Free food

[jansman]

Reading Hepworth's fungi thread it set me thinking. Talking to my Brother last night, we decided to go fishing as planned, but also to see what grub we might gather. We went early as it is already too hot to fish,as I write.
So at 5 am we took two telescopic lure rods,landing net and a catapult each(me and him do some damage with these!). Well, The Bro' had a nice little Jack pike about 4lb, and I caught two very nice Perch about a couple of pounds each. Both types of fish are good to eat, but on this occasion we put them back. This was an exercise in what we may catch shtf. The river was still carrying a lot of water, and a good length of the bank too dangerous to negotiate, so we took a walk to the wood at the back of the field.

We had barely started across the field and my brother put up a cock partridge- best catty shot ever!!! He took it at about 6ft in the air!
Into the wood I managed to loose of a shot and bring down a magpie(food for the ferrets).
Anyhow, walking back we both agreed it was a cracking couple or so hours, a good excuse to get out, and probably the start of a new hobby! We are now looking forward to the Autumn when there is plenty in the way of nuts and fruit etc. ( loads of cobnuts by that stretch of river)
I shall now be looking at the fields and woods here in a different light.

Any of the members here do anything similar?

[preppingsu]

On an old episode of River Cottage Autumn tha I watched last night Hugh was out with a group of apple foragers in Sheffield. One lad, over a 3 year period had mapped thousands of apple trees which him and mates go and collect the apples from. Obviously they keep some but a lot are given away to charitable groups eg a children's centre.
A lot of the apple varieties were heritage.

This made me think about doing some local walks and mapping fruit trees etc. I can think of some already.

[bulldogeagle]

there's a Damson tree a few miles from here we pick from, always got loads on it, i dont think the locals bother with it. we always go blackberry picking, apples too.

[pseudonym]

Yep, I do the same, plotted damsons, cherries and sloes so far.

Food for Free by Richard Mabey is a constant companion whenever I am out.

[metatron]

On an old episode of River Cottage Autumn tha I watched last night Hugh was out with a group of apple foragers in Sheffield. One lad, over a 3 year period had mapped thousands of apple trees which him and mates go and collect the apples from. Obviously they keep some but a lot are given away to charitable groups eg a children's centre.
A lot of the apple varieties were heritage.

This made me think about doing some local walks and mapping fruit trees etc. I can think of some already.

Any cheap Garmin GPS has the feature to mark points, just press one button when you see a tree, when you get home plug it in and it will stick all the marks on a map for you. Print to keep safe.

[Arzosah]

I have a mature apple tree right across the road from me, about 25 feet from the road, good enough for *some* of the fruit to be harvested. But the local kids throw stones to get the immature fruits down, and then throw them along the road, as if they were tennis balls They were doing it today, and I almost said something, but thought of the Grey Man principle - after all, it might be these very kids who'd be rioting locally if TSHTF .. I gritted my teeth, I'm afraid, and went on by

Down the way are blackberries, a plum tree (didn't manage to get any of those last year) and elderberries; sloes are a bit further on. Plus beech for the leaves next spring, and hawthorn shrubs to make jelly with the haws.

No animals or fish, I'm vegetarian - though, of course, if it was a matter of life and death, I'd eat meat/fish.

[junmist]

field maple so that you can tap it for maple syrup

[jansman]

Brilliant! Over a pint tonight we agreed it makes a walk more interesting. Although( without sounding a bighead)Brother and me have a good knowledge of the countryside( it is where we were. Rought up after all ) the years have passed by so quickly and we have lost a lot of the connection with it. Well we are going to reconnect.

So lets all get out there and find those fruits , nuts, watercress ( loads on the aforementioned river), and fungi. A real prepping resource I reckon.

[Triple_sod]

They were doing it today, and I almost said something, but thought of the Grey Man principle - after all, it might be these very kids who'd be rioting locally if TSHTF .. I gritted my teeth, I'm afraid, and went on by

No dig at you Arzosah but this is where I disagree with all that 'grey man' stuff.

Obviously if you'd just walked over and started 'mouthing' at them, especially if you'd nothing to back it up with, they'd have probably marked you out as a nob-head.

On the other hand, get a grip, it's just kids messing about...things I used to get up to at that age...go over and have a chat, friendly like, take an interest, chances are you'll walk away leaving them thinking 'ah he's sound'

[TwoDo]

field maple so that you can tap it for maple syrup

It is not too well known, but you can also make syrup from birch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birch_syrup