Frydmania

Autumn plunder

October 9th, 2007

Nothing like something for nothing, especially when you can eat it.  There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but there is thankfully some free food to be found, usually around hedgerows etc.

Last year we discovered great bramble bushes (aka blackberry for those unsure) on the cycle path near us.  Even though last year was sunny in the summer and this year was not, still gathered quite a lot.  The attempt at making bramble jam was less successful, losing not only the brambles (by now in a solid lump) but also the container they were in, which they refused to be parted from.

Last weekend’s excitement (apart from choosing my laptop) was elderberry picking.  We seem to have gained an elderberry bush at the bottom of the garden, which has been conveniently hanging over our side of the fence, so picked most of those, and hope to turn them into icecream.  They are probably the only thing in the garden benefitting from our compost heap, which gets added to, but sadly not yet used on plants…As the elderberry bush is on the other side of the fence from the compost bin, we can only assume conditions are good, as it wasn’t there last year.

Final bit of plunder was only from the Co-op, really, so doesn’t really count (although when they discount their veg at the end of the day, it’s almost as good as hunter gathering).  Bought beetroot for cooking with for the first time, turning out beetroot soup and some beetroot to go with a roast chicken (which was particularly good!).  Having tried lots of other soups earlier in the year, beetroot was a gap on the list.

Reports will follow on how well these work out.  Besides, I promised friends overseas that I would write about some Edinburgh stuff, and brambling etc is part of the picture.  (So is washing floors, but I will spare you all that.)

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