Wild Strawberries

During a recent break in Devon we discovered a meadow nearby that was filled with wild strawberries.

The children were delighted as they love these precious jewels – they hunt them down like hidden treasure.

We have propagated some plants in our garden at home and they spread like wildfire and will grow almost anywhere.

Once the season is upon us the kids need no encouragement, they zoom outdoors first thing in the morning to hunt down the ripest fruits. Most get eaten straight off the plant but any survivours are only saved long enough to be dropped into their breakfast cereal.

They are the first fruits available to the Urbane Foraging family; they taste sweet and strong and they are a naturally healthy addition to other foods.

Just About One Mouthfull!

Apple Attack

The autumnal equinox passed last week and for anyone harvesting apples this means that you are going to be busy. There was to be no exception for the Urbane Foraging family, not least because I wanted to stock up my apple store, arrange an Apple Picknik and pick and press enough apples to fill my second 5 Gallon barrel with cider.

I knew it was going to be very, very busy.




Half an Hour on the Little Common

 

To add to the logistical problems, the girl needed ballet classes and to be taken to a friend’s birthday party, the boy had to go to swimming lessons, Grandma was coming for lunch, I had promised to take the Head Chef out for a meal and we had all the normal weekend chores to perform.



Half an Hour on Woolston Foreshore



I did phone around to see if I could garner any support for the cider pressing but inevitably, everyone else was very busy too.



What am I Going to do With All This Fruit?



Call me crazy but when I set myself a target (even an optimistic one), I always try to attain it. So, with this in mind, my weekend actually started on Friday lunchtime; I borrowed the car and took my fruit picker to work.



Put Some In The Apple Store



During my lunch hour I gathered enough apples (from the Lost Orchard of Hedge End) to stock up my store and still had half a bucket load left over (about 10 Kgs) to supplement my cider making efforts.



Green/Yellow Apples from Hedge End



On Saturday morning, while my daughter danced, my son and I gathered a bucketload of apples from the big tree on Southampton Little Common. There is still a Huge amount of fruit left on this fabulous old tree.



Red/Yellow Knobbly Apples from Hedge End



Then, while my son swam, my daughter and I cropped another load from a lovely little tree covered in crunchy, deep-red eaters, from the foreshore near Woolston.



Red/Green Apples from Hedge End



Both of these were manic picking sessions, with only about half an hour to spare each time but together they produced about 40 Kgs – I estimated that we would need about 60 Kgs to make 5 Gallons of juice.



Green Apples from Hedge End



Saturday PM was the Apple Picknik # 3 - this will be reported separately here but I can say that we all had a great time and I took home over 10 Kgs, so I was still on target.



Red/Yellow Apples from Hedge End



During the Picknik, I also discovered the Lost Orchard of Mansbridge, which is another interesting story for the future.



Russety Apples from Hedge End



Saturday evening we went out for a well-deserved relaxing meal. By the time we walked home I realised how tired (and happy) I was from all my exertions and I slept very well.



Crunchy Red Eaters from Woolston