Foraging by Month Calendar

[leon-1]

If you are after a laminated list as a foraging calendar then get in touch with Marcus Harrison, he has some.

Yes I do know Marcus, but these are items that I purchased from him and am very happy with as a paying customer.

Im not expecting anything Leon. I just want to know what reply littlebiglane got from Ahjno regarding the project. I didnt mean to upset anyone. You seem a little defensive mate; why???

Not defensive at all mate, I know Ahjno and know what he's doing currently. I also know that I had a project that I had been working on, but that has had to take a back seat when I went self employed so I understand that with new undertakings (especially ones to do with your life) others may get pushed onto the back burner.

 

[Neil1]

I used to have one of these in a book that I probably have somewhere.
They are great ?as they tell you what you will find?
The problem with them is just that - they tell you what to look for and when. So about now there won't be too much to look for (according to the calender), when in reality, conditions on the ground may be such that spring has sprung and there are alexanders, three cornered garlic, etc growing through.
How I work nowadays is - everytime I go out I carry a small notebook and in it I put the date, location, type of terrain and then log all the plants I recognise as I walk. If I spot something new I photogaph it and then look it up in my reference books and then add it to my log for that day.
Hope this helps
N

 

[IntrepidStu]

He also said that things like Ray Mear / Gordon Hillman's wild food book somewhate negates the real need for such a calendar as it is very comprehensive. I have a copy and am not so sure myself!

I totaly agree with you there mate. The wild food book doesnt really compare with what you are talking about.

I have plenty of free time at the moment so if you want to colaborate (oh er missus) then send me a PM and we can work something out.

Stu.

 

[littlebiglane]

I totaly agree with you there mate. The wild food book doesnt really compare with what you are talking about.

I have plenty of free time at the moment so if you want to colaborate (oh er missus) then send me a PM and we can work something out.

Stu.

Thanks. I might take you up on that

 

[littlebiglane]

I used to have one of these in a book that I probably have somewhere.
They are great ?as they tell you what you will find?
The problem with them is just that - they tell you what to look for and when. So about now there won't be too much to look for (according to the calender), when in reality, conditions on the ground may be such that spring has sprung and there are alexanders, three cornered garlic, etc growing through.
How I work nowadays is - everytime I go out I carry a small notebook and in it I put the date, location, type of terrain and then log all the plants I recognise as I walk. If I spot something new I photogaph it and then look it up in my reference books and then add it to my log for that day.
Hope this helps
N

Good idea. I would hope that we could adjust our finding according to our own microclimate.

 

[littlebiglane]

Right. I have got permission from Ahjno so I am gonna try and run with it and see where it takes me. I also have offers of help which is good :You_Rock_

LBL

 

[Kerne]

Found this:

http://www.naturali.co.uk/wild-food-foraging.html

not by any means comprehensive, but it might be useful.

 

[Toddy]

I always think this idea sound so appealing but it's too wide ranging a challenge.

There have been a few threads on what has been found, or eaten, today when out foraging.
Perhaps something developed from those might work.
Instead of a tied down tight this is what you will find in January, how about this is what we are finding in January 2009, February 2009, and continue it on in future years.

It would mean that if you were going out for a wander you might at least have some idea of what might actually be available, environment permitting of course, in this country at that time of year.

If a thread is started and anyone who has something relevant to add does so, a tidy summary list could be complied at the end of each month of what was actually gathered and found. This could be inserted into the start of each months thread and then that thread locked and the new one opened.
Links could be added giving directions to previous months so that the information isn't lost into the ether of Old Posts.

Good idea ? Maybe ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Kerne]

Toddy said:
Instead of a tied down tight this is what you will find in January, how about this is what we are finding in January 2009, February 2009, and continue it on in future years.

It would mean that if you were going out for a wander you might at least have some idea of what might actually be available, environment permitting of course, in this country at that time of year.

Definitely a good idea. I like the communal self-help approach old hippy that I am...

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Instead of a tied down tight this is what you will find in January, how about this is what we are finding in January 2009, February 2009, and continue it on in future years.

If a thread is started and anyone who has something relevant to add does so, a tidy summary list could be complied at the end of each month of what was actually gathered and found. This could be inserted into the start of each months thread and then that thread locked and the new one opened.
Links could be added giving directions to previous months so that the information isn't lost into the ether of Old Posts.

Good idea ? Maybe ?

cheers,
Toddy

I like this idea a lot. One addition - maybe folk could note the county they were in when they were foraging as well? That would give an indication of regional variations.

 

[littlebiglane]

Found this:

http://www.naturali.co.uk/wild-food-foraging.html

not by any means comprehensive, but it might be useful.

Thanks for this.

 

[littlebiglane]

I always think this idea sound so appealing but it's too wide ranging a challenge.

There have been a few threads on what has been found, or eaten, today when out foraging.
Perhaps something developed from those might work.
Instead of a tied down tight this is what you will find in January, how about this is what we are finding in January 2009, February 2009, and continue it on in future years.

It would mean that if you were going out for a wander you might at least have some idea of what might actually be available, environment permitting of course, in this country at that time of year.

If a thread is started and anyone who has something relevant to add does so, a tidy summary list could be complied at the end of each month of what was actually gathered and found. This could be inserted into the start of each months thread and then that thread locked and the new one opened.
Links could be added giving directions to previous months so that the information isn't lost into the ether of Old Posts.

