Make Family Trips Fun Again

Beautiful Plum Blossom - Out Now!

Many people seem to dread family days out. They do not seem able to find something to do or somewhere to go that will suit everyone's wants and needs.

To an extent, this is normal and obvious to some people - adults, children, teenagers, boys, girls, men, women - don't they always want different things? Isn't that natural? Of course different people will favour different things if given a choice but when everyone has to go out to the same place, on a day out or a holiday for instance, problems can crop up.

Spring is Coming

But who or what is to blame and what can be done to ease the situation? We can always blame lack of time, lack of conversation, mobile phones, meals eaten in front of the TV, modern technology, social media, online gaming is a popular scapegoat. We could blame teenagers, although most of them are normally more interesting and polite than many of the adults I know.

A Stone Style

Foraging has several advantages as a family activity.

• It takes place outdoors and involves walking, so it can help to keep you fit and strong.
• Talking is always much more easy when you are walking or doing something else at the same time.
• You will strengthen your connection to nature, the seasons, weather etc.
• Anyone can do it with a relatively small amount of knowledge or practise.
• Small children and teenagers can enjoy it as much as adults and the elderly.
• It can be integrated with technology, if you wish.
• It is not a "gendered activity".
• You can go out with a specific aim, to a certain place or you can do it in any place or time, just because you happen to be there at that time.
• You can do it all year around - although you will mainly pick fruit and nuts in the Summer and Autumn.
• You can learn about geography, mapping, natural navigation, healthy diet, the seasons, household finances, biology, chemistry, cooking, baking, preserving, pickling, and creating alcoholic drinks for the grown ups.

Awesome Hambledon HIll

The best time to start learning a new skill is always NOW! This is true whatever the time of year but, as it happens, Spring is the best time to start discovering how to forage. This is because you can spot fruit trees best, by recognising their blossom. Fortunately the various fruit trees that we harvest from tend to flower roughly in sequence.

A Steep Start

1. First comes the Plum and Blackthorn (Sloe), around March, filling the hedgerows with a white bloom. People will also notice Daffodils at this time.
2. Next you tend to spot the Cherry trees and they grow everywhere; it is amazing how many grow alongside roads around April. Bluebells are filling the forest floor at the same time.
3. May brings Pear and Apple blossom and also Elderflower, Wild Garlic and Ransoms to herald in the start of Summer.

On Hambledon Hill

If you log the locations of the flowers, you will then be able to check the development of immature fruit. Thus you can be the first to recognise the Cherries as they ripen. For us, picking the first crop of juicy delicious Cherries on a sunny day is a magical moment. We normally eat too many, straight off the tree but we try to bring plenty home for eating, baking or turning into jam.

The 360 View is Simply Awesome

From this point on, the seasons get busier, depending on time and how much of the different fruits you wish to harvest. Any walk, ride or drive in the city, park or countryside is instantly hugely enhanced if you and your family have even half an eye open for the masses of free fresh fruit available. All the information you require is available here.

free, downloadable seasonal id pdfs

the Urbane Forager book
Falling Fruit free access map

A Stone Circle (Guarded by Alpacas) with Hambledon Hill

Elderflower for Everyone

Elder trees grow in the hedgerows and fields, the young branches are hollow and pithy (the older wood is very hard). The young branches can be used to make blow-pipes, or flutes/whistles perhaps for the more peacefully minded. The bark is rough and cork-like with deep ridges.

Around May time Elder trees comes into flower. Elderflower is known in some quarters as the first sign of summer and spending a warm sunny day collecting the flowers and turning them into Elderflower cordial or Elderflower champagne, will only enhance that summery feeling.

I think it’s nice to collect the flowers with the children and they will enjoy helping you make the different brews. The kids can then have the cooling cordial and the adults can enjoy the fizzy stuff later on.

The white flowers start as tight green buds that tend to grow upwards, although they may droop if they are heavy; they smell subtly of citrus. Elderberries come after the flowers, they start green and then hang down in bright purple/black bunches, they are very popular with blackbirds and thrushes.

When picking Elderflowers, always try to avoid any flowers with small insects on them. Do leave plenty of flowers on the tree because when they develop into Elderberries, these can then be turned into other tasty treats later in the year.

 

Despite the cold and relentless rain, I saw my first Swift of the year on Monday, and, although he did look slightly stunned; the Signs of Summer are definately lining up...

Urbane Forager Podcast

The local news and information websites, Bitterne Park Info and Portswood Info, have kindly placed links to the Urbane Forager Community Website and this blog.

A podcast interview about our agenda and activities has been recorded on the sites and you can listen to this at your leisure.

Interestingly, the website also reported (01/04/12) on the impending implementation of the Woodmill Hydroelectric Scheme and the New Southampton Partnership, both of which could significantly effect the lives of those who inhabit the proud city of Southampton...

