#1 |
I'm curious to know how many of us picked wild food when we were children and whether you encourage your own children to do the same.
Do families still go out to forage or are we frightened to by internet scare stories?
Do we have sufficient money that there is no need to find food for free?
Or, don't we have the time or the inclination?
When I was a nipper, it would be a family day out. My parents knew the best places to find mushrooms (only field mushrooms - they wouldn't risk eating any other fungi).
There was a clean stream where we'd stop to pick watercress.
We'd pick blackberries every weekend for a couple of weeks so Mum could make jam.
Elderflower for cordial
Dewberries in the sand dunes and whinberries on the hillside.
A couple of wild trees for damsons and apples.
We'd also gather winkles (yuk) when we went to the seaside.
Whilst we only picked a few, easily identifiable items, we also learnt the ones to avoid - the strange coloured fungi, the dirty streams, fruit on twining plants in hedges.
Do families still go out to forage or are we frightened to by internet scare stories?
Do we have sufficient money that there is no need to find food for free?
Or, don't we have the time or the inclination?
When I was a nipper, it would be a family day out. My parents knew the best places to find mushrooms (only field mushrooms - they wouldn't risk eating any other fungi).
There was a clean stream where we'd stop to pick watercress.
We'd pick blackberries every weekend for a couple of weeks so Mum could make jam.
Elderflower for cordial
Dewberries in the sand dunes and whinberries on the hillside.
A couple of wild trees for damsons and apples.
We'd also gather winkles (yuk) when we went to the seaside.
Whilst we only picked a few, easily identifiable items, we also learnt the ones to avoid - the strange coloured fungi, the dirty streams, fruit on twining plants in hedges.
The Moneyless Chicken says:-
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.