Good idea ? Maybe ?

cheers,
Toddy

Hi Toddy,

I know what you mean. It does seem to be wide ranging. However I have started it and now up to 150 plants (with the helpful addition of the initial list). I want to build it up to about 200+ before I do a first release. This will take a little spare time. I supose the eventual list could be a good deal larger than this.

I agree with your approach about it being a collective effort. But I thought it would be good to have an initial base to work off and this could be collectively added to (by plant additions, links, ID photos linked to a BCUK gallery maybe and links to recipes or 'how to process the food' info and maybe where/which County it was found in). In subsequent years this could be further refined to keep up to date and to amend the information about 'what we are finding today' - as you stated in your post. This would be particularly good since I am coming across many plants that are edible but do not have 'when best to eat'. In these cases (with the 'greens') I am stating 'best before flowering' and giving when it flowers - as this is often the case - however this is a bit of a loose rule to apply to everything (and could be dangerous) and would ignore those things that are edible after flowering.....This may be solved by running the project over the year and amending it as it goes along (as you said).

My main issue with your idea is the not the collective development and addition of this information over the months/year(s) but the nature of forum posting as one great big unwieldly list that will take a good deal of admin to keep a 'master-list' up to date (its bad enough keeping a list of names up to date in 'group buys'!). It would be really good to have some functionality of those co-operative/collaborative software programs for the web which allow multiple people to be involved in live workstreams. Maybe its just fantasy but it would be good to make it easy for someone to dip into the work at add to it - as you said - many hands make light work.

In the meantime however I am going to carry on with 'the list'.......

LBL

 

[Toddy]

It was more that it could be broken down into useable finished chunks that appealled to me. The work you are doing looks like it will be more a definitive list, like a British pfaf kind of thing
My own bias is terribly immediate, it's what I can or might be able to find 'now' . But those 'now' posts are then available to be incorporated into your opus.
Am I making sense ?
I thought it would be interesting to see how the 'now' changed month by month over the years too.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[FGYT]

Hi Toddy,


My main issue with your idea is the not the collective development and addition of this information over the months/year(s) but the nature of forum posting as one great big unwieldly list that will take a good deal of admin to keep a 'master-list' up to date (its bad enough keeping a list of names up to date in 'group buys'!). It would be really good to have some functionality of those co-operative/collaborative software programs for the web which allow multiple people to be involved in live workstreams. Maybe its just fantasy but it would be good to make it easy for someone to dip into the work at add to it - as you said - many hands make light work.

In the meantime however I am going to carry on with 'the list'.......

LBL

isnt that a Wiki ?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki from the most well known Wiki

 

[littlebiglane]

isnt that a Wiki ?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki from the most well known Wiki

Yes, I suppose it is. Great idea. Forgive my dumbness I have never really used Wikipedia - is it possible to set one up with an embedded table with columns like:

Latin Name / English Name / Part Eaten / Part Eaten Edible Month(s) / Flowering Month(s) / UK Region (so as to allow different dates for different areas accorsing to climate ie: South West England/ North East England) / link to photo ID site / link(s) to processing/recipes/contraindications?

Can we also set it up a private wiki for this forum (initially) and define a group of BCUK members as initial project/wiki contributors as the user group to build it? Or is that not communal enough? I just would like it to, at least initially be a BCUK thing. Oooohhhh. Getting excited at the possibility!!!!

If this is a possibility it would be good if some wiz could help me set such a thing up....

LBL

 

[littlebiglane]

It was more that it could be broken down into useable finished chunks that appealled to me. The work you are doing looks like it will be more a definitive list, like a British pfaf kind of thing
My own bias is terribly immediate, it's what I can or might be able to find 'now' . But those 'now' posts are then available to be incorporated into your opus.
Am I making sense ?
I thought it would be interesting to see how the 'now' changed month by month over the years too.

cheers,
Toddy

Hi - just seen your new thread. Very helpful. I think that this can work in conjunction - as I will use the information posted here to input aswell onto the main list

LBL

 

[Kerne]

Getting excited at the possibility!!!!

Me too! My only problem is I am in no way and expert and will be more of a taker than a giver.

I would, however, be happy to contribute - if I had something of value to add.

 

[littlebiglane]

Me too! My only problem is I am in no way and expert and will be more of a taker than a giver.

I would, however, be happy to contribute - if I had something of value to add.

There would be no point if we only had givers and no takers for them to give to! I think I'll have a crack at setting up a page on Wikipedia - I might get it wrong but I'll have a tinker and see if I can get my head around it. In a way it shame that BCUK does not have a wiki function........hey ho.....maybe one for the future.....

Thanks guys for helpful comments so far.

LBL

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Hi littlebiglane - pm sent. I'm not sure a Wiki is the best way forward, as it would be interesting to see trends over time and a Wiki can't analyse data in that way. I'm proposing an alternative suggestion, but want to bandy the idea around before going public.

 

[littlebiglane]

Hi littlebiglane - pm sent. I'm not sure a Wiki is the best way forward, as it would be interesting to see trends over time and a Wiki can't analyse data in that way. I'm proposing an alternative suggestion, but want to bandy the idea around before going public.

PM responded to.