Cherry Blossom and Bluebells

The transition from Winter to Spring this year has seemed indistinct and largely unimpressive. It has been relatively warm and very stormy and this has affected the timing of flowering plants but the thing that really matters now, is that it's warm enough for me to be wearing shorts again.

Blackthorn Blossom Fizzing in the Hedgerows

Bluebells are flooding the woodlands, like some kind of alchemical spell, and the trees are bursting magisterially into their full leafy green grandeur. We took a wonderful walk up on Farley Mount, to see the equine monument there. The pyramid/rocket shaped tribute is supposedly built on top of a Bronze age tumulus, there are several in the vicinity. 

This area is a fabulous spot for a spring picnic - skylarks sing aloft and swallows swoop over the fields below. On a clear day, you can see all the way to the Isle of Wight and easily identify Southampton docks and the New Forest.

As we ate our sandwiches my daughter noticed something closer by, a tiny lizard had popped out to sunbathe, right by our feet. We explored further, into the delightful Parnholt Wood, where the Bluebells are in full spate and searched for an ancient bowl barrow that a friend had told me about.

Cherry bloom is now flowering along the bare spindly branches everywhere and the Apple & Pear blossom is starting to appear too. Naturally, you will need to check back in a month or so to ensure that the flowers are turning into immature fruit and this is one of the reasons that I favour tree spotting on my regular routes. 

If you examine the Falling Fruit map, you will notice an abundance of locations about my home town of Southampton, as well as around my work places of Hedge End and Segensworth, where I habitually walk during my lunch hours.

Look Closely in this Puddle

Now is the perfect time to spot where those secret fruit trees have been hiding and we will be leading some local blossom walks soon, so check back regularly for details, which are very likely to be at short notice.

Eclipsing the Equinox

There might not be much to harvest from the hedgerows at this time of year but there is still plenty to get excited about.

The weekend of the 21^st 22^nd is when the Vernal (Spring) Equinox occurs. This is the first time of the year when the days and nights are of equal length; the second time is the Autumnal Equinox. The Vernal Equinox is also the time of year in the UK when the clocks get moved forward, so we loose and hour of sleep, which I could do without personally.

More excitingly, this week on Friday morning 20^th March in the UK we will experience a partial solar eclipse, (almost total sounds more fun). In Southampton (where we live) this will occur at about 09:28 with about 83% of the sun covered. Do not try to use sunglasses or anything else; looking at the sun, even during an eclipse is very dangerous and can damage your eyes. The simple and safe way to watch the process is to make a pin-hole camera, or use a small mirror to cast the image onto a plain wall. You can download the Royal Astronomical Society leaflet here.

You will need your eyes to be working at their best during the coming months to spot all the beautiful blossom that is bursting out all over the trees in Spring. This bloom will hopefully be the precursor to vast amounts of free fresh fruit, which you will then be able to access and eat. If you can’t eat it all at once you can transform it into pies,cakes, puddings, jams, cordials, chutney or anything else that comes to mind.

You should also be adding the trees locations onto the FallingFruit map, this way you and other people will be able to locate them more easily in future years.

The Urbane Forager Book Update…

Swift progress is being made during the Spring on the Urbane Forager book and we are now in the final stages of the design work.

If you want to receive updates on the progress of this project, please notify me via the contact pages here or on our community website. Then we can invite you to the book release party and you can be among the first to own a signed copy.

Falling Fruit - Mapping Monster

Recently, I have been working collaboratively with the Falling Fruit group. You might notice a dense cluster of links around Southampton where all of my local fruit map coordinates have now been added to their global master map. There is a permanent link to this map on my blog's left hand side bar. 

Now the Falling Fruit team are attempting to raise funds for a app which will make this information available to all. They have already reached their initial funding goals and are now looking to achieve more advanced targets. I fully support Falling Fruit in their objectives and wish them every success with the project. what follows is a message from them...

Here’s why it’s important: Falling Fruit is like Wikipedia for fruit trees. It’s an open, collaborative map of free food sources all over the planet. We have more than 600,000 locations mapped so far. People all over the world use our tool. Hundreds every day. It’s kind of unbelievable. We have no idea how that happened.

Well, maybe we do. Over the last 18 months, we have built the site entirely in our free time, devoting literally thousands of unpaid hours to its development. We’ve also paid for the hard costs (server fees, filing fees, etc.) out of our own pockets.

We believe that a giant map of free urban food sources makes a compelling argument: there is enough food to go around. Food doesn't have to be a commodity. We have the capacity to produce enough good food for everyone and a lot of it, right in the cities where the bulk of people live. We want people to experience picking an apple, or cherries for a pie, or a handful of warm mulberries on a summer day. We want to convince your city to plant more food for you, not more crepe myrtles.

If we can raise funds to develop an app, we think that we can sell it for a few bucks and use that income to permanently cover our costs. We want Falling Fruit to stay free, open, and available to all. We simply can’t afford to keep paying for everything out of pocket. As the user base has grown, the site is has become too costly to run. If we don’t reach our goal, we’ll have to use ads, or make a portion of the site not free. We don’t want to do that.

