Autumn Arrives

Autumn has arrived and with it the normal flurry of fruit and nut based foraging activity. Recently we have been collecting Sweet Chestnuts and toasting them in an old syrup tin inside our garden fire. Perfect for those chilly evenings as the dark season approaches.

There are still plenty of delicious Apples in the trees and we have been out gathering extra stocks for Apple Bobbing and other All Hallows/Guy Fawkes based events and activities.

We have picked close to 300Kgs of Apples this year, a new family record but there are still lots of trees, filled with fruit, out there that we have not tapped into. Remember that the later Apples tend to be harder, more dense and these fruits will be better for keeping throughout the Winter. Our store is already over-flowing.

The colours of Autumn are always a pleasure to behold and this is a great time for a walk in the woods in order to fully appreciate the russet/red/gold spectrum that is waiting for us, out in the wilds.

Crab Apples are still available for collecting in their thousands, they can be red, yellow or green. There is of course a true bounty of wonderful preserves and drinks that can be made with Crab Apples.

Whilst we wonder at the mists and mellow fruitfulness of our Autumnal world, the leaves are turning to gold and falling, flickering from the darkening branches, spiralling down to the roots that poke through the ground like bones of the earth. 

Each yellow/brown leaf is a wonder in its-self and it is all too easy to miss this beauty. So, take the time to appreciate the detail. Pause your busy life. Go out for a wander (not a march), You do not need a car, you do not need a plan; even the city holds beauty in its roadsides and parks.

And don't forget those Apples! There are loads left and they are free for the taking. Check out the Falling Fruit map and zoom in to your area. This picture here was taken in the Makro Supermarket car park in late October and we have already had about 30 Kgs off this tree. 

Reflections on the Fruity Constancy of Autumn

Normal is not a word that we will be using easily any time soon. The global pandemic has touched everyone, in numerous different ways. For me the biggest changes in the past two years have been, losing my elderly parents, and being made redundant after 15 years in one job. These two things were not directly linked to COVID-19, but they occurred during this period and added to my emotional stress levels. However, because of the pandemic, I did quickly find temporary employment, in a state of the art Coronavirus saliva testing laboratory, this was exciting, challenging, interesting and lasted for nearly a year. 

One aspect of my life that changed directly as a result of the virus was being unable to coach and train Wing Chun (Chinese kung fu), my hobby for over 30 years. I think the most significant thing that I missed was the social aspect of running a sports club. Being in frequent close proximity to people, who's company you enjoy and trust, while taking part in physical activity and learning, is tremendously beneficial to mental states and wellbeing. While we were unable to train together, I set up an online Qigong course to help people to reduce personal stress and control anxiety, while learning this solo art.

In many ways, being outside often, walking, observing nature and actively partaking in the seasonal changes, has been a consistent balm to my stress and anxiety levels during this difficult time and being aware of the ordinary changes, constantly reminds me that change is not only healthy but also is actually the only normal there can ever be.

Lots and Lots of Lovely Apples

Our children have now grown into teenagers, so their wants and needs are ever changing, but I'm pleased to say that they are still very happy to come apple picking with me in Autumn.

The Processing Begins with the Stainless Steel Spade

The kids and I along with my friend Andy picked about 300 Kgs of apples this Autumn, a really tasty haul. Lugging the heavy bags of colourful fruit up to the back of my garden, was quite enough exercise for one day.

The Delicious Juice begins to Pour

Then, one sunny weekend, Andy and I smashed, bashed, crushed and juiced the piles of apples and produced around 60 litres of delicious apple juice. It was a hard work,. but a nice (not to mention productive) way to spend the day. After our hard grafting we stored the juice in various buckets and jars in the garden shed, where it soon began to ferment into 60 litres of tasty cider. We aim to reduce this volume soon, it's taking up a lot of room in my shed!

Quite a Lot of Cider!

I also collected a good load of delicious yellow plums, which my daughter was more than happy to consume.

In November I started new employment, as a research technician at Southampton university. While wandering about during lunch hours, I kept an eye on the Medlar tree, situated near the Physics building, where I now work.

I have meddled with Medlars before, making wine and jelly but fancied something different this year. I gave a load to my friend Matt, who made nettle beer with me earlier in the year, and he produced a delightfully fruity Medlar Ale. I covered some Medlars with gin, in jars to supplement our Christmas Sloe Gin. We picked bags of Sloes during a much needed break on the Isle of Wight, and I can now testify that Medlar liquor is just as fruity as Sloe Gin, with a unique and distinctly different flavour and colour.

With my remaining Medlars, I produced Medlar fruit cheese or fruit leathers (as the recipe named them). Personally I don't think they bear any resemblance to cheese or leather, they are sweet, deliciously moist, very fruity, and they also keep remarkably well.

Heatwaves and Premature Fruit

Blackberries Ripe and Early

Yes, Blackberries have arrived early, almost everywhere, go and gather yours or simply gobble them straight off the bush. We always get ours form the lovely Southampton Common, and the South facing sides of bushes ripen first and taste the most sweet.

Ripe Plums

Plums are also ripening on the trees, I spotted sweet yellow Plums falling into the road on my walk to work. The picture shows a reddish orange variety, equally tasty and also falling onto the road in Highfield.

Hazel Tree

The sizzling heatwaves we have been experiencing this year seem to have forced many trees fruit approximately on month early this year. Hazel is almost ready to shed its nuts. Still not quite ripe but near as damn it.

Hazelnuts (Early but Still Unripe)

Where hazelnut harvesting is concerned, you need to be quick of the mark or the grey squirrels will beat you to them. The signs are very easy to spot!

