i got a small green caterpillar a couple of days ago, delicious
the correct umbellifers are good at most times of year, wrong uns the date does not matter, you will only try them once
they are a specialist subject with assorted dangers, ID mistakes are quite easy (see only once)
the rewards of learning the bad uns and some of the nice ones is as good as learning mushroom ID for both availability and taste
angelica is a favorite of mine, anise is another, alexanders are ace for a short season and probably best avoided by the inexperienced as most of the the ones with damp or wet feet are dangeroos delux (and allegedly rather tasty, once)
my last emergency medical forage after the revenge of the bait spiked me with toxic gurnard spines, pain and profuse long lasting bleeding was mended in minutes once i found broadleaf plantain, chewed it and popped it on the holes
very paleo or perhaps well before that going by chimp medicine
Nicky cigreen
Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 9982 Location: Devon, uk
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 25 7:27 pm Post subject:
blackberries are ripening around here now. It gets earlier every year
I have been picking blackberries in the garden for a couple of weeks now, but went out in the woods yesterday for the first picking. Of course the best ones were out of reach, as we have a number of quite large area of bramble, but managed to get a few from a relatively small area. There are some lovely ones by the gate we use to go into the woods, so may get husband to stop there while I do some picking sometime.
The bramble thickets in the woods are useful for birds and dormice to nest in, as cover for small mammal and bird movement and food for insects, birds and mammals at various times of the year. The small mammals will be eating as much as they can at the moment, particularly the dormice to fatten up for hibernation.
the last 3 weeks have been ace picking, i can only get the low ones and using a hooked stick the flexible ones
as mentioned bramble is a staple food for many critters and ace cover for even more
gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 9303 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Posted: Tue Aug 05, 25 12:47 pm Post subject:
Brambles beginning to ripen in my garden..good thing I didn't clear them from the bottom of the garden
Nicky cigreen
Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 9982 Location: Devon, uk
Posted: Tue Aug 05, 25 3:41 pm Post subject:
I have stopped picking blackberries as now have more than enough. Here it is another bumper year for blackberries, I only pick the ones I can reach without getting scratched or stung, this leaves plenty for all the other critters.
Hedgehogs seem to like living in the bramble patch.
Brambles are a good place for wildlife as they provide cover and often food. We have found birds nests in bramble patches and I think small mammals like them too. Not only do they provide cover, but food too, in the form of flowers for nectar, berries (either go climbing or what falls) and even insects for things like hedgehogs and omnivores.
Nicky cigreen
Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 9982 Location: Devon, uk
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 25 7:44 am Post subject:
yes the brambles seem very popular with butterflies too - both flowers and fruit. The bees love the flowers. it makes me feel better about how much of my garden and fields is brambly !
englishman's grape was how the normans described it
better than grape for lots of things and easier to tend imho
Nicky cigreen
Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 9982 Location: Devon, uk
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 25 3:52 pm Post subject:
I love to put my nose into the picking bowl of blackberries, just to smell the lovely winey smell. To me it smells of Autumn. I don't drink much these days, so no longer make booze from them. My favourite is chocolate and blackberry crumble. mmmmmm mm!
gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 9303 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 25 8:03 am Post subject:
Three large shopping bags of apples from a tree just over the road. Picking easily, but it is one that ripens off the tree. As far as I know from talking to older neighbours, it must have grown from a discarded apple core and is like a Kidd's red.
Only fit for juicing, but makes a good and nicely coloured juice. A handy one to have as it is a late flowering tree so tends to avoid frosts
Neighbours like them picked to remove ammunition from the local small herberts who throw them at car, people, houses.....
You are lucky it gives good fruit Gz. We had 2 wildings in our garden, presumably from apple cores; one was useless as just pulpy, small, and no flavour, but the other is OK, but small. We cut one down, but even the wood was pretty useless for carving. The other is still with us and gets cut down sometimes as it interferes with the quince.
Nicky cigreen
Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 9982 Location: Devon, uk
Posted: Sun Aug 10, 25 7:59 pm Post subject:
the interesting thing is quite often uninteresting apples for eating, make good juice. I have a couple of sown from an apple core trees I inherited with the house, I don't care to eat them, but the juice is lovely.
We've done the first pressing of the year, a really good sweet apple crop and ready now as they are dropping from the trees.
Sounds good Nicky. These weren't any good for juice either. The texture was like a flexible dryish sponge. Very little juice. Only good thing were the flowers, but we have plenty more at that time of year.
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