[David.]

A comment elsewhere on this forum about some damsons being more expensive than others gave me a bit of a shock - does anyone actually buy them when you can pick from the hedges for free?

I keep a list of what we have picked/gleaned, which to date is:

Elderflower heads (for elderflower cordial) almost 600.

Elderberries only 10 lbs (because we picked nearly all the flowers!).

Cherries (wild & sweet) 21 lbs.

Bullace 220 lbs.

Blackberries 155 lbs (and lots more to come).

Damsons 14lbs (+ found some more to pick).

Greenages (growing wild) 13 lbs (getting some more tommorow).

We have gathered/been donated 325 lbs of free windfall apples & 38 lbs of windfall pears (and hopefully lots more to come) and got 15 lbs of morello cherries from a neighbour.

We are also gathering hazelnuts, had some puffballs, and will be picking wild walnuts, crab apples (had 225 lbs last year) and sloes late on.

A lot easier than tending our 2 apple & 1 pear tree, raspberries, gooseberries, redcurrants, strawberries and blackcurrants.

[jack russell]

how do you store so much  :shock: fruit  :shock: and what do you make with it all

that must be a full time job

cheers

jr

[catarama]

Is that so far, this life time?

[David.]

how do you store so much  :shock: fruit  :shock: and what do you make with it all

that must be a full time job

cheers

jr

Cherry, damsons & greengauges - Jam

Some bullace in chutney.

Puffballs - soup (excess frozen).

Apples & Pears - pressed juice for pure juice, cider & apple wine.

Nuts - biscuits

Remainder of fruit - some cordials, but mainly wine.

Probably better off working and buying everthing from a supermarket, but I've retired and regard it as 'leisure'.

[Celtic Eagle]

No way are you better off buying it from the supermarket What you are doing is great Well done All free you know exactly what's gone into it couldn't be better

[muntjac]

just take a drive down any road in the uk and im sure you will find " food for free " by richard mayberry ....... like wot i do  

[Calou]

What a brilliant idea! I've never "picked for free" myself but I just might have to give it a go. I do think it's very sad when you see a tree full of lovely apples or pears over someones fence and the ground is littered with rotting fruit. Maybe I'll just knock on their door and offer a free clean up for them lol

[muntjac]

What a brilliant idea! I've never "picked for free" myself but I just might have to give it a go. I do think it's very sad when you see a tree full of lovely apples or pears over someones fence and the ground is littered with rotting fruit. Maybe I'll just knock on their door and offer a free clean up for them lol

 that works as well ...... specially with fig tree full of fruit and it just falling and rotting

[David.]

Such a rubbish year on my plot this year, that I've had better crops from the hedges, but as soon as I can get some more fruit out of my freezers, it's time to go sea fishing again (and have a welcome break from apple pressing).

[muntjac]

Such a rubbish year on my plot this year, that I've had better crops from the hedges, but as soon as I can get some more fruit out of my freezers, it's time to go sea fishing again (and have a welcome break from apple pressing).

me and you both sea fishing lol

[David.]

4 nights at West Bay, Dorset next week, with some good early morning tides for mackerel off Chesil towards the end of the week (with a head & guts lobbed out on another rod for bass), float fishing for gars, spinning somewhere quiet of an evening, there could be a freezer crisis on my return. Probably take the prawn nets aswell. I also know a few locations with apples growing wild and hope to bring them back if they haven't been picked already.

Next trip West Somerset.

[muntjac]

4 nights at West Bay, Dorset next week, with some good early morning tides for mackerel off Chesil towards the end of the week (with a head & guts lobbed out on another rod for bass), float fishing for gars, spinning somewhere quiet of an evening, there could be a freezer crisis on my return. Probably take the prawn nets aswell. I also know a few locations with apples growing wild and hope to bring them back if they haven't been picked already.

Next trip West Somerset.

oh shurrup ,,, i will not get jelos    

[shaun]

good luck with the fishing david
also theres lots of mushrooms in the fields right now  

[David.]

theres lots of mushrooms in the fields right now

Not where I used to pick them, the farmer has ploughed up the pasture and planted maize this year.

However, there were some puffballs around earlier (in a couple of fairly open areas of horse cheshnuts where they appear every year), in fact much earlier than usual, appearing in early August and if there's some rain I'm hoping for some more.

Got up to 180 lbs of blackberries today, picked the first ripe sloes, found some more elderberries and the first ripe ('windfall') crab apples.

[Sally A]

180lbs!! How many arms have you got?