I Spy Cherry Pie

We have been taking advantage of the sunny weather and collecting more Cherries in St Deny’s.

They're Big

This time the children and I found a lovely tree, laden with big fat ripe fruit that was just right for picking.

They're Tasty

We could reach some by hand and my daughter and I used pickers for the higher ones.

They're Easily Reached

My son, who enjoys climbing was placed into the lower branches, from where he scrambled up and proceeded to drop any Cherries that he could not fit into his mouth, into our pickers.

They're Coming Home!

It was only a short while before we were trooping off, back over Cobden Bridge; our faces and fingers smeared with juice and bearing our trophy of a large Tupperware box overflowing with tasty red fruit.

Cherry Aid

The Elderflowers are in full bloom now and the sweet smell of pollen is in the air. So, I hope you are all making cordial and champagne…

Elderflowers

Cherries are ripening on the trees now too and you’ll need to keep a close eye on them – there’s a fine line between the bright yellow/red sharp fruit that the birds will gobble and the darker sweeter ones that we want to scoff ourselves. I even saw a squirrel gorging himself in a tree the other day!

Easy Picking

We have already been eating cherries off the earlier trees and they are very nearly there. The tree outside my office and the big one at St Deny’s Community Centre are often the first local trees to ripen and I use these as a barometer to know when to start searching in earnest.

Delicious

My son and I picked a bucket-load of big fat juicy sweet ones in St. Deny’s the other day. You could see from the leaves on the ground that other people had been picking them too, which is good news because the main purpose of this blog is to promote just this kind of behaviour. I have been keeping an eye on the B&Q crop too.

Cherry Plums Ripe Soon

Of course, when it comes to cherry pickers, we have secret weapons… Our telescopic Apple pickers also work very well with cherries and plums, which will be coming soon too. We will be back in St Deny’s, fully tooled up, very soon, we spotted a tree that was absolutely laden with dangling red jewels, which were almost,  but not quite fully ripe….

I Spy Cherry Pie

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

Triangular Leeks or Wild Garlic

We visited Devon for a short break in April and as we walked around the countryside and woodland paths, we could frequently smell the pungent aroma of Wild Garlic.

There are places where whole banks are swathed with Garlic plants, many of them now in flower.

There is a plant in Devon that is related to the Wild Garlic and seen by some as an invasive weed; locals call it the Triangular Leek, it tastes and smells very similar to the garlic.

Our children like to make Garlic bread by finely chopping Wild Garlic leaves, mixing it with butter, then spreading it on toast. It makes for a very tasty substitute; we have also done this with chives that we found growing wild at our Southampton allotment, we toasted the bread on a fire this time.

Elderflowers are now blooming in the hedgerows, heralding the onset of the Summer months. Plums are ripening and I have already seen red cherries in some early trees.

Cherry Blossom Blooms

Spring is now thoroughly engaged, the air is warmer and the cherry blossom is showing through in many places. The bees are buzzing and the butterflies fluttering.

The initial bloom of Plum and Blackthorn is now fading and the young fruit is already developing nicely.

I recently visited Transylvania in Romania (to coach Wing Chun) and was delighted to note that most gardens both in the city and the more rustic countryside were positively stuffed with fruit trees. Of course it was Springtime, so it was easy to spot all the beautiful fresh blossom on the trees.

It will not belong before we can organise our yearly Blossom Walk at the Mansbridge Community Orchard, so keep your eyes peeled for further announcements.

Don't Touch That Dial!

Birthday at Badbury

It felt like the first day of Spring, and we made the most of it. The incessant rain and relentless wind had abated and, as if by arrangement (it was February and my birthday), the sun came out. You could feel the warmth of it on your face or back... What a blessed relief.

I had often wanted to visit Badbury Rings, an ancient hill-fort with archaeological antiquities dating back over 6000 years. It is fairly close to the small town of Wimborne Minster and has very well defined, steep embankments. The central area is now wooded with Oak, Pine and even the odd Walnut tree. Badbury is magnificently well preserved and it’s easy to see why it is a very popular spot with local dog walkers and children.

When we arrived we ran straight up the central axis of the fort, clambering up and tumbling down the banks. Once we reached the central area, where the trees are, we also found a couple of ponds. The children wandered off, to find a suitable tree to carve their names into. 

I took a scenic route and wound out in the opposite direction to the encircling rings. I figured that if I walked the circumference, I would find them eventually.

The children and I also explored the set of three barrows nearby. On the way over to them we found lots of empty walnut shells, presumably collected by rabbits. Curiously, we also found Walnuts on St Catherine’s Hill near Winchester, a couple of years ago.

After we had eaten our picnic lunch we set off to see another interesting site that I had spotted on the map. Knowlton Henge did not disappoint. It is a considerably smaller and a much more kept site than Badbury, but no less impressive. A low bank surrounds the area and in the centre is a tiny ruined Norman chapel. Very atmospheric.

At one end there is a yew tree that hippies have decorated with ribbons. And nearby is a large mound with trees on it, it looks too big to be a barrow, but not on the same massive scale as Silbury. Apparently, the visible Henge is only a small part of a much larger structured landscape and barrows that existed before the local farm was established.

I spotted a chap with home-made dowsing rods, something I had not seen or even heard of since I watched Blue Peter as a child. I asked him if he would explain what he was doing, to the children and he kindly let them have a go… Soon my son was scampering about tracking ley lines and getting caught in power vortexes.

Pretty soon though, I grew tired of Michael’s post-modern grab bag of internet based conspiracy theories and slipped off to take some photos; here though, I found people apparently worshipping trees! 

Finally we popped into Wimborne Minster, for a quick look around before going home. It is a lovely little town stuffed full of independent shops and smiling people; maybe the ley lines and energetic chakras keep them happy. Either way, the henge site and town look well worth a return visit at some point. Obviously, I will need to make some dowsing rods first...

Plum Blossom and Blackthorn Bloom

You know Spring is on the way when you spot the first bloom of white and pink Plum Blossom in the hedgerows.

The white Blossom with its small, delicate five petalled flowers, suddenly brings life back to the city roads and countryside.

It can be difficult to tell the difference between Plum and Blackthorn blossom. The Blackthorn will, of course, bear Sloes next Autumn.

The simple way to tell the difference is to plunge your arm vigorously into the bush and wriggle it about. 

If it is covered in bloody scratches when you retrieve it, odds are it was a Blackthorn... The clue is in the name ;-)

Of course, you could simply marvel at the beauty that nature brings and remember where the plums will be in a couple of months. 

It always brings a smile to my face, when the warmer weather finally takes hold...