Free and Wild Food

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rhysdad

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #45 on: August 04, 2011, 14:57 »
Well i picked 5lbs of ripe damsons yesterday, a couple of litres of damson gin in the offing as well as a few pots of damson jam. I picked about 5lb's of lovely ripe Discovery apples as well as 2lb of large fat Blackberries!! I've got my work cut out tonight as i also have another 5lbs of Plum jam to make as well!!!  :ohmy:

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sion01

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #46 on: August 04, 2011, 19:14 »
I found a fresh supply of garlic mustard(alliaria petiolata).They often have a second flush at this time of year.Really nice sort of garlicy and mustardy :wub:

Sorrel has a second flush of nice young growth too at this time of year.Dont confuse them with Lords and Ladies (Arum Maculatum)  which is quite poisonose.But don't overdoo it on the sorrel either they contain oxalic acid and another slight toxin which i've forgotten about now ,but if you're in good health you should be OK

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sion01

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #47 on: August 05, 2011, 12:25 »
We have these books and find them very useful-
Collins Gem - Food For Free by Richard Mabey
River Cottage Handbook no 1 Mushrooms
River Cottage Handbook no 7 Hedgerow

If anyone has good books one seashore and sea fishing please let us know about them.  :)

A really good book that I happend upon by accident is 'Wild food' by Roger Philips it contains a lot of plants that most books don't containe and it also contains which seaweeds are good to eat.There is also a river cottage handbook no5 Edible Seashore.I don't know of many good books on sea fishing as they all seem to be a bit daunting for begineers.The best way to learn is to ask a friendly fisherman or ask at you''re local tackle shop if they know someone who will show you the ropes.

My advice would be to stick to spinning as all the species you will catch this way are nice to eat(mackerel,pollock,whiting,garfish,large sandeel.I even caught a sea trout once which I returned alive of course as I don't have a licence to catch them :D)

Bottom fishing can be more expensive and some of the fish you catch although edible will never make it to a resteraunt table wrasse,dogfish,pout etcetc.Theres also the chore of getting/buying bait for this method.

One alternative to fishing with rod and line is to set a gill net on the beach at low tide.I've got a 30 yard one and it keeps me in fish all year with some left over for barttering for eggs,fruit,veg,plants,beer and even meat on the od occassion.It's a really good way as all the fish you catch are a good size as the holes have to be by law 4 inches so the small one get away as opposed to a traul net.There are legal restrictions on when and where you can put them but a phone call to you're local fisheries dept would put you straight on that one(they call them fixed engine's for some reason ).

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arugula

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #48 on: August 05, 2011, 13:01 »
Sion, I didn't think garfish were meant to be very good eating? And thanks for explaining the rules around the use of gill nets. If anyone tried to put one of those up where or when salmon were involved I'm sure that would be highly frowned upon.

:)
"They say a snow year's a good year" -- Rutherford.

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mike1987

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #49 on: August 05, 2011, 13:23 »
Sion, I didn't think garfish were meant to be very good eating? And thanks for explaining the rules around the use of gill nets. If anyone tried to put one of those up where or when salmon were involved I'm sure that would be highly frowned upon.

:)
garfish make great eating but the bones in them go green when cooked  :ohmy: so its a case of closing your eyes and going for it lol

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sion01

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #50 on: August 05, 2011, 13:39 »
Garfish are good eating if cooked properly :D :D :D

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arugula

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #51 on: August 05, 2011, 13:45 »
Thanks for that both! :D I've just seen them so often on these fishing programmes where they don't seem to bother with them...... ::)

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sion01

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #52 on: August 05, 2011, 13:57 »
Sion, I didn't think garfish were meant to be very good eating? And thanks for explaining the rules around the use of gill nets. If anyone tried to put one of those up where or when salmon were involved I'm sure that would be highly frowned upon.

:)

Netting isn't allowed within a mile of most salmon spawning rivers during the salmon run and I belive catching all the fish yourself is a much more sustainable form of fishing then trawling with it's current quota system(see Hugh's fish fight).

A large % of what they catch is thrown back dead.With a legal sized gill net only large fish are caught .There is a preconception that gill netting in this way is bad but there are fishermen who employ this method of fishing to earn a living and they have earnt a Marine Stewardship Council certificate because their methods target a specific number of species with no bycatch.There are people who will frown upon it but they are mostly ill informed and will tut tut at you before going to a large supermarket to buy a piece of cod or tuna.

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arugula

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #53 on: August 07, 2011, 16:02 »
I observed my nearest bramble patch this morning, the odd tiny green going red fruit but mostly covered in flowers still!  :ohmy:

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tosca100

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #54 on: August 07, 2011, 17:56 »
I observed my nearest bramble patch this morning, the odd tiny green going red fruit but mostly covered in flowers still!  :ohmy:
OH brought in some wild plums today from a field where he walks the dogs. Will freeze them and put them with other wild fruit for jam or....mmmmmm...summer pudding. :)

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Janeymiddlewife

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #55 on: August 07, 2011, 21:19 »
I observed my nearest bramble patch this morning, the odd tiny green going red fruit but mostly covered in flowers still!  :ohmy:

Our blackberries are beautiful here at the mo, been ripe for about 2 weeks now and still coming along. So sweet that I've added them straight to a fruit salad and nobody flinched, told them they were tayberries  :D

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operabunny

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #56 on: August 11, 2011, 10:56 »
Blackberries, blackberries and more blackberries! Amazing crop already this year and lots more flowers still appearing. Keeping a careful eye on the elderberries as the first few are just ripening.

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sion01

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #57 on: August 21, 2011, 21:39 »
I'm jealouse of all the talk of blackberries.It's been so damp and humid here that they seem to be going mouldy as they ripen.I found a bullace tree fully laden this afternoon and they were fully ripe but it was covered in wasps.
I manager to pick 9lb and decided to shake the tree to see if some of the fruit I couldn't reach would fall and I was showered with annoyed wasps.I wouldn't recoment that tactic to anybody.

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Alastair-I

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #58 on: August 21, 2011, 22:48 »
Blackberry and elderberry gathering today.. blackberries for the freezer, elderberries bottled as a syrup/cordial.  Checked on the sloes last week and they're swelling nicely.. must resist a little longer to let them frost.

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grendel

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Re: Free and Wild Food
« Reply #59 on: August 21, 2011, 23:08 »
we picked 23 lbs of cherry plums by the roadside last weekend, they really were the last knockings as tey started deteriorating as we drove home, all prepped and cleaned, depitted (cherry pitter works fine) bagged up vac sealed and in the freezer.
Grendel
we do the impossible daily, miracles take a little longer.



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