joey&boo
Wise Old Thumper
oh my. I assume you had words
-
Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.
my foraging diary
- Thread starter willow and squiggles
- Start date
oh my. I assume you had words
Yes! I told him not to do it again, that it was unsafe to do it with any but especially him, but he seemed to think he knew best :roll:
joey&boo
Wise Old Thumper
Went on massive walk today trying to forage. It may have been good for my lungs & legs but slim pickings for bunny bellies . So I've bought a sample of cow parsley / hemlock home in the hope the Ogafal & others can help me ID it. Photos might help ? What do I need to focus on?
My route back I took a longer route thinking I'd help myself to a few apple prunings. Massive fire at the bottom of the road. Guess what they'd cut up & were burning?
Saw a big field full of boy sheepies, stocky little things. They don't seem to have as much fun as lambykins. Theirs mums were all tucking in to turnips
My route back I took a longer route thinking I'd help myself to a few apple prunings. Massive fire at the bottom of the road. Guess what they'd cut up & were burning?
Saw a big field full of boy sheepies, stocky little things. They don't seem to have as much fun as lambykins. Theirs mums were all tucking in to turnips
Went on massive walk today trying to forage. It may have been good for my lungs & legs but slim pickings for bunny bellies . So I've bought a sample of cow parsley / hemlock home in the hope the Ogafal & others can help me ID it. Photos might help ? What do I need to focus on?
My route back I took a longer route thinking I'd help myself to a few apple prunings. Massive fire at the bottom of the road. Guess what they'd cut up & were burning?
Saw a big field full of boy sheepies, stocky little things. They don't seem to have as much fun as lambykins. Theirs mums were all tucking in to turnips
Photos will help. However easiest way is to look at the stem. Cow Parsley stem has a groove and looks a bit like celery and a cross-section gives a triangular or 'u' shape. Hemlock is round and hollow. Hemlock leaves also are more feathery, but that is not such an easier distinction between the two, because like all plants there is variation.
Once you have found a patch of Cow Parsley and have correctly identified it, I suggest you return to the same spot for future pickings.
https://www.jackravenbushcraft.co.uk/hemlock-cow-parsley/
joey&boo
Wise Old Thumper
Thanks Omi. That guide is really useful. Bob & I are going to examine it properly against those criteria. I'm already perplexed though as I don't think the stems are hairy but they defo have a celery like groove. Smells - grassy..maybe parsley but I cant pick up the aniseed. These are tiny plants though. I expect it'd be easier if they were bigger. I seem to remember Scrappy saying something about that
You wont get hars with the baby plants, mine are just leaves and tiny stalks, hence the cross section shape of the stalk being the best id just now. Later on you'll be able to use stalk colouring etc more, but even the tiny stalks still have a distinctly "D" shape to them rather than round.
keletkezes
Wise Old Thumper
Our hemlock and cow parsely both like to have purple spots :roll: More prevalent on the hemlock but the cowparsely doesn't want to be left out!
joey&boo
Wise Old Thumper
We did our analysis last night & then binned it :lol: I reckon was CP - apparently hemlock smells rotten when crushed & the stems were grooved. The leaves weren't convincing enough for me though. Decided to revisit when the plants are bigger. I took photos of the leaves which show on my camera but won't import for some reason
keletkezes
Wise Old Thumper
Leaves are REALLY hit&miss, they're impossible to tell apart just based on leaves around here. There's a particularly dark (hemlock-shade!), feathery feels-just-like-hemlock CP just the other side of the ring road for example: it's 100% CP because the stems are really celery-like, not just the big groove but lots of little ones as well. I've never crushed them to smell them. Flowers and height are about as good an indicator as leaves (generally OK but still not as good as stems): our hemlocks grow up to anywhere between 1.5 and 2m and often beyond, cowparsley rarely gets above 2m. The embelliferous flowers of cowparsley are much denser, 'better' umbels whereas hemlock has looser umbels, often smaller. Flowers much later as well, hemlock, IME.
Agree with this. I would certainly never do an ID based on leaves alone. Far too iffy imo. It's not just Hemlock but other Umbellifers have similar leaves. I've never attempted to ID on flowers or smell. Height is one to look for, but of course only relevant when it's fully grown. I'm not sure whether Hemlock leaves are around this early. I'll try to have a look at known Hemlocks close to here. I had a close look at the small Cow Parsley leaves in the garden this morning. None of them are on hairy stems and I must admit I've never looked for this when ID'ing. Red blotches can be confusing, because Cow Parsley sometimes has redness in the stem.
I would always go on stem. Once you are confident with this feature, you really won't go wrong.
joey&boo
Wise Old Thumper
Thanks, super useful
keletkezes
Wise Old Thumper
I don't think so but I'll have a look in an hour when we go for our walk
We've got a warm microclimate next to the canal so if it's going to come up around this early it will have by now!Wow, maybe a microlimate where they never died off? Our cowparsley never did! I'm 90% sure the hemlock did though.
I don't think so but I'll have a look in an hour when we go for our walk
Wow, maybe a microlimate where they never died off? Our cowparsley never did! I'm 90% sure the hemlock did though.
Well surprise, surprise :lol: There are lots of Cow Parsley plants with a few Hemlock at one end of them, next to the ditch just up the road. Both the Cow Parsley and the Hemlock are at the same stage of growth, leaves about 6-8in long.
keletkezes
Wise Old Thumper
keletkezes
Wise Old Thumper
Yesterday I went for a walk on my own as work was quiet and it was nice out. Got some forage on the final stretch as the cowparsely is putting out strong growth and the stickyweed is taller now. None of it was damaged by the frost and cold, dry spell, except a few leaf ends, the stickyweed (goosegrass/cleavers) even seemingly untouched, just stopped growing. Got a couple of bits of hogweed too. Lots of new grass in the big clumps. Should have left enough closer to home to collect this afternoon as well
Bunnies enjoying it, and for size comparison! https://photos.app.goo.gl/PyeWNAsGK4y1hgcf8
Bunnies enjoying it, and for size comparison! https://photos.app.goo.gl/PyeWNAsGK4y1hgcf8
Yesterday I went for a walk on my own as work was quiet and it was nice out. Got some forage on the final stretch as the cowparsely is putting out strong growth and the stickyweed is taller now. None of it was damaged by the frost and cold, dry spell, except a few leaf ends, the stickyweed (goosegrass/cleavers) even seemingly untouched, just stopped growing. Got a couple of bits of hogweed too. Lots of new grass in the big clumps. Should have left enough closer to home to collect this afternoon as well
Bunnies enjoying it, and for size comparison! https://photos.app.goo.gl/PyeWNAsGK4y1hgcf8
That's a super large pile for them
I'm able to cut fresh grass daily here too now. It's very popular. So too, I might add, is the Goosegrass with Tui. None of the Rexes would ever eat it and when Tui joined Tethra she continued to avoid it. Now she's her own woman she eats it :lol:Awww Tui
I am beyond impatient to do decent foraging. Has anybun got Hawthorn in leaf yet?
Haha with Tui there's not a lot that she and Tethra didn't both eat. Only Buddleia comes to mind, which I'll try later in the year.
We have one Hawthorn, which is part of the side hedge, which is in full sun and is always the first in leaf. It has buds, which are just breaking, but the other Hawthorns in the garden are still in tight bud.
