Wildfood week

[janiepopps]

Have a shortlist of ideas but nothing concrete as yet. I figure I should go & ask in person whether they would mind a bunch of crazy people camping out of season with big knives and rabbit guts... :yikes:

Will try and find somewhere that they'll be happy with us having fires (as its out of season) but i have a feeling that may be the one compromise we shall have to make. I have a 3 ring gas cooker if all else fails!! And again will find out is hammock throwing is a posibility, but please dont hold your breath. They're quite a conservative bunch down here!

I have a busy week as im off to a festival on Thursday HOORAH!! (its been a long winter ) but i shall keep you all updated on any progress before i go.

Is anyone else planning a wild weeknd elsewhere???

j

 

[falling rain]

Well if we're by the sea we can collect some driftwood from above the high tide mark which is usually well seasoned and burns long and produces good embers. Cook up our foraged food on the beach and have a beach barbie with our plunder.
On campsites that don't allow fires we can use an upturned metal dustbin lid balanced on 3 logs to keep it off the ground so the earth dosn't scorch and if anyone asks...........it's our barbecue. Who said a barbecue has be a commercially produced one . Looking forward to it. I'll bring my fishing rod and try and bag us some fish to add to the pot with the shellfish and seaweed

 

[janiepopps]

Nice one FR!

I spoke to a couple of local sites this afternoon, and passed on this web address so they can check out what a bunch of civilised grown ups we are, so please be nice!! I have emailed them with details of what I think we're after so watch this space.

One site owner got me thinking - he doesnt think that there is enough wild edible food to keep us upright for a weekend (the site is a 5 minute walk from a beautiful rocky beach and miles & miles of cliff path) Im kinda asuming he's wrong but I do feel a challenge people (actually there were 3 bunnies waving to me as i drove off his site! )

Also that got me thinking - I wont be able to add much to the forage apart from blackberrys, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. Are any of you guys mini experts in anything? Otherwise it could be a long hungry weekend!!! (FR - looks like you're chief fisherman )

My only skill really is living in Cornwall (Does that count?!) oh, and I'm a pretty mean cook!

j

 

[British Red]

For those that don't know, a long net is around 2-3ft high and around 100 yrds long.... staked out every 3-6ft or so... the holes in the net being about 2 inches... perfect for entangling rabbits. <snip>
Ed

A little tip, its worth leaving a "belly" at the bottom of the net (an area where the bottom of the net curls over on itself to form a pouch). Seems to add to the bag - not sure why it works but they seem to almost end up in a "purse".

Red

 

[falling rain]

Nice one FR!

I spoke to a couple of local sites this afternoon, and passed on this web address so they can check out what a bunch of civilised grown ups we are, so please be nice!! I have emailed them with details of what I think we're after so watch this space.

One site owner got me thinking - he doesnt think that there is enough wild edible food to keep us upright for a weekend (the site is a 5 minute walk from a beautiful rocky beach and miles & miles of cliff path) Im kinda asuming he's wrong but I do feel a challenge people (actually there were 3 bunnies waving to me as i drove off his site! )

Also that got me thinking - I wont be able to add much to the forage apart from blackberrys, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. Are any of you guys mini experts in anything? Otherwise it could be a long hungry weekend!!! (FR - looks like you're chief fisherman )

My only skill really is living in Cornwall (Does that count?!) oh, and I'm a pretty mean cook!

j

Do not worry Janiepopps, we shall be well fed. The site owner may not realise what we'll be eating and may not be into this sort of thing as much as we are and therefore not the same knowledge. I'm not an expert but I have done a lot of foraging on the coast as I lived in Devon and used to regularly collect shellfish and go fishing. We will be being adventurous and trying lots of stuff, some of it new. There'll almost certainly be plenty of shellfish if it's a rocky coast as you say there'll be mussels, limpets and winkles for a start. If there's sand we should be able to get some cockles and razor clams. There'll be seaweed (all edible) Fennel, seabeet, sea kale, valerian (tea) all of which are coastal plants not to mention the plants like burdock, plantain etc etc inland. There'll be fish to catch in the sea maybe mackeral will still be around and some bass. Pretty much all sea fish are edible even ballan wrasse and pouting which both like rocky areas but arn't quite the tastiest of fish. You can even eat weever which I've never tried but know you can. The French do There's a book which I've recommended before and recommend again. If you're into seafood this is excellent with loads of recipes and information on every type of shellfish, fish crustaceans. It's one of my absolute favourite books http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1903018226/026-9986729-6042000?v=glance&n=266239 I'll bring my copy down for you to have a look at if you like.
As it's a wild food weekend I suppose we'll be spending a good deal of the time foraging for our meals and we can have a communal soup/stew in a big pot. Even the little green shore crabs can be eaten and used in a soup. We'll be just fine. and if Ed can bag us some bunny rabbits It'll be just great to be on the beach foraging for all this. It's enormous fun and most satisfying. I'll also hopefully have my shrimp/crab pots by then so we may get some shrimps/spiders or velvet crabs into the mix too.

