my foraging diary

Scrappy's Little Helper · Sep 4, 2018

Turns out my favourite foraging area, Lee Valley Park, is out of action this weekend for a festival.

How dare people have fun in a way that inconveniences me!

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Omi · Sep 4, 2018

Scrappy's Little Helper said:
Turns out my favourite foraging area, Lee Valley Park, is out of action this weekend for a festival.

How dare people have fun in a way that inconveniences me!

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Oh no, how has the local Council permitted this disruption to foraging activities over the weekend :shock: I think you should print some notices to pin to trees and posts, reminding revellers that this is prime foraging habitat and that the spilling of beer, discarding of cigarette ends and trampling the undergrowth will not be tolerated.

I hope you have an alternative not too far away, which can be used to satisfy the appetites of your two cuties

MightyMax · Sep 4, 2018

Omi said:
Oh no, how has the local Council permitted this disruption to foraging activities over the weekend :shock: I think you should print some notices to pin to trees and posts, reminding revellers that this is prime foraging habitat and that the spilling of beer, discarding of cigarette ends and trampling the undergrowth will not be tolerated.

I hope you have an alternative not too far away, which can be used to satisfy the appetites of your two cuties

Would that the spoilage of foraging territory were limited to that :shock:

loobers25 · Sep 4, 2018

Scrappy's Little Helper said:
Turns out my favourite foraging area, Lee Valley Park, is out of action this weekend for a festival.

How dare people have fun in a way that inconveniences me!

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Selfish ********!

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Scrappy's Little Helper · Sep 4, 2018

Thank you Omi and Loobers, I knew you’d understand! According to the leaflet that was pinned up in the block the festival will involve “the throwing of non-toxic coloured powder”. Once gravity has done its work that powder’s going to end up all over the grass and plants. I don’t want to take any risks so I won’t be foraging in that area for a good while! Not so bad as I can still go up to Hackney marsh for a forage.

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Omi · Sep 5, 2018

Scrappy's Little Helper said:
Thank you Omi and Loobers, I knew you’d understand! According to the leaflet that was pinned up in the block the festival will involve “the throwing of non-toxic coloured powder”. Once gravity has done its work that powder’s going to end up all over the grass and plants. I don’t want to take any risks so I won’t be foraging in that area for a good while! Not so bad as I can still go up to Hackney marsh for a forage.

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What fun :roll:

Do you find lots of different plants in the marshy habitat? Hackney marsh sounds like an interesting place for a walk. Should be lots of Dragonflies this time of the year

Scrappy's Little Helper · Sep 5, 2018

Omi said:
What fun :roll:

Do you find lots of different plants in the marshy habitat? Hackney marsh sounds like an interesting place for a walk. Should be lots of Dragonflies this time of the year

Interestingly it isn’t actually a marsh anymore, although it has kept the name. It used to be but was damned so is now mainly grassland with a few hedgerows so I can still get a decent variety of wild plants for the buns. It’s a huge area so this will be a good opportunity to explore it a bit more.

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joey&boo · Sep 5, 2018

Scrappy's Little Helper said:
Interestingly it isn’t actually a marsh anymore, although it has kept the name. It used to be but was damned so is now mainly grassland with a few hedgerows so I can still get a decent variety of wild plants for the buns. It’s a huge area so this will be a good opportunity to explore it a bit more.

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Always fun exploring new foraging spots. I imagine your bunnies ordering different woodland plants from different areas, as they do with their supermarket herbs . How often do you forage Scrappy & are you drying for winter?

nap91 · Sep 5, 2018

Found a new foraging spot today! Turns out my work has a ton of dandelions and plantain I didn’t even know about! Where it’s been closed over summer, the grass hasn’t been cut so I took advantage today before it disappears! Got so much, even after the fresh leaves that I’ve given the bunnies, I’ve run out of space to dry it all!

I am so pleased I found this forum as I never would’ve started foraging otherwise [emoji16] makes me sad to think of all the plantain my bunnies could’ve been eating in the past for free :lol:

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MightyMax · Sep 5, 2018

nap91 said:
Found a new foraging spot today! Turns out my work has a ton of dandelions and plantain I didn’t even know about! Where it’s been closed over summer, the grass hasn’t been cut so I took advantage today before it disappears! Got so much, even after the fresh leaves that I’ve given the bunnies, I’ve run out of space to dry it all!