Competition with Squirrels

Another interesting tree that fruits around this time of year, is the magnificent Mulberry. This marvellous specimen is on the Salcombe estuary in Devon, where we were lucky enough to holiday this year.

Mulberry Tree

We had one eye on the exciting dingy racing - and one eye firmly under the canopy of the tree, as we hunted down the delicious, ripened, juice filled berries.

Delicious Mulberries

Here's a micro quiz for you all! Keen followers of the blog should find the answer quickly. What are these mysterious yellow tentacles on this garage roof? Finding them like this or on the ground should indicate a tasty snack later in Autumn. Answers in the text below.

What are These Mysterious Tentacles?

The tentacles are the discarded flowers or catkins of the Sweet Chestnut tree. Identifying these trees early in Summer will lead you back to a hoard of Sweet Chestnuts, ideal for roasting on a BBQ later in Autumn. 

Sweet Chestnut Tree

Incidentally, nobody should be using disposable BBQs in the middle of the heatwaves! I find it difficult to believe that they are even on sale. Wildfires are a serious danger to life when the ground & vegetation is so tinder dry. Intelligent people know that they shouldn't be burning square holes in our precious landscape or leaving litter and glass on the ground.

Beautiful Beeches



Beautiful Beeches in the New Forest

 

As I mentioned in the Autumn Abridged entry, Rufus Stone is one of my favourite New Forest destinations around this time of year.



A Fallen Beech



This time we were surprised by how many green leaves and beech-masts were still clinging to the majestic trees but this only increased their splendour.

Beech Masts Drop Their Nuts In Autumn

You can eat beech nuts or use them to make oil but they are damn fiddly.

Many of the Trees Have Names and Messages Carved

A great many people have left their own marks on these great trees; almost every large trunk was festooned with names and dates. Traditional tagging I gues you could call it.



It's a Jungle Out There. Well, a Forest Anyway



It’s one of those places where you can choose to follow the tracks and paths. Or you can go off Piste a bit if you prefer, although you might find yourself trapped in a holly thicket or a boggy mire.



All Ready for Xmas

 The greeny gold of the beech was set off very nicely by the holly, which was loaded with berries, another potential sign of an impending cold winter. We had lunch at the Sir Walter Tyrrel (he who shot Rufus) pub and could have easily eaten outdoors it was so warm.

Feed Me Now!

My daughter makes friends easily (with animals) and was going around recruiting other children to help feed her Donkey.

Very Prickly

I wandered off and found a tangled thicket of prickly crab apple trees on the common opposite the pub.

Crab Apples

Then we wandered back and I set off to photograph my favourite trees in the fading light, whilst the kids continued with various climbing and balancing challenges.

Steady On

I like it when the late afternoon shallow sun, filters through the the trees creating contrasting shades.

The Shard

There are a lot of fallen giants here, as if some catastrophic event bought them down but they all add to the etherial beauty of the place.



Shattered Beauty



Some of the trees look like pale ghosts in the thin light.

Ghost Trees

Some of them just remind me of giant squids!

The Kraken Wakes!

Autumn Arrives

This year we have seen one of the longest and hottest Summers on record, but now, finally Autumn is upon us. We are having cooler mornings with dew on the grass, the wind is whipping up and the long awaited rain is arriving, cheering allotmenteers, gardeners and ducks alike.

We have been busy hunting down Hazlenuts, Apples and Pears, in all our familiar and favourite locations. 

It seems that all the lovely snow, bought to us here earlier this year via the Beast from the East, must have affected the pollinators and blossom of the trees because the fruit count is relatively low.

This massive and sustained Spring storm, followed by the long hot dry Summer may have caused the trees to change their normal patterns. Many trees also appear to have smaller than normal fruit that is ripening and dropping earlier than I would have expected.

I'm quite sure that there will be some trees that have managed to overcome the trials of the weather, but a cursory glance around our normal haunts shows a distinctly diminished harvest.

Having said this, we do know where a lot of trees are locally, over time we have located and monitored hundreds. As a result we are still managing to gather enough apples to store for the winter, press for juice and to create a good stock of cider.

Chestnuts

In the Urbane Forager's calendar October and November means it's time to gather Sweet Chestnuts. Autumn is always our favourite time for walks out in the New Forest but Chestnut trees can be found in many places within the city too and often it is easier to spot them when they fall onto the pavement. 

You can carefully remove the spiny hulls with your shoes or boots and it is always special when the shiny mahogany brown nuts pop out - you are the first person to ever witness this magical moment.

We only collect the largest, fattest of the nuts we find. We always try to find the one tree in an area, which provides the biggest nuts and they we comb the area to find and collect the cream of the crop to take home and roast. You can freeze your hoard if you wish to preserve them for later.

We pierce and roast our chestnuts over a small fire or BBQ but you can do them in an oven (always make a small cut in each shell prior to cooking or they will explode). I find that the flames help to burn the shells and pith, making them more easy to peal, which can be a really tricky job. Roast Chestnuts are the perfect accompaniment to a chilly Autumn night or to nibble while watching fireworks on Guy Fawkes night.

It is easy to make all kinds of things out of Chestnuts, even flour to bake with; clearly you need patience to peel off all the shells and pithy skin. My Mum used to cook Chestnut Tarts (like jam tarts but filled with Chestnut purée) as an Autumnal treat. This year I made a "Chestnut roasting tin" so that we could also cook them in the hot ashes of our garden fire chimney.

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 even Amazon.

the Urbane Forager: Fruit and Nuts for Free

Author: Alan Gibson

ISBN: 978-1-78507-300-7