 

[janiepopps]

FR :You_Rock_

I can't wait!!

 

[Ed]

We'll be just fine. and if Ed can bag us some bunny rabbits It'll be just great to be on the beach foraging for all this.

We are going to need the land owners permission to bag the rabbits.

If you are after crabs, then I'd suggest bringing one of those washing machine tablet string bags and a bit of paracord.... You catch multiple crabs with one cast..... Here is me getting our crab starters

Ed

 

[falling rain]

Excellent stuff Ed. Some clean cloth or muslin for straining the soup would be a good idea too. I'm sure we'll manage a great feast between us all

 

[janiepopps]

Just a quickie to say that i havent forgotten about the w/e in Cornyland.

I've kinda got somewhere even more perfect in mind but am waiting for my brother to come down on the w/e as he knows the farmer that owns the land.

j

ps - I just went into Looe to do my banking and came home with a shrimp pot - Ooops! Cant wait to try it out!!

 

[bloodline]

Can you add me and one of my workmates to this weekend please? We have booked the Friday off so we can get an early start as we are in Kent. Anybody who can give me a bit of help with seashore foraging will have a friend for life. I am a qualified butcher so dont mind preparing any meat or game anyone brings.

 

[janiepopps]

Blimey Bloodline, your name makes SOOOOO much sense now!! !!

I'd like to see an expert decapitate a rabbit - I did my first one this year. I did an ok job, it was just warmer and wetter then I imagined and not 100% sure where all the fleas hopped off too (Scratch Scratch....)

You guys will be more than welcome to join us, I'll start a new thread when I have some more info.

j

 

[Bigman]

I would like to come down to Cornwall for this weekend in September.

I have absolutely no knowledge of wild food foraging, especially plants.

I'm into fishing as well.

The only thing is that I am allergic to hard shellfish, but that won't be a problem.

 

[falling rain]

Just a quickie to say that i havent forgotten about the w/e in Cornyland.

I've kinda got somewhere even more perfect in mind but am waiting for my brother to come down on the w/e as he knows the farmer that owns the land.

j

ps - I just went into Looe to do my banking and came home with a shrimp pot - Ooops! Cant wait to try it out!!

Not nagging Janiepopps but any further news yet? I'm still very much up for this weekend and will do my wildfood week whatever. I'm going to start to collect things any time now really as it'll ease the pressure on hunting everyday for edible goodies during the wildfood week. I don't think it's cheating really as our ancestors would have stored food and not just waited until they are hungry although I'm not going to freeze anything as this of course wouldn't have been available except in the snow or ice I suppose. Were our ancient ancestors aware that frozen food keeps longer? They were very much aware of their environment so I suppose they would have been. Anyway I'm looking forward to a great weekend with all the folks if it's still on.

 

[janiepopps]

FR, you big nag!! Only joking - you've just given me the boot I needed to make a few more calls.

Going to be speaking to a local farmer again tonight (when she doesn't have a screaming baby in the background) but without tempting fate it seems we may have a small paddock right next to the beach. I'll be in touch as soon as I know more.

j

 

[bloodline]

Well done weve booked the Friday off so we can get away early as we are right over in Kent

 

[falling rain]

FR, you big nag!! Only joking - you've just given me the boot I needed to make a few more calls.

Going to be speaking to a local farmer again tonight (when she doesn't have a screaming baby in the background) but without tempting fate it seems we may have a small paddock right next to the beach. I'll be in touch as soon as I know more.

j

Great stuff looking forward to it :You_Rock_

 

[Ditch Monkey]

I'll be there, looking forward to it.

I have various bits of Kit that I'm interested in trading, Hammock, bergens, who knows what else. PM me if a swap might be of interrest.