Takethedogalong replied on 28/08/2019 13:53
Posted on 28/08/2019 13:53
Just got back from a dog walk, and as usual, didn’t come home empty handed. Kindling sticks for the fire today, we collect, let them dry fully for a few weeks, then they are used to start up our stove. We only pick up a bag at a time, and only what is lying around in our lovely bit of ancient woodland.
I have foraged since I was a child. Used to go out with Grandad and Dad, who regularly took wheelbarrows into woods to dig up leaf mould to trench potatoes in gardens and allotments, and then of course there were lovely blackberries to look forward to, and elderflower champagne to be made. Sloes, wild strawberries and raspberries, sometimes apples.
We still do it now if we come across something delicious. Blackberries are superb this year, most got too parched in last year’s heatwave. I look for decorative stuff as well, especially around Christmas. Currently watching a couple of hazelnut trees, it’s a fine line between them being ripe enough to pick, and at that point beating the pesky squirrels who can strip a tree overnight! We never take all though, need to share with wildlife.
The one thing I just haven’t had the courage to do, is to pick fungi. I have got identification books, sat and stared at examples of what should be safe, but just haven’t dared to risk it. I know I am so missing out.....
Anyone else like to partake of nature’s bounty?😁
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Everywhere I go now, I'm surrounded by calories 
So if you want your own plums in the UK grow them or forage for them. (Perhaps the French market went kaput too?)
Takethedogalong