Foraging, December 2008

[Toddy]

What have you actually found this month ? Was it good to eat or not worth the bother ?
This dead end of the year is a funny short grey light most days where I Iive and the occasional sunny day is a delight We've had freezing cold days and longer icy nights this month too; there was even heavy fog on two nights too. Just now it's very mild, kind of teeshirt if moving around mild

This month the wild food I've found and I've eaten is a bit limited but surprisingly tasty, didn't dig up much in the way of roots though. Has anyone else ?

My list,
Dandelion greens
Danedelion roots for coffee (quite nice, a bite but a sweetish bite to it)
Hairy bittercress.
St John's wort
Lady's smock
Nettles (fresh growth )
Sycamore seeds
Rosehips
Plantain seeds
Pine needles
Alder catkins
Brambles (old fruits, and fresh leaf buds)
Mint



cheers,
Toddy

 

[Toddy]

Fresh dockens
Heartsease flowers
Some very withered wild strawberries
Ransom leaves are coming through, didn't eat them but they're coming up.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

I have picked a lot of rosehips this month, I made rosehip sauce for the christmas goose. They are lovely vitamin kick to winter food.
I found some tiny wild apples that weren't bitter at all today.
Sorrel
Mahonia flowers
goosefoot
wintercress
I could get some bulrush root but I dont facy putting my hands in muddy water when it is so cold.
I have put some burdock seed on the lotty so I can legally get some root for next winter.

 

[IntrepidStu]

Teeshirt weather for a Scotsman is Skiwear weather for an Englishman.

Anyway Toddy, What did you do with the Alder Catkins??

I took a little bite of one straight from the tree eairlier this month and Ive got to admit it was pretty scrummy but I had no idea on if it needed processing.

Stu

What have you actually found this month ? Was it good to eat or not worth the bother ?
This dead end of the year is a funny short grey light most days where I Iive and the occasional sunny day is a delight We've had freezing cold days and longer icy nights this month too; there was even heavy fog on two nights too. Just now it's very mild, kind of teeshirt if moving around mild

This month the wild food I've found and I've eaten is a bit limited but surprisingly tasty, didn't dig up much in the way of roots though. Has anyone else ?

My list,
Dandelion greens
Danedelion roots for coffee (quite nice, a bite but a sweetish bite to it)
Hairy bittercress.
St John's wort
Lady's smock
Nettles (fresh growth )
Sycamore seeds
Rosehips
Plantain seeds
Pine needles
Alder catkins
Brambles (old fruits, and fresh leaf buds)
Mint



cheers,
Toddy

 

[IntrepidStu]

bump....question for Tody

 

[Oblio13]

We've got a couple feet of snow on the ground, and all I've actually brought home and eaten this month were a couple clumps of frozen oyster mushrooms and a couple squirrels.

 

[Toddy]

Sorry Nothing spectacular, they're just a munchie as I'm walking along. That said, if you get them just right, when they're kind of full of pollen, then they make a sweetish cuppa iirc......haven't done that in a long time.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[firecrest]

Ive picked nothing But in the new year I wish to learn more about plants and their uses. I think its a fundamental of bushcraft. I have Richard Mabley and ray mears, but I need a good photo ID book. can you recommend any Toddy?

 

[Toddy]

The only book I really recommend doesn't have photo illustrations but botanical drawings. Tbh I much prefer drawings to photos. The photo only shows one single example, usually cluttered and lit by the light on the site at the time it was found; a good illustration shows the plant simply, identifying diagnostic features clearly, showing leaf attachment, stem shape, axials, etc., Just my opinion though.

