excited, planning for their cordial and can spot a suitable bunch of flower-heads at 100 yards. Although we will be harvesting together, this year, as normal, I will be leaving them to their own devices when it comes to making this.

The kids and I got on our bikes and whizzed up to the common for a reconnoitre, but the flowers were not yet open. We spotted some on the way home and planned to return to the common the next weekend, to get picking!

I will be needing to gather rather more than I normally do. I always make Elderflower Champagne, this however, only requires a few big flower-heads. This time around, I will be helping to make a new seasonal beer as well.

Following on from my successful collaboration with Jimmy Hatherley at Unity Brewing Co. The Spring ale, named Printemps, employed stinging nettles for their unique flavour, but this time around I will be collecting Elderflowers, towards a Summer Saison Beer.

This is Apple blossom.

Something Brewing in the Heart of Southampton

As I trudge, begrudgingly up my garden path like some Antarctic explorer, the grass crunches under foot and the crisp cold seeps deep into my toes. The shed that contains my locked bike looms out of the pale moonlight.

Cycling to work, my face is frozen and my fingers are feeling like frostbite but the sky is now turning a thin grey-blue and distant vapour trails trace a pinkish web over the firmament. Shortly, the garish orange glow in the East becomes the sunrise over Segensworth. 

The frost still lies thick on the ground but above the cold car parks and grim and grimy buildings of the industrial estate, the morning sky now burns a brilliant azure; it’s going to be a cracking day.

The fragile beauty of Winter still holds the hope of Spring within its vice tight grip, singing in the wind, vibrating in the sharp shards of ice and even seeping through the weeping rain and snow. It’s all too easy to wish for shorts and the sizzle of a Mid-Summer sun but the wheel of the year turns steadily and we must first start our search for signs of change.

Speaking of seasons, I am delighted to announce an exciting new collaboration between the Urbane Forager and Southampton based beer behemoth Unity brewing Co. Head brewer Jimmy Hatherley wants to create a sophisticated new range of seasonal Wild beers and the Urbane Forager is a perfect fit as a partner for this project.

I popped down with some friends, to meet Jimmy in his taproom and supped some of his awesome ales. We also sampled some of my own 2016 Elder-flower Champagne and Cider; by the end of the evening I would have agreed to almost anything. However, seasonal foraging is my strongest suit. So, we shall soon see what fresh flavours we can bring to the Unity taproom table. 

In the meantime, I definitely recommend visiting Unity brewing if you are in the area, or buying their merchandise from a Southampton pub/off-licence.

An Elderflower Adventure

We had just returned from a trekking/camping holiday during half term (more on that expedition later) and the kids had been spotting Elderflowers.

They decided it was time to make some sweet, delicious, thirst quenching Elderflower Cordial. However, I was just thinking about making Elderflower Champagne.

Elderflowers are virtually everywhere in the parks and streets at the moment, so we thought it might be fun to go by boat, just for the hell of it.

At St. Deny's Sailing and Rowing Club on the river Itchen, we saw that a blackbird had nested in the lower eves of the clubhouse and was feeding two tiny fledglings.

We soon had life-jackets fitted and launched Tern, our favourite family sized rowing boat and even though both children can row, I was given the job of pulling on the oars.

We saw our first Elder straight away, just yards from the pontoon and we were soon filling our bag with fresh citrusy Elderflower heads.

Further upstream we found other bushes hanging over the river, or in amongst the reeds and I even set the kids ashore to harvest from one particularly busy tree they spotted. As I predicted, with two pickers and one rower we had soon gathered more than enough.

On the way home we bought 5 lemons and one Kilo of sugar, which was enough ingredients to make 3 litres of Elderflower Cordial and 6 litres of Elderflower Champagne.

All the rest was done by the kids in the kitchen and it didn't half look a mess when they had finished but, to be fair, they did tidy up when I explained that I would ferment the lot if they didn't get cleaning.

Beltain and a Blossom Walk

It looks like the Summer is finally getting a grip here in the south UK and everyone should soon be making Elderflower Cordial. I prefer Elderflower Champagne but you need to take a few elementary precautions.

I believe the warm weather may have been encouraged as a result of the recent Beltain celebrations at Butser Ancient Farm. Beltain is an ancient tradition to bring on the summer, to celebrate the drawing back of the night and lengthening of the days.

We often visit this wonderful place for this extraordinary event; there is always lots of interesting things to explore and do. The evening always culminates with the very dramatic burning of the colossal Wickerman.

This year  the 10m hight shape-shifting Wickerman took the form of a human body, with the head of a badger, and antlers sprouting out from behind its ears. You can write down your wishes on paper scraps and stuff them into his legs, to be burned and sent into the night sky as red hot sparks later in the evening.

It was a chilly day and we were prepared for rain (though it never came), you can always hide in a round house and sit by an open fire listening to stories, if you get too cold. My daughter and I kept warm by walking about all the various activities, drinking hot cocoa and by dancing to a band playing sea shanties.

Toward the end of the evening, as darkness fell, everyone was entranced by a team of rhythmic drummers marching out toward our towering statuesque bonfire, which was lit by a lucky young lad with a flaming torch.

While the flames licked ever upwards and our wishes joined the stars glimmering in the darkness, there was a constant chorus of ooh!s,  ah!s and cheers to supplement the drummers, who had now retreated to a safer distance, as various parts joined the conflagration or exploded after crashing to the ground.

Finally, we tramped back over the fields, tired and weary but still awed by a night of wonder, our path lit by the flaming torches we carried.

There will be a Blossom Walk on Saturday May 14th at the Mansbridge Community Orchard. We will meet at 04:00pm on the old stone bridge over the Itchen, regardless of the weather. The bridge is at the end of the Pitch and Putt course and near the White Swan pub/restaurant on the A27. 
The walk is free and volunteer led but you will be traversing rough ground and fields, so dress appropriately and everyone is responsible for their own health and safety.
If anyone wants to buy copies of my lovely book, let me know in advance and they will be available for the totally fantastic price of just £10.00.

Plum Picking

When we first arrived at our current house, about 5 years ago, I was disappointed by the fact that the front garden had previously been replaced by an ugly concrete parking slab. The whole concept of converting gardens into parking for cars is anathema to me and I was determined to reclaim some of the original front garden. Eventually we found the resources to build a low wall, fill it with earth and plant some nice flowers, we also planted a small Cherry tree in the midst of the lush shrubbery.

This year our endeavours were proved worthwhile and we were rewarded with a decent harvest of very large delicious cherries, just as the other trees in the neighbourhood were running low on stocks.

Our allotment is also bearing fruit. The Tayberry bush was coming through with masses of huge flavoursome goodies, which I had to virtually fight the children over. The Blueberries are looking good too.

I have finally found time to bottle my batch of Elderflower champagne. I only hope that I have left it long enough, I don’t want a repeat of last year’s kitchen based fountain feature! I corked and caged the recycled bottles quite securely. It started off an opaque opal white but in a few days it soon settled down to be crystal clear.

During my lunch hour walks, I spotted a true abundance of plums and, upon closer inspection, it was apparent that some were already ripe. The purple/red fruit literally fell into my palm as I touched them, so I grabbed a couple of handfuls and scoffed them as I explored further in the area.

I have checked out the local trees, and I will shortly organise a Plum Picking Picknik. This will possibly be combined with a collaborative jam/chutney making workshop. If this idea sounds like the sort of day you would enjoy, keep a close eye on the Urbane Forager blog as it is likely to be announced at fairly short notice!