I am so pleased I found this forum as I never would’ve started foraging otherwise [emoji16] makes me sad to think of all the plantain my bunnies could’ve been eating in the past for free :lol:

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That's brilliant nap

Even your cupboard is smiling in that last photo :wave:

Scrappy's Little Helper · Sep 5, 2018

joey&boo said:
Always fun exploring new foraging spots. I imagine your bunnies ordering different woodland plants from different areas, as they do with their supermarket herbs . How often do you forage Scrappy & are you drying for winter?

Ha! Would you believe they’ve now decided they like all the herbs from Aldi, which is literally round the corner from me. I’m amazed they’re doing something that actually makes my life easier!

Having said that, there is loads of mallow and yarrow round here, which they have of course decided they don’t like! I usually go foraging about every three days. I always try to get lots of fresh grass, plantain, dandelion, hawthorn, brambles, raspberry leaves and bindweed (although it’s rapidly diminishing round here now) as they’re consistent favourites. I’ve never dried forage for winter. Might have to look into doing that in the future.

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keletkezes · Sep 6, 2018

Anyone else been unable so far to stock up on non-bush forage for winter? The long dry summer really did for it round here and while it is coming back, I don't know if I'll be able to gather much before the council cuts it back again. I've stocked up in November before though so I'm not hopeless about it

MightyMax · Sep 6, 2018

keletkezes said:
Anyone else been unable so far to stock up on non-bush forage for winter? The long dry summer really did for it round here and while it is coming back, I don't know if I'll be able to gather much before the council cuts it back again. I've stocked up in November before though so I'm not hopeless about it

Yes I have about 8 big boxes full, but most of that came from my own garden.
I didn't even venture out to find forage until a couple of weeks ago and it's limited even then.

Hopefully we'll get an Indian Summer, and what with the rain, at least the cow parsley is springing back up and the rabs find that delicious

loobers25 · Sep 8, 2018

Big haul today:
Willow
Broadleaf plantain
Ribwort plantain
Hawthorn
Dandelion
Bindweed
Hazel

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loobers25 · Sep 9, 2018

Big batch of dandies! Using the dehydrator as the sun's gone

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loobers25 · Sep 9, 2018

I would really like to learn how to forage hogweed. I see it everywhere, but how do you know if it's going to grow into a giant hogweed? And also the burns it can give you look terrifying?

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Omi · Sep 9, 2018

loobers25 said:
I would really like to learn how to forage hogweed. I see it everywhere, but how do you know if it's going to grow into a giant hogweed? And also the burns it can give you look terrifying?

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When I've had problems in distinguishing between similar plants, I've tried to make a positive ID of the plant that I want and for a while, just pick from that plant. It's easier of course if you can do this in your own garden. In your case, you could also get some Common Hogweed seeds and then you will see what the plant looks like in all the different stages of its growth. Giant Hogweed is far less common and is usally found next to water, eg riverside.

There are two links here, but I don't know how helpful they would be.

http://www.wildfooduk.com/articles/giant-hogweed-and-common-hogweed/
http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/blog/blog260811.htm

It's certainly a plant that is useful to be able to ID as it's very popular with rabbits. It also is available for many months of the year.

loobers25 · Sep 9, 2018

Omi said:
When I've had problems in distinguishing between similar plants, I've tried to make a positive ID of the plant that I want and for a while, just pick from that plant. It's easier of course if you can do this in your own garden. In your case, you could also get some Common Hogweed seeds and then you will see what the plant looks like in all the different stages of its growth. Giant Hogweed is far less common and is usally found next to water, eg riverside.

There are two links here, but I don't know how helpful they would be.

http://www.wildfooduk.com/articles/giant-hogweed-and-common-hogweed/
http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/blog/blog260811.htm

It's certainly a plant that is useful to be able to ID as it's very popular with rabbits. It also is available for many months of the year.

Ahhh. So what I have been finding lots of is hogweed that is roughly the same height as me. I thought that was the giant hogweed!

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Omi · Sep 9, 2018

loobers25 said:
Ahhh. So what I have been finding lots of is hogweed that is roughly the same height as me. I thought that was the giant hogweed!

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You're probably right. However, it's not a reliable way of distinguishing between different species of plants. Especially this year with the drought followed by rain I'm finding that some plants are growing larger than they normally would e.g. Dandelions

.

loobers25 · Sep 9, 2018

I'm going to find a dandelion bigger than yours tomorrow Omi. You'll see, you'll see!

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