More Pear Tree Destruction

I’m sorry to have to report another act of fruit tree destruction.  Yet again, it seems to be a case unnecessary and ill-considered action. Another lovely pear tree was once again the sorry victim and this one was an easily accessed beauty.

Last Autumn...

This brilliant tree was close to the fence in the derelict space on Somerset Rd opposite Portswood Primary School.

What is Left Now!

We were not the only people who used to pick and consume the delicious pears that this tree delivered each year. We picked over 40 Kg of fruit off this tree over the last couple of years and used it in lots of imaginative ways.

I believe that the space between Somerset Rd and   Rd is being converted into allotments by the city council, so it could have been a sensible/nice idea to leave a prolific fruit tree alone but I expect that the ground workers did not know what type of tree it was.

I fully support the idea of using the space for allotments as opposed to building more ugly flats but I don’t understand why there is a need to cut down all the trees around the edge of the space, if it is to be used for growing food.

The Cleared Space and Remaining Trees

If the remaining stump is left intact and looked after, it might still grow healthy shoots that could once again bear fruit in a year or two.

I will add the tree (stump) location to my fruit map using the Red Hazard Triangle icon.

No More Pear Pirates }:-(



The Pear Tree, Loaded With Fruit in 2011



I am sorry to have to report the pointless felling of another of our favourite fruit trees. I was walking over the Cobden Bridge and glanced over to where the new flats are being built, where the boathouse used to be. Someone (I don't know who) had cut back all the vegetation, including the bushes and even whole trees, right down to the river level. None of the rubble or rubbish was removed, only the vegetation!



The Denuded Verge by Cobden Bridge 2012 - Note All The Rubble



The lovely pear tree that we visited during our Pear Pirates expedition last August used to thrive on the verge of the bridge and could be accessed at low tide or (much more fun) by rowing boat at high tide. Last year we collected two large builders buckets full of lovely pears from this tree but there won’t be any this year – all that is now left is a bare and barren stump and lots of debris. We had a fantastic adventure on that day and my children were both disappointed and cross when I told them. When I crack open the first bottle of Perry that was produced from those pears, I will drink a toast to that tree.

The Stump, the Rubbish and My Perry is all That Remains

This is the third such act of fruit tree destruction that I have witnessed in the last year.  An apple tree was cut down on the common and another large tree was felled in Chandlers Ford on the roundabout by Asda. This last tree was cut down in its prime, full of fruit and in the autumn; all of the apples (hundreds of kilograms) were needlessly wasted.

Assorted Debris and Pear Branches

The only positive to come from this is that my resolve has been strengthened. I will continue mapping local fruit trees and encouraging other people to use them and also to become involved in campaigning. I think that people who cut down fruit trees should donate several new ones, which can then be replanted in the Lost Orchard of Mansbridge.

What a Sad and Sorry Waste!

Is it really any wonder, that some children have difficulty engaging with food and relating to the natural world, when grown-ups, who should know better, act so carelessly? I'm no Treehugging hippy but I hate the thoughtless destruction and desecration of what little wild and natural habitat we have left in our city.

Walnut Wrangling

Folowers of the Urbane Forager keep saying to me things like,

“Apples/Pears, yada, yada, yada! When are you going to take us walnut picking?”

I’m paraphrasing of course but you get the gist.

Walnuts are very healthy to eat and according to nutritional scientists, they are the king of antioxidant supplying food stuffs. They can be used in a myriad of recipes (including a forager’s family favourite - Chocolate Brownies). In the Middle-Ages, Europeans believed walnuts would prevent illnesses, witchery, malevolence, and even ward off lightning.

It Is A Very Big Walnut Tree

My daughter and I zoomed over to our favourite tree, to check out the seasonal scene and YES, the walnuts were ripe, at last they are dropping! This is a huge tree, bang in the middle of town and you will always get competition from the local children when picking walnuts; there were plenty of sticks on the ground which had been previously used to throw up. Last year we collected about 16Kgs of walnuts in two quick trips to this tree.

Fill Your Boots - Well OK, Hat Then

We bagged a quick basket-full but there are still piles more up there just waiting to ripen or for a good wind to give them a good shake-down.

Ripe Walnuts

The big tree is not on my map at the moment J but some other walnut trees are. This one is in the middle of a residential area – so probably not good for a big gang to descend upon. There are many other walnut trees about the place, you need to be able to recognise their distinctive leaf pattern (a bit similar to ash) and then keep your eyes open to locate them, unless you notice the crunching of shells underfoot. I have seen them in Chandlers Ford and of course in Walnut Avenue in Swaythling.

Walnuts and Plenty of Them

However, if anyone is interested in a Walnut Picknik– I think I know the perfect venue. I need to check first but sign up here if you wish to enlist – be warned though it will require a steep walk up a grassy Iron Age hillfort...