Hedge End Apple Picknik

I had been checking regularly on the apple trees close to my work place, in Hedge End. I thought they were beginning to look ripe enough to pick. The trees are full of fruit this year; the hot summer sunshine obviously helped the apples as much as it did our summer holidays.

Most of these trees are eating apples, there are many different types and colours but there are a few cookers scattered amongst them. I don’t know where they originated from but after consulting old maps, it seems that there used to be a farm on this land.

The weather looked good enough on the day, so we called around to a few friends and rounded up the children. Despite a drizzly start to the afternoon, the sun soon broke cover and warmed the air.

The adults set about the trees with telescopic pickers while the children scampered up amongst the branches like squirrels; soon the buckets and bags were filling up nicely.

There was so much abundance that it was hard to know where to start collecting at first. Soon though the arms began to ache and the buckets got heavier to drag around; our family took home about 30Kgs in the end, which was a great result.

By the time we decided to stop picking apples, the kids were already on the field, playing football. We had a quick foray into the hazel bushes and filled our bags with lots of lovely big hazelnuts before setting off for home.

On our return, I set about sorting the best apples into our store in the shed; it’s nearly full now and our stock should see us safely through the winter. The rest of the fruit will either be eaten soon (the Head Chef cooked a delicious Blackberry and Apple pie on Sunday night) or turned into juice and cider.

Common Sense Picknik

It was the weekend of the Autumnal Equinox and there had been a rather splendid harvest moon the night before. Now it was overcast but warm.

A couple of weeks earlier, we had been on a bike ride to check out the big apple tree on the Little Common. It was loaded but the apples were not quite ripe yet, so we planned to come back soon.

On our return we bought a small group of friends along to help us pick some fruit and generally have a run and ride about. There was a large amount of windfalls on the floor when we arrived.

I guess we must have spent an hour or two picking, chatting and catching the big apples that were thrown down out of the venerable tree.  The kids ran about making the most of the last Blackberries too. After Michaelmas day they should not be picked as the Devil has (allegedly) spat on them.

Southampton Common is a very pleasant environment to pick fruit in and several passers-by stopped to see what we were up to and comment on our activities. There was even a report of another big tree that we need to check out soon.

In the end we picked about 46 Kgs of beautiful apples, the best of which will go into store for the winter months; the remainders will go into the cider press! 

Even with our harvest haul, the bulk of fruit was still left on the tree, there is also plenty on the ground for anyone without pickers.

Conkers Bonkers

During a recent conversation with the Hawthorns centre on Southampton Common, it came to light that, the activity of picking blackberries (or anything else) on our Common, is not permitted. This came as a shock to me as I had always assumed that this was exactly the kind of healthy outdoors activity that should be encouraged.

I decided that something ought to be done and set about finding out more about the bye laws, easier said than done... However, during my search I came across the Southampton Court Leet, a unique opportunity for locals to air their grievances in front of a Jury of Aldermen and by a lucky chance this was due to take place the following week.

The Court Leet - Sheriff Standing
Meanwhile the Urbane Forager Waits Nervously in the Foreground

I spoke to the Mayor's office and duly appeared at the Civic Centre to make my presentment; based on the idea that local children and families should be free to forage on Southampton Common - what could be more natural?

The Court Leet was also attended by a large group of very well behaved children from Mount Pleasant School, who I thought, were exactly the kind of people who would be most concerned about what I had to say. They might want to collect conkers for instance.

The Town Crier was in fine voice and soon it was my own turn to address the Sheriff and Jury. I was a bit nervous but did my best to express my feelings about the issue and I'm pretty sure that I caused the Sheriff to raise his eyebrows in concern at one point...

As I left the Guildhall, I felt confident that my campaign was in a pair of hands, almost as safe as those of Kelvin Davis. Hopefully our right to pick blackberries on Southampton Common will soon be confirmed - I hope so anyway.

There may be a small article in Thursday's Echo, in support of this cause.