Family Eat Ancient Apples!

In our latest shocking news we have finally finished using the Apples that we picked last September! This nine month old fruit was turned into apple-sauce to accompany a splendid roast dinner.

This may come as a surprise to people who are used to buying apples with a sell-by date stamped on the cellophane wrappers, but some types of freshly picked Apples can keep for several months, given the right conditions.

We picked over 200 KGs last year, for free, from urban trees around our city and then stored them in our lovely old wooden apple-cupboard that lives in my garden shed.

The bucket-loads of apples that would not fit into the store were crushed, pressed and Pasteurised, turning them into into several gallons of delicious juice which, I'm pleased to report, we are still glugging down now and couple of gallons of golden cider, which have already been heartily consumed.

However, you do not need a lovely wooden apple cupboard to make apple keep for a long time. My mum still keeps hers in greengrocers boxes wrapped up in old newspaper and, to be honest, this method works just as well and actually makes it easier to remove any bad apples to the compost heap.

Organic Fruit & Nuts For Free

Regular readers of this blog will know by now that we pick a colossal amount of Apples (as well as other fruit and nuts) from public ground around the city and all of it is available for free, but only for those willing to seek it out and collect it.

You might be tempted to think that because we harvest so much, there will be none left for everyone else who is interested, but nothing could be further from the truth. There is still a great quantity of fruit out there, waiting to be picked.

With this in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to show just some of the trees that we have not picked any fruit from. They are ripe and waiting to be harvested, or ready to drop on the ground and be heartily consumed by Mother Nature (which is also good). In these times of enforced austerity, where we are constantly bombarded with news of food poverty and food banks, I have been known to make bold proclamations about the democratisation of food.

Mostly what we do is explore our environment and then pick free fresh fruit and nuts because they are available and to prevent it being wasted. It is nice to be outdoors and we do have a great deal of free fun. However, despite the huge amounts that we pick, there is still far, far too much for us. This is why we want to engage and inspire other people, to do similar things. WE aim to enable anyone else to do the same for themselves; hence the open access global fruit map and free Seasonal id Sheets.

We are fortunate to have steady employment and often buy food in the shops, like everyone else but we will not be buying Apples, Pears, Blackberries, Hazelnuts, Walnuts, Apple Juice etc. this Winter, because we have stacks stored away. It does surprise me when I see people crushing fresh fruit under the wheels of there large vehicles, as they queue in dense polluting traffic in order to get to the overcrowded, overpriced sterile environment of the supermarkets.

These people could be out in a field, enjoying the open air and gathering organic Fruit and Nuts for Free, but the fact that they are not, means that there is always plenty left for those who are making the effort to forage.

Don't forget to put, the Urbane Forager book on your Christmas present list. 

Order your copy now!

You can buy this lovely book for your friends and family from all good book-stores or Amazon.

the Urbane Forager: Fruit and Nuts for Free

Author: Alan Gibson

ISBN: 978-1-78507-300-7

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Spring into Action

It's 7:15am, my train has been cancelled and it's raining. Another train will come but I choose to cycle the 11 miles to my employment, through April's finest showers. A"man" in a black Audi tries to run me over halfway through my journey; hopefully he is still stuck in traffic somewhere. As I work, I sit in my office in the midst of the massive, soulless industrial estate that is Segensworth, near Fareham. I occasionally gaze wistfully out of my window at what is possibly the least inspiring view I have ever had to endure.

Toward midday the grim grey clouds gradually break and the sweet azure begins to brighten my mood. Suddenly my heart is dramatically lifted as I spot and instantly recognise a Kite, slowly gliding over the drab grey buildings opposite. Lunchtime looms and as always, I get out of the building. I jog out of the estate, dodge the speeding motorists and slip through a hedge. Within 10 minutes I am standing in a field and my tightly coiled mind begins to unwind.

I find a footpath and follow it. I spot Plum blossom and Blackthorn too. Most of the white flowers in the hedgerows now are Blackthorn, so I predict a good year for Sloes. I make a mental note to add the locations to the fruit map. Further into my walk, I spot some old neglected Apple trees, or are the Pears? It's hard to tell in Spring. I also note several Cherry trees about to burst into bloom. After a brisk 10 minute walk I reach my intended target, a ruined abbey that I have noticed on a map, it is pretty impressive. In the grounds I locate several fruit trees, one of which is covered in delightful flowers, I think/hope it is a Peach tree.

After a short explore and a wander about it is time to return. I retrace my footsteps back to my office and work but now I am rejuvenated and refreshed. I'm looking forward to my journey home - It's a Bank Holiday weekend coming up. I'm looking forward to stepping off the treadmill, ricocheting about with the family, cultivating our allotment and hopefully scoffing an Easter egg.

As a sad postscript to this little tale, the large field that I got into via the hedge is shortly to be "developed" into an enormous care village. So, yet another green field site is to be decimated for private profit. I spotted a planning notice pinned to a lamp-post (hidden in a hedge where there was no pavement). I really cannot understand how these decisions can get past the local councillors. Although, we could probably guess...