Tree leaves

Thankyou thumps and mightymax for taking the time to go through all that. Thumps it must have taken a while to explain that. Tiggi one of my buns was doing egg shaped poos and its only now you mention this, that i have realized she hasnt done is for weeks since feeding the tree leaves. All my buns have got nice poos since foraging. I too feed blackberry/raspberry, hawthorn, ash, maple, silver birch and apple. Ive not seen a blackthorn about on my travels yet. I was trying to find if hornbeam was safe the other day and couldnt find anything. Luckily i only forage because i love it and the buns love it, not because my buns life depends on it. How kind of you to help others the way you have. xx

Well all I can go by is the fact that my girls are now 5 and happily munch away on the bark and leaves - and occasional twig - of our Victoria plum tree that fall; we can't stop them, there's too many. They also eat quite a bit of other stuff that I'm relatively confident they shouldn't, including daffodil leaves, for example :shock:. But they're fine

willow and squiggles said:

Thankyou thumps and mightymax for taking the time to go through all that. Thumps it must have taken a while to explain that. Tiggi one of my buns was doing egg shaped poos and its only now you mention this, that i have realized she hasnt done is for weeks since feeding the tree leaves. All my buns have got nice poos since foraging. I too feed blackberry/raspberry, hawthorn, ash, maple, silver birch and apple. Ive not seen a blackthorn about on my travels yet. I was trying to find if hornbeam was safe the other day and couldnt find anything. Luckily i only forage because i love it and the buns love it, not because my buns life depends on it. How kind of you to help others the way you have. xx

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Thank for your kind comments willow and squiggles. I'm delighted to find that someone is carrying on foraging here & hope you've got a "group" posting with you.
I love getting out in the countryside too & it's not just the plants, it's the wild animals, birds, friendly waves & chats with the farm workers.
I don't know about hornbeam being safe either. I suggest pm ing Geoff's People, or Parsnipbun.

Angie B I enjoyed your post. I now know of 3 buns who eat plum leaves!
I know it can be surprising what buns eat eg daffodil leaves. It gets even more complicated that buns can inactivate many poisons but not all buns can inactivate the same ones. So there's another area where some buns can eat something, (who knows if they get tummy ache?) & others can't get away with it.

You are very welcome.I love being out and about, My husband commented yesterday and said i really light up when im foraging, i get that animated you would think im picking them for me to devour. :lol: My friends all joke that i will end up a natralist in a little hut in the woods with no amenities. Im loving the foraging thread and learning from others. xx

willow and squiggles said:

You are very welcome.I love being out and about, My husband commented yesterday and said i really light up when im foraging, i get that animated you would think im picking them for me to devour. :lol: My friends all joke that i will end up a natralist in a little hut in the woods with no amenities. Im loving the foraging thread and learning from others. xx

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Lightly steamed as a side dish, I suggest :lol:

Thumps - my neighbours have plum and cherry trees. I can't stop the buns picking and eating the fallen leaves - and cherry blossom in season. It's happened the last 20+ years ...

And Frances Harcourt Brown suggesting plum is OK is reassuring

MightyMax said:

Lightly steamed as a side dish, I suggest :lol:

Thumps - my neighbours have plum and cherry trees. I can't stop the buns picking and eating the fallen leaves - and cherry blossom in season. It's happened the last 20+ years ...

And Frances Harcourt Brown suggesting plum is OK is reassuring

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Not only side dish MM. It was once common to put hawthorn buds & very young leaves in our cheese sandwiches in rural Staffs - the poor man's lettuce. :lol:
Thank you for the info re plum & cherry trees too. FHB sees a lot of rabbits which boosts my confidence even further. I'm beginning to think that it's been one of these myths which derived from human issues with making alcohol from fruits with the stone left in.

(Re. ability to detox I was thinking of the daffodils.)

Willow and Squqiggles, I'm smiling at the thought of you drooling over the forage. Nettles are probably the most versatile. Young nettles were once used in soup to give humans the "goodies" we need during the lean period of Spring. (MM has infinately more knowledge than I do) The juices were used to curdle milk & make cottage cheese, (more difficult with homogenised milk) The Autumn stems were cut & the prepared fibre used to make "poor man's linen".
To me, urban life is "dislocated" from the "real world" out there, but I've no illusions that it's somehow "idyllic" - it's hard work, but at a slower pace.