Spring Forward

One of Springs unexpected delights is the sight of Catkins, caught in sunlight, hanging in a hedgerow or dappled woodland, like golden rain. Catkins are tree flowers, commonly a Hazel tree, so later, around September there will be Hazel nuts to gather here.

Hazel Catkins 

The 2026 vernal equinox occurs on March 20, marking the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Equinox means equal periods of night-time and daylight; the tilt of the earth also brings us closer to the sun. We get longer hours of warmer sunlight up until the Summer solstice. Nature adapts according to the increase in temperature and the dwindling hours of night.

Plumb Blossom

One of my favourite and most apparent signs of Spring is the sudden blossoming of Plum trees and the related Blackthorn. Plum trees in city gardens and roadsides are suddenly filled with dramatic shows of creamy white flowers. The blossom also has a distinctive smell, which reminds me of marzipan (made from almonds, and also related), you can even taste it in a plum flower. One of my long time hobbies is the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun and this name translates as "Beautiful Springtime" and the plum blossom is a related symbol. The key thing with plum blossom is remembering where it is, plums in many varieties and colours could be there later in the season. Blackthorn, which is more common in countryside hedgerows, will supply us with Sloes later in Autumn, allowing us to prepare everyone's favourite Xmas liquor, Sloe Gin.

Magnolia Blossom

Another tree that flowers in urban gardens at this time of year, is the stunning Magnolia, their big blousy flowers are showy but also eminently edible, giving a distinctive tase of ginger. There are lots of different Magnolia recipes including various teas and biscuits.

Ransoms

Less showy but just as tasty plants that appear in abundance in Spring include Wild Garlic and Ransoms, which you normally smell before you see them, typically covering woodland banks or in damp hedges the leaves and flowers can be used in many cooking applications including salads, pesto or just for added flavour in a meal.

Alexanders

Alexanders are an often missed Spring hedgerow gem. Tasting akin and related to the carrot family, it has edible leaves and flowers. The delicious flowers can be fried in batter, the leaves can be fried in butter with wild garlic, a tasty supplement to any meal. A word of caution, you need to be very careful with plant identification, if you are unsure, don't pick it. Several very common but extremely poisonous plants (Hemlock and water Hemlock Dropwort spring to mind), can look very similar to the untrained eye. I spent a year observing the differences, through the seasons, before venturing into eating these plants.

Beautiful Springtime

Harvest Moon

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is once again upon us. A baleful harvest moon illuminated the evenings of the equinox weekend, and the traditional Autumnal storms came billowing in from the Atlantic. None of this prevented us from breaking out the Apple pressing kit. 

We had been harvesting loads of Apples and on the Saturday, we set about pressing them into 35 litres of juice; I filled my demijohns, and several gallons are now merrily bubbling away, tuning into cider. The remaining juice was pasteurised and bottled up, ready for the forthcoming year.

We also collected enough Pears for me to produce my essential annual stock of Chunky Pear and Walnut Chutney. We still had Walnuts and Hazel nuts left over from last year, and fresh ones are falling already, early, like so many other things this year.

It turns out that the 2018 weather was perfect for vineyards and it promises to be a special vintage - we harvested our own grapes from our allotment and produced several gallons of tangy juice, most of which will be fermented into a new rose wine, Chateau Vin du Witts Hill, perhaps.

Sweet Chestnuts also look like they will be falling soon, we will be out gathering, and competing for the largest, fattest fruits to bring home and roasting them on our fire as the cooler, darker evenings draw in.

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.

Wrap Up Warm

It might not seem like it, as you dig your way out of several fathoms of bone-cold snow, but the wheel of the year is inexorably tuning toward Springtime. Winter though, is always a lovely time to go for a wild walk and picnic, just be sure to wrap up well. So, dig out your boots, woollies and waterproofs. On recent expeditions to the New Forest, we found several ancient apple trees to add to the map and of course some truly splendid oaks.

Just Look at the Girth on That (photo by Kevin Jenkin)

The days are getting longer; we are one third of the way from Mid-Winter to the Vernal Equinox after all. Soon I may not need to turn my bike lights on as I cycle my chilly, wet way to and from work. 

There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather-Only Inappropriate Clothing

Today I noticed the bright jewel-like buds and flowers of crocuses, just beginning to poke their heads above the frosty grass parapets - always a sight to brighten the heart. 

My Mum has daffodils in flower in her garden but I'm sure this is just a freak occurrence. Catkins, the dangling flowers of the Hazel tree are also making an appearance, much to the delight of children everywhere.

A Frozen Shower of Catkins

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.

Hedge End Apples

One of my Favourite Trees

As if on cue, the weather suddenly shifted as the Autumnal Equinox fell. The Indian summer we had been enjoying turned cold, windy and wet.

Official Taster

Fortunately, we made the most of the last sunshine on Saturday by nipping out to Hedge End to pick some more apples.

Each Apple is off a Different Tree

There are several trees in this location and although it has been a bad year generally for fruit, some trees have still managed to do the business.

10Kg Small Cider Makeweight Apples

We will be storing nice apples for the winter months and converting any that are not good enough into apple juice or cider.

13.5 Kg Bucket-Load of Different Varieties

Past experience has demonstrated which trees grow the tastiest eaters and the best cooking keepers.

12 Kg Best Eaters for the Apple Store

Having said this, we are not fussy with our fruit; we know that knobbly apples can conceal the sweetest flavour and the fruit that is the sharpest to savour, crushes to create the coolest cider.

One Half of the Apple Store Filled

We filled our boot with a healthy 35.5 Kg…

Apples of the Equinox

There are two lovely little apple trees by the junction of Dukes Rd and Thomas Lewis Way. I’ve often noticed them but every time someone picks all the apples very early in the season.

This year, after we noted the trees had been cropped, I returned to mop up the survivors. The original picker lacked either the tools or the determination to gather the hard to reach fruit.

I had to prune away some brambles in order to reach the apples but they were an interesting looking fruit and I gathered about 8 Kg. Sadly, I saw that some idiot had dumped and smashed a china basin by the tree; the effort required complete this criminal act would be about the same as disposing of it legally.

I did notice that some crab-apples were grafted onto one of the trees. I believe this old practice is intended to provide a small supply of more-tart fruit, to improve the cider making or cooking process. It is a sure sign that someone who knows their onions, once cared about the tree. I always grab a couple for good luck; I firmly believe in preserving arcane lore, especially when it comes to apple trees.

The Autumnal Equinox falls this weekend and I intend to pick a regular boot-full of apples (that’s a car boot, not a wellington), in Hedge End. The best fruit will be stored for the winter months and the less tasty crop will go toward the imminent cider making season!

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