The book is, "The Hamlyn Guide to Edible and Medicinal Plants of Britain and Northern Europe", by Edmund Launert. The ISBN of my 1981 copy is 0 600 35281 1

I know that the book has been republished relatively recently. Mine is a nice size to fit in a bag or a good pocket, and is very much the worse for wear but it's been incredibly useful.

atb,
M

 

[Bothwell_Craig]

What have you actually found this month ? Was it good to eat or not worth the bother ?
This dead end of the year is a funny short grey light most days where I Iive and the occasional sunny day is a delight We've had freezing cold days and longer icy nights this month too; there was even heavy fog on two nights too. Just now it's very mild, kind of teeshirt if moving around mild

This month the wild food I've found and I've eaten is a bit limited but surprisingly tasty, didn't dig up much in the way of roots though. Has anyone else ?

My list,
Dandelion greens
Danedelion roots for coffee (quite nice, a bite but a sweetish bite to it)
Hairy bittercress.
St John's wort
Lady's smock
Nettles (fresh growth )
Sycamore seeds
Rosehips
Plantain seeds
Pine needles
Alder catkins
Brambles (old fruits, and fresh leaf buds)
Mint



cheers,
Toddy

If you ever fancy company on your walk Toddy???? I need to get more up to speed on our local edibles!!

 

[littlebiglane]

Just Penny / Navel Worts and Wood Sorrel today.

 

[Toddy]

Is Pennywort the same as creeping jenny ? or is that moneywort ?

I came across some freeze dried red clover flowers this morning, it's been perishing here.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[littlebiglane]

Is Pennywort the same as creeping jenny ? or is that moneywort ?

I came across some freeze dried red clover flowers this morning, it's been perishing here.

cheers,
Toddy

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Umbilicus+rupestris

http://www.british-wild-flowers.co.uk/N-Flowers/Navelwort.htm

 

[Toddy]

Thank you

Definitely 'not' creeping jenny, I don't know this one at all..........I'll remember it now though.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Roibeard]

What have you actually found this month ? Was it good to eat or not worth the bother ?
This dead end of the year is a funny short grey light most days where I Iive and the occasional sunny day is a delight We've had freezing cold days and longer icy nights this month too; there was even heavy fog on two nights too. Just now it's very mild, kind of teeshirt if moving around mild

This month the wild food I've found and I've eaten is a bit limited but surprisingly tasty, didn't dig up much in the way of roots though. Has anyone else ?

My list,
Dandelion greens
Danedelion roots for coffee (quite nice, a bite but a sweetish bite to it)
Hairy bittercress.
St John's wort
Lady's smock
Nettles (fresh growth )
Sycamore seeds
Rosehips
Plantain seeds
Pine needles
Alder catkins
Brambles (old fruits, and fresh leaf buds)
Mint



cheers,
Toddy

How do use the Alder catkins?
Is it treated like seeds eg plantain?

Sounds like a fantastically common wild food.

Robert

 

[littlebiglane]

Thank you

Definitely 'not' creeping jenny, I don't know this one at all..........I'll remember it now though.

cheers,
Toddy

I think it is very common in Devon and Cornwall (every rocky wayside or wall seems to be festooned with them). I think they are less common the more North you go - but I would be interested if you do find them. TBH you are not missing much tastewise - even though they are given an okay edibility rating by PFAF and a thumbs up by RM/Gordon Hillman. But you might disagree if you find one

 

[Toddy]

We get such a range across the island, don't we ? I like this meandering way of finding out about new ones; little by little they become familiar Thanks for the photos.

HWMBLT found gorse in bloom yesterday, and the white heather has just opened. Both are edible but more useful for making drinks, I think.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[lofthouse31]

Ive never had sycamore seeds before, do you just pop them out the case and eat them raw?, or is it a cooking job?

 

[Toddy]

I just eat them, I think of them a bit like peas.
I think that they can be pickled though, I'm 'sure' someone mentioned that on here a couple of years ago.

cheers,
Toddy...........too tired to redd this thread up tonight, I'll do it tomorrow and start a new one for January 2009.

 

[Rhoda]

Found gorse in bloom the other day, flowers are edible in salads or to make tea, they taste a bit like coconut! Also found sorrel, bramble with new buds and dandelion.
Not much around but it seems as though there is already a whisper of Spring in the air! The frosty weather this week will probably put an end to that though...