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First bilberries of the season! Phwoar, so much nicer than the 'orrible, chalky agri-industry blueberries you buy in the shops...
Alot more tedious to pick though.
Oh great thread idea..
Even if it goes a bit quiet for now, this thread should get resurrected when its blackberry season
Think my ex wife has custody of my copy…..
Greengages were a tasty and welcome energy boost found on today’s bike ride.
I can honestly say I'd never even heard of greengages.
greengage jam is very good.
my mrs worked with a old gent who was a bee keeper, and a grower of old english fruit.
greengages, gooseberries, crab apples and some other thing that looked like a dogs arse........ all made awesome jam.
Greengage gin is also nice, expecially when the fruit is very ripe and ready to drop off the tree 😘 😘
This lane did nothing in last year's drought, but is heaving with proto-fruit now. Three weeks, hopefully a bit of rain.... let the picking commence!
Next to nothing on the apple trees this year but the hazels are going bonkers.
Next to nothing on the apple trees this year but the hazels are going bonkers.
It’s the same in this part of the country, our apples, pears, plums and sweet chestnuts were terrific last year, but are having a “rest” this year.
Had the first couple of blackberries yesterday, plenty to come if we get some rain!
Next to nothing on the apple trees this year but the hazels are going bonkers.
My sister said yesterday the hazelnuts are unbelievable where she is in Lancashire, expressing concern for wildlife later in the season. It's interesting how much difference a bit of latitude or east/west rain shadow makes to all this. Re: blackberries as above, just minor differences in elevation and aspect can add a fortnight to Peak Berry.
Has anyone else got a copy of 'Food for free', by Richard
Maybe. Maybe not.
First wild raspberries of the year yesterday
Went to Aldi on my steed and foraged a 39p bag if apple and grapes
Bil/blaeberry picking is souch easier with one of these (sorry Amazon link)
Bil/blaeberry picking is souch easier with one of these
And that's the second thing I've learned from this thread.
But I feel this model is more to the tastes of the STW demographic (except for the working class hero above, obvs):
You're such a fun guy Montgomery.
First wild raspberries of the year yesterday
Read that as first world raspberries and was intrigued
Need to get new reading glasses 🤓
I did a foraging course in spring a number of years ago from Bakewell in Derbyshire. I can’t remember everything we collected but I do remember wild peas (super in a salad and the flowers are really tasty), sweet cicely (like an aniseed parsley), hawthorn leaf and elderflower. I’ll still keep an eye out for the wild peas now in spring as they’re very easy to spot and don’t kill you if you get it wrong, unless you mistake them for foxglove. Unlike sweet cicely which looks a lot like hemlock which will kill you if you get it wrong.
Raspberries are a bit hot or miss but the blaeberries are spot on. Had a bit of spare time yesterday so to stop me thinking too much made these, all from scratch.
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IBB.CO "https://ibb.co/cSX85f00][img] [/img][/url"Those tarts 👆do look delicious!
These Damsons are not quite ripe enough to eat straight from the tree yet, but I bet that when they are, the birds will get to them first!
And so it begins..... only the very top berries on the most favoured locations at the moment here in Calderdale, but they're still 1-2 weeks earlier than the last couple of years.
mmm, I was eyeing some up yesterday while out walking locally. We have moved house so full on need to find new bramble spots - so far I have spied two...
Tomorrow's breakfast sorted courtesy of bushes on the final downhill of today's ride. I'm gonna need a bigger tub...
It doesn't really fit with this thread but it's Tomatotstic hereabouts.
Collected a few of these on yesterday’s ride and they were delicious - Cloudberries
@montgomery - you have just prompted me to put a tub in my bag for the weekend...
My sister's transplanted cloudberries from the wild into her garden and they're now doing quite well, although the birds usually get them before she does.
Out on a leisurely Tour de Blackberry before work this morning. Last year, stranded above a plummeting water table, these high bushes died back to nothing. But, after a wet winter and hot spring/summer - they're back!
you have just prompted me to put a tub in my bag for the weekend...
What you need is the Tailfun™ BerryBarBox - thirty five quid to you, squire!
Oooh, time to see what box fits neatly in my bar bag...
Phwoar, first crumble of 2026.... one for me, three for the freezer. Next week: blackberry muffins....
A quick run round what I'm starting to think of as 'The Forager's Loop' before work, 17km and 370m of climbing. Trees fringing a local village graveyard are about to start pumping out apples, and ten minutes at the motherlode got me the obligatory daily tub. That's tomorrow's pie sorted...
BBC.CO.UK This track is a watercourse in normal conditions. I think someone's been through the bushes here, but I was still able to fill the tub by reaching over the top with my prehensile arms to get the berries normal people can't access....
