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Awesome! Was just chatting with my brother and his wife who are now living near the woods in Poland, and they've been gathering bilberries too. Apparently they're the indigenous European blueberry, vs the North American varieties that are commercially produced.
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Aug 3, 2021 16:31
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We commonly find both bilberries and low-bush blueberries growing together here (Norway), along with crowberries. I tend to get them confused sometimes, but bilberries are like in your photos with slightly serrated leaves and the little circles opposite the stem, blueberries have smoother leaves and a sort of star shape instead. Photos from a recent walk in the woods (I also found some nice mushrooms, posted in the mushroom thread). Blueberries (and crowberries, edible but not very tasty without additional preparation):  Bilberries:  All three together:  Also found some nice patches of wild strawberries  Tonnes of wild raspberries, small but sweet:  And a berry I'm not familiar with. The clusters remind me a little of skrubbær (Chamaepericlymenum suecicum) but that has a brighter red, smaller leaves and larger berries. So not very similar really. 
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Aug 3, 2021 18:05
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big scary monsters posted:
If it were this side of the Atlantic, I'd suspect salmonberry. It's definitely Rubus of some sort. Maybe cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus)?
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Aug 3, 2021 18:47
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Definitely not cloudberry, we have those here too and I love them but they aren't quite ripe yet. Looking at various Rubus, it seems like it might be Rubus arcticus, Arctic brambles. Mid-Norway is probably the southern edge of their range but still plausible. And also now I'm wondering if I got bilberries and blueberries confused again in my post above. They're both delicious so I suppose it's OK. big scary monsters fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Aug 3, 2021 |
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Aug 3, 2021 18:56
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Oh hey, a foraging thread? I've foraged for five years or so, just came across a beautiful crashed ash tree - got permission to forage it just now, so hopefully I'll get some good poles for bowmaking. Educated as natural heritage goon in Denmark, ama about plants, mushrooms or nature here!
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Oct 6, 2021 09:39
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I’m more of a mushroom guy but I’ve had fair luck with garlic mustard and know if a few good nettle patches to pick over next growing season. I know some ramp patches too but they’re so small (and on public ground so probably getting foraged already) that I’m loathe to take any from them.
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Oct 6, 2021 14:25
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I wish I knew how to find ramps.
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Oct 6, 2021 14:56
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Neon Noodle posted:I wish I knew how to find ramps. Where are you located?
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Oct 7, 2021 14:59
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New England
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Oct 7, 2021 16:04
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Tias posted:Oh hey, a foraging thread? I've foraged for five years or so, just came across a beautiful crashed ash tree - got permission to forage it just now, so hopefully I'll get some good poles for bowmaking. How straight is the grain? I recently was able to get some pretty nice yew that wasn't being used for bows because it wasn't straight enough. How did you harvest it? Post pics!
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Oct 7, 2021 16:36
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Neon Noodle posted:New England When the azaleas are blooming, go walk in the woods. Old growth hardwoods. Look for patches of shiny dark green leaves growing up from the forest floor. They're very vibrant compared to most vegetation at that point in the spring. Familiarize yourself with the bulbs/stems before-hand - they're quite distinctive. They're not that uncommon if you go at the right time. Anywhere you'd find morels is a good place to start. Stream beds, high-quality, well drained shady soil is key.
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Oct 7, 2021 19:07
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I'm in NC and we have azaleas blooming here and there most of the year.
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Oct 7, 2021 23:43
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Scarodactyl posted:I'm in NC and we have azaleas blooming here and there most of the year. For real though, if you don't understand what I meant by azaleas blooming, you should probably stay out of the woods.
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Oct 8, 2021 14:36
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HappyHippo posted:Has anyone harvested black walnuts? There's a tree down the road from me so I gave it a shot last year. I removed the husks by stomping on them while wearing boots, and then hosing them off in a bucket (they'll dye your hands yellow if you don't use gloves, also don't wear clothes you like). I let them dry for a few weeks on an oven sheet. They're also very difficult to crack (a hefty pair of vice grips can do the trick), and you don't get much meat either. Oh hey, I had no idea there was a foraging thread. Speaking of black walnuts, we harvested a pile of unripe black walnuts earlier this year and packed most of them in sugar for walnut syrup, and grain alcohol for nocino.    The nocino is still hanging out, but we strained and boiled the syrup a week or two ago. It's, uh, interesting. It's very strongly earthy and a touch astringent, but it's supposed to mellow out as it rests. The only way I can describe the taste is how old growth deciduous forests smell in the fall.
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Oct 8, 2021 16:21
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 holy poo poo that looks so good and you sold that flavor profile hard for me.
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Oct 8, 2021 17:02
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Casu Marzu posted:Oh hey, I had no idea there was a foraging thread. Oh yeah I tried the syrup too! Makes a mean old fashioned.
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Oct 9, 2021 00:57
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Casu Marzu posted:Oh hey, I had no idea there was a foraging thread. The lady and I tried to make nocino this year and it turned out...horribly. I don't know what we did wrong. It was dirty and tasted awful, like bad vinegar. Pretty sure we didn't add enough sugar. We've had better luck in the past too, and it's pretty great when it comes out right...
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Oct 27, 2021 23:01
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I also dabbled in some nocino this year. Not great photos, but:  Here it is when I just started it in July. I was just barely able to get green walnuts in time. They were a little tough to cut through, but still green enough to use. Let it steep in there with the sugar and spices for approx. 2 months, then strained and bottled:  The big bottle is for me and the GF, the two smaller bottles I gave away (which is why I also included a label with what it actually is.) Mine came out great...so good, you can easily forget it's a full 80 proof liquor, ha. Sorry to hear that yours wasn't good, MEIN RAVEN. I'm not sure what would make it taste like vinegar... in theory, not enough sugar would just make it taste like a black walnut vodka, just more harsh and not sweet. I wonder if somehow the walnuts rotted? Were they completely covered in the vodka? Container maybe wasn't sealed properly? In too warm a place? DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Oct 28, 2021 |
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Oct 28, 2021 20:37
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DrBouvenstein posted:
You know, we were too tired to do an autopsy. We got them REALLY ripe this year actually, in June. I think we didn't add enough sugar and it just tasted like bad gritty vodka, none of the smoothness and such. I do wonder too if the walnuts maybe rotted in the liquor, as they were really ashy when we pulled them out. Container was a mason jar with a secure lid, has worked in the past. Stuck them in a cool dark place, but we don't have AC here in the great northwest so....who knows. We'll revisit next year and try again. We have SO MANY of them in the area.
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Oct 29, 2021 21:19
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It's a big mast year for the live oaks this year apparently. So many acorns falling on my house- good time to be a squirrel.
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Oct 29, 2021 21:50
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MEIN RAVEN posted:You know, we were too tired to do an autopsy. We got them REALLY ripe this year actually, in June. I think we didn't add enough sugar and it just tasted like bad gritty vodka, none of the smoothness and such. I do wonder too if the walnuts maybe rotted in the liquor, as they were really ashy when we pulled them out. Container was a mason jar with a secure lid, has worked in the past. Stuck them in a