Food for free

*This post is not really about the garden, but hopefully it's still relevant enough to get through the censors!

It never ceases to amaze me how many people go into a supermarket and pay through the nose for in-season fruit that's hanging there on the bushes for free, just asking to be picked.

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons for foraging: there's so much out there I end up feeling slightly giddy at the prospect of all the pies, crumbles, chutneys and jam that can be created.

Today, for example, I'm down in Kent visiting my parents and, whilst out walking the dog along the riverside this morning, we came across blackberries, rosehips, elderberries, apples and damsons.

Damson jam is one of the best in my humble opinion, so I was overjoyed to see there was still some firm fruit left on the bushes, as I thought they would be over by now.

The sight of all the fruit that had gone past its best was a sad testimony to the fact that not many others have been taking advantage of this plentiful free harvest (and also that the birds have an abundance of berries to choose from this autumn).

The photo above shows the carrier bag full that I managed to collect and I'll be going back for some rosehips (for syrup) and more damsons later. I think I'll leave the elderberries as we have plenty around the allotment that can be turned into jam or wine when I get back...

Update: When I went back out later this afternoon to find some more damsons (which involved a bit of scrambling around in the bushes and getting strange looks, but I'm used to that) I came across someone who also likes to forage and was gathering rosehips for wine, so that raised my spirits somewhat following my earlier rant.

If this post has inspired you to think about heading out into the woods and hedgerows and you wouldn't normally, look out for Food for Free, a little Collins Gem book by Richard Mabey which is a great addition to any pocket.