Hedgerow Harvest time!

[Melonfish]

First frosts are about to hit so i thought i'd give a quick heads up!
Hunt those hedgerows for Sloe's! they've been in early this year and they're already starting to shrivel head on out and grab some of these great little berries!

Apples are out and about at the moment too, be sure to keep an eye out in the tops of the tree's they're falling free when shook (take a helmet!) and are quite delicious.
also available is the humble crab apple, a delicious addition to jellys!

The other thing that ripens with the first frosts are Rosehips! great for tea or jellys!
remember to scrape out all the hairs and seeds from the rosehips though!


couple of recipies to get the imagination working courtesy of 'The Cottage Smallholder'

Damson and Sloe Gin (http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/two-recipes-wild-damson-gin-and-sloe-gin-37)
Experiment with the sugar on this one, label them clearly and pick which tastes better, people try from 100g through to 200g, although 150g is the norm, the less sugar the dryer your gin will be!

Rosehip Syrup (http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/kateys-best-rosehip-syrup-recipe-121)

Sloe Vodka (http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/superb-sloe-vodka-recipe-518)

Rosehip and Apple Jelly (http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/rosehip-and-apple-jelly-recipe-60)

Hot Crab Apple and Chilli Jelly (http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/hot-crab-apple-and-chilli-jelly-recipe-2-470)

I will be trying many of these myself shortly and will post results!
And i dare you not to want to go hunting after reading those recipies ;)

[durulz]

Don't forget, it's not just about berries!
Cobnuts and Chestnuts are out too.

[locum76]

I stayed in hackney for a few days last week, well outside my comfort zone. I was delighted to see a squirrel scrumping pears from a tree in a garden next to where I was staying though.

Rowan and sloes are bang on season here in the Lothians now.

[BigShot]

Durulz...
...I had to rush home last time I was on a route passing a group of some big local chestnuts. You've just reminded me to head back. The harvest was pretty poor last year (a bit later than this I seem to recall) - hopefully things will be better this year.

[rawshak]

I was delighted to see a squirrel scrumping pears from a tree in a garden next to where I was staying though.

Squirrel is ripe this time of year too ;)

[BigShot]

rawshak - don't remind me... I'm saving up for an air rifle at the minute. I don't particularly want to start trapping the things - though in the back garden I could be out with the priest in a matter of moments - so my first taste of squirrel will have to wait longer still.

[BigShot]

I went back to my sloe-spot yesterday and came back with 2.2kg of the things (weighed after getting rid of errant stalks, leaves and dodgy-looking ones).
That's just shy of 5lbs for the less metrically inclined.

I was really surprised how many had shrivelled up. The last time I was there a few had gone hard but this time whole branches had nothing but black lumps on them. It looked like nobody had picked a single one since I was last there (though someone who came over to chat to me said he'd seen someone eating them recently - ew!) and if they are still there the next chance I go, I think I'll be able to get anything up to the same weight in sloes again! I think I've got enough to try all the different things I plan on making with them now so any more just counts as bonus supplies!

How's everyone else doing? Good harvests?

[Toddy]

Two bottles of sloe gin and two of sloe whisky on the go....though there's really only a bottle and a half of both the whisky and the gin in them.
Looking very 'fruity' :D

cheers,
Toddy

[javi]

Yep have been having surprising sloe-hunting success down here in London too; picked another kilo today during an unexpected bimble. 2 bottles of gin already kicked off; hadn't thought of whisky but sounds very nice.

[Toddy]

Eds had some he brought to one of the Scottish meet ups :cool:
It was surprisingly mellow :D , a lovely sipping liquer.

cheers
Toddy

[javi]

Well that's me sold - I'll definitely try some whisky using yesterday's harvest. By the way, many thanks Toddy for your great pointers on Swanndri/ wool care and weatherproofing - I successfully treated my bushshirt and it's come out brilliantly!

[BigShot]

I had a nice accidental forage today.

I'd driven to the printer's to pick up a drawing and on the way home something caught my eye at the side of the road. After a quick mirror-check and some heavy breaking I backed up to find a scattering of what I think are crab-apples (I'll be posting a thread for a bit of confirmation in a few minutes). After that I looped around the block, found another tree with a similar haul and then another just before I got out of the estate.

All in all I've got 4.2kg (9¼ lbs) of the things.
While out I decided to forage my lunch too. A quick detour and £1.10 later I found the rarely-eaten (by me) chip-shop tuberosum.

Not a bad trip for a quick trip out to pick up some prints.