If you’ve already contributed, Thank You! So you know, you can pick a different “perk” at any time. We’ve added a number of new perks since launching the fundraiser which you might want to check out. Honey, photographic prints, cookbooks, caramel apples etc. 

If you haven’t contributed, can you help? Even if you don’t have any cash to spare, can you help spread the word?

https://www.barnraiser.us/projects/fallingfruit-org-mobilize-the-urban-harvest

Mansbridge Community Orchard Funding News

We Need More of These

We are very happy to announce that the Mansbridge Community Orchard has received a generous amount of financial backing from the Southampton Airport Community Fund.

We Always Need More Funding and Volunteers

We will use the money to purchase tools, training and equipment for use in the orchard and other orchard related projects. Primarily we will buy fruit picking and processing equipment (like a shiny new apple mill and cider press) but we will also invest in tree pruning training and tools.

We Need More of These

Fruit tree renovation can be a lengthy process; this is because it can only be done by degrees and during certain periods of the year. Given the number of trees in the Mansbridge Community Orchard (around 50), we believe that five years is a fairly optimistic target, for returning the majority of the trees to good health.

We Need More of These

 Last year was spent clarifying our position, mapping the area as well as keeping most of the brambles and ivy out of the easily accessible trees. All the efforts culminated in a wonderful Apple Day event, organised by the Southampton Woodcraft Folk, who have taken on an active role within the orchard.

We Need More of These

The Southampton Airport Community Fund has also promised us volunteers. We will organise another introductory Orchard Blossom Walk, when the trees come into flower (around April-May). Around this time, we will also set up a meeting for anyone else keen to get involved.

Another Apple Tree Pointlessly Destroyed

My Daughter Picking Apples in Merlin Gardens

This was once my favourite apple tree and it grew all alone on a small verge by the pavement of Merlin Gardens, in Hedge End, Southampton. It was only small but always filled up with the best tasting, rosey red apples that I've ever had the pleasure to bite into. It also had a branch of yellow crab apples grafted onto it.

All the Young Children Join in and That Bucket is Full

These delicious crunchy apples were very easily picked and in 2010 we gathered a couple of big bucketful’s here with friends and children.



2011 and the Tree is Heavily Pruned

 In the winter of 2011 the tree was heavily pruned, so there was no fruit last year but was growing well again during the year and I was hoping for a good crop in 2012.

2012 and the Little Tree is Growing Back

Sadly, some idiot has now cut the tree down, so there will be no more of those lovely crisp red beauties to munch on ever again.

March 2012 - Some Fool has Cut the Little Tree Down

I have no idea who committed this act of vandalism (presumably a person who lives close by and didn't like apples). Writing about and reporting this sad event, will not bring back the lovely apple tree but somebody needs to protest about these things and doing so makes me feel a little bit better.

The Bare Verge Without a Tree

This kind of action should always be reported to the local council tree dept. Many trees are protected and although some people seem to think that they are no better than weeds; this small but beautifully formed tree was an example of all that is good about fruit trees.

The Bare Stump

Now all that is left, is a bare and drilled stump and a pile of sawdust!
Just like this lovely pear tree by Cobden bridge.
Also this apple tree by the Chestnut Avenue roundabout.
I have added the location of all these felled trees to my fruit map.

Holes Drilled Into the Stump, Presumably to Prevent any Growback

Blooming Blossom



Beautiful Hedgerow Blossom



Spring is in the air at last, and it looks like it might be early this year. Daffodils are showing their bright yellow faces by the roadsides and you will begin to notice the hedgerows filling up with the beautiful, snowy haze of blossom.



Plum Blossom Heralds in the Springtime

This busy bloom is the flowers of the blackthorn (sloe is the fruit) and plum trees. It can be difficult to tell the two apart at first (they both belong to the same family) but the blackthorn has long sharp thorns on the branches and trunks, so the clue is in the name.

To Distinguish between Plum and Blackthorn - Press Your Thumb On These...

As the early flowers open, the trees are also filled with plump buds and soon all of these proto-flowers will burst forth in their full glory, smothering the trees in a haze of effervescent beauty.

This blossom is not just a thing to marvel at and wonder over. It is also a chance to register where delicious fruit may be growing later on.

At this early stage you will not be able to discern which variety of fruit (if any) will later appear; it could be damson, mirabelle, bullace, cherry plum, greengage or normal plums.

Like a Chinese Painting

Cherry plums make a sweet, firm afternoon snack; I often pick some during my lunchtime wanders and stash them in my lunchbox to munch on later.

Plum Blossom Normally Has Five Petals

The elusive greengage is quite simply delicious; they burst in your mouth like soft, delicate nectar-filled purses. There is a stone in there too mind you, so it’s best not to get too carried away.

