What are out collecting?

[tommy the cat]

Ok I know that seasons slightly differ across the uk but what are you collecting at the mo in the woods?What are you making with them at the mo?
Liquor......funghi......etc ???
Dave

[British Red]

Blackberries, early sloes, bullaces, early hazelnuts just turning, crab apples, few other bits and bobs!

Got a galo of blackberry brandy to be bottled on Tuesday

Red

[Toddy]

Today,
Rowans for jelly, meadowsweet roots for ointment, potentila roots for the herb drawer, hazel for spindle tips for my firebow, oakbark for dye, flax for fibre, rose petals for pot pourri, rosehips for syrup, apples to be dried in rings, mustard seeds for the herb drawer, love in a mist for the herb drawer, wild strawberrries just because they were tasty , rushes stripped out to dry for string, iris roots for dye & pot pourri, resin for glue ( HWMBLT collected this and you should see what a beautiful job he has made of clearing it, it looks like honey, I'm well impressed) little bunches of mugwort for fire brushes, seed heads from the miniature typha for the firebag, nettles for fibre, & sweet peas 'cos they make the house smell lovely ........and I haven't left the house and garden all day.
Sheer laziness, I've had a good day pottering around at peace with the world.

cheers,
Toddy

[tommy the cat]

Now thats a reply guys!!!!!
Red wont the fruit ruin the brandy!!!!
Brandy now I got 'into' that in Greece ...hmnn Metaxa 7 star.....hmmn may get a glass!
Toddy all of our wild strawberries have gone now
Great stuff Dave

[British Red]

Today,
Rowans for jelly, meadowsweet roots for ointment, potentila roots for the herb drawer, hazel for spindle tips for my firebow, oakbark for dye, flax for fibre, rose petals for pot pourri, rosehips for syrup, apples to be dried in rings, mustard seeds for the herb drawer, love in a mist for the herb drawer, wild strawberrries just because they were tasty , rushes stripped out to dry for string, iris roots for dye & pot pourri, resin for glue ( HWMBLT collected this and you should see what a beautiful job he has made of clearing it, it looks like honey, I'm well impressed) little bunches of mugwort for fire brushes, seed heads from the miniature typha for the firebag, nettles for fibre, & sweet peas 'cos they make the house smell lovely ........and I haven't left the house and garden all day.
Sheer laziness, I've had a good day pottering around at peace with the world.

cheers,
Toddy

You Win Toddy ...............

Dave - ruin it? No, if you like sloe gin, you would LOVE my blackberry brandy. Same rules apply - cheap booze made good . I'll do a pictorial next week if you like?

Red

[Mikey P]

This week I have mostly been collecting hazlenuts and blackberries.

Sloes are already in the gin and I'm keeping an eye on my favourite Velvet Shank tree ready for winter.

Oddly enough, I seem to be about the only person around here foraging at all... hurrah!

[mace242]

Sloes, Blackberries and a few early hazelnuts (Am I the only one that likes them just before they go ripe?) . From the garden pears (2 kinds), plums and apples (3 kinds). At the moment in a big bag draining in the kitchen I've got a load of bramble jelly from the huge load of blackberries I picked this afternoon walking the dog. I do like the blackberry brandy idea - I've got some that I got given a while ago...

[JohnC]

Apples from the allotment and brambles from work

[Toddy]

You Win Toddy ...............

Dave - ruin it? No, if you like sloe gin, you would LOVE my blackberry brandy. Same rules apply - cheap booze made good . I'll do a pictorial next week if you like?

Red

No way It's just I've been away for a week and I'm trying to catch up before I go away for another 10 days If the question had been asked last week the only things I was gathering were heather flowers, fomes, bog myrtle and some lichen.

cheers,
Toddy

[tommy the cat]

Red was that cheap brandy good fruit?
I love tutorials so yes. Funny found a dumped fermenting bit in the woods recently....is it an omen......Dave (or is it that there is a hole in the bottom of it!!!)
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24566
kind of related to this topic..... (well its my ball and I'll take it back if you wont let me win)

[British Red]

Dave - exactly that - cheap "Lidls best" brandy and free fruit etc. = lovely winter drink.

Okay - I'll bung a pictorial when its ready - sometime next week

Red

[stevesteve]

That's outstanding... I was going to post the same question this PM.

We had a walk this AM; myself, SWMBO and the two smalls. We harvested a large haul of blackberries and they are only just beginning to turn. It looks like being a bumper year with bunches of fruit yet to ripen hanging heavy.
All in the freezer in single layers in trays. When frozen they'll be put into bags for later in the year. We had a 'test' bramble and bramley crumble tonight - lovely!

The sloes look fantastic this year. Not sure I'd pick them yet though. I might have to go and test last year's gin in the garage in a few minutes.

I also found a small copse of hazels which were covered in nuts. My son won the nut hunt challenge with six in one cluster. I came back with pockets filled with a few dozen. They are not fully ripe. They taste good though. The kernels are fresh, white and crunchy. Apart from just eating them (!), what is the best thing to do with them? Can you pickle the young nuts? I think they'd be good with a nice stilton if you did but does anyone know how to pickle nuts and if it is worth trying?

Cheers,
Steve

[Cobweb]

Blackberries are perfect right now but my favourite hazel hedge has been marauded by the squiggles and there is nothing left of the nuts other than empty shells.

I'm also collecting thistle down for tinder making and pine cones as well.

[John Fenna]

Blackberries - lots!
Hazels - a few not munched by tree rats!
thistle tinder - a bit
blisters, thorn splinters, aching muscles, sweaty/stained clothing - lots as I try to get fit again (after a series of chest infections) by hoiking an oversized pack around my local paths, picking wild foods as I go (an excellent reason to stop on the long uphills!).
Memories like sitting by a waterfall eating my bannock and biltong lunch, seeing coveys of pheasant, fox and badger trails in the dew, buzzards in trees etc as I go - loads!
I love life!

[shep]

Elderberries for jam and leather
Blackberries to munch (and keep the littleun happy)
Samples of two types of funghi that I've failed to id and binned.
Rosehips about ready this week, where did I put 'Food for free'?