If you are lucky you may even find a Victoria plum tree (the head Chef’s favourite) – We found one last year with big, fat beauties on it. It was in a Chandlers Ford car park and most likely a remnant left over from an old orchard or fruit garden.

A Blooming Wave

In the end though, it’s not the technical name of individual fruits that matters, it’s the fact that they taste delicious straight off the tree, freeze easily, cook well, make great wine and cost absolutely nothing.

Hedges Change Colour

There is always a positive glut of plums available every year. So, you should never need to buy them from the supermarket when they are in season next June/July.

Buds Bursting To Open

Free cherries follow soon after the plums.

Fruity Beauty

Yesterday I heard two articles on Radio 4 that caused me to stop and think about the implications of the Urbane Forager project, beyond my family sphere.

A Large, Misshapen Pear Yesterday

First, in a belated rear-guard action against fruity fascism, Waitrose supermarket is now selling weather damaged apples at a reduced cost. This rather strange phrase also applies to ugly or misshapen fruit, which somehow doesn't conform to the current warped ideal of Fruity Beauty.

All Different All Tasty

Well, here at the Urbane Forager we have long recognised the fact that fruit, like people, comes in many shapes, sizes, flavours and colours. The world is a richer place for this; there are over a thousand varieties of apples in the UK alone. Some of my favourite apples are knobbly, russety or possess unique profiles. A quick glance at any of my Usual Suspects or Apple Matrix pictures illustrates this fact. As a society, we should be concerned about waste and in the current financial climate individuals and industry should be reducing it as much as possible.

Don't Judge Us By Our Skin Colour

Thinking about saving money brings me to the second news item that came shortly afterward. Once again, an expert was stating that families apparently cannot afford to buy healthy food and somehow end up eating crisps and junk-food instead of fruit and vegetables. It doesn’t take a genius to spot that this is a matter of education, habit and culture rather than just money. Various people including the well-meaning Jamie Oliver have attempted to address this very serious issue.

Better Than Crisps

Take a brief look back over this year’s blog entries and see the vast amount of fruit and nuts that we have collected - over 200 Kgs of apples for starters – all for free and all from within the city environment. Of course it takes a certain amount of time and knowledge to locate and pick fruit and that is partly what the Urbane Forager project is all about, to demonstrate what can be achieved, if you want and if you can be bothered.

Loads of Free Apples

As an aside, I called the Soil Society to ask if I could define my foraged fruit and nuts as “Organic” and so arguably, healthier. From my interpretation of their definition, it seemed that I could. However, they were unable to give me an answer at the time and this seemed to be because I was eating, not selling the produce (so I wouldn't be wanting to pay the Soil Society any fees), they failed to call me back but in any case, it makes no difference.

Summer Summary

The annual regret of Wimbledon is over, the cricket is looking pretty good though; we are now past the halfway mark in the year so let’s have a quick review.

It might not seem like it, but the nights are drawing in now so pay attention at the back...

Plum, Cherry Plum, Bullace, Damson and Greengage – Currently available in huge amounts for cropping. Great for eating, jam, chutney, pies, wine, liqueurs, cordial – the list goes on. Recipes.

There Are Loads of Local Cherry Plums

Green Walnuts – If you wanted to pickle or make schnapps you should have picked in June before the shell forms. The rest will mature as nuts in September. I am currently tuned into walnut trees and keep noticing them everywhere.

Green Walnuts on a Tree

Cherry – Mostly finished now but you still find the odd late tree with fruit on it. 

Late Cherries Still Available

Elderflower – Finished now but remember the trees because Elderberries will be ready soon and they make great wine or jelly.

Young Elderberries, Should Be Black Before Picking

Blackberries – Ready now, on a bush near you. Keep an eye on your favourite bush. Think of all the fun you can have with this delicious fruit. They freeze well too.

Who Can Resist a Juicy Blackberry?

Apple and Pear – Still ripening nicely; the branches bowed under the weight of fruit. It looks like it could be another bumper year and they will be ripe a few weeks early due to the warm spring. I’m looking forward to making cider or perry again in September. Note - I have found a tree with ripe pears already!

Apples Are Going To Be Up To A Month Early This Year

Hazelnut – The unripe nuts are currently easy to spy on the trees and in the hedgerows. Don’t pick them yet, be patient and wait for them to start dropping in a couple of months.

Hazel Nuts - Not Ripe Yet!

Chestnut – These trees have been in flower and looked quite exotic. At the moment you can spy young nut cases (more about nutcases later...). Chestnuts will not be ready for a couple of months though.

Chestnut Trees Have Fantastic Flowers

People have been enquiring about my Top Secret Google Fruit Map. Well I have been schmoozing with Greg from the Eastleigh and Chandlers Ford Transition Network. We have decided to share a version of the Urbane Foragers Fruit Map (see bottom of blog or my Community Website. I have also agreed to do some talks/flashforaging trips with these guys, so contact Greg or sign up to follow the blog if you want to join us for some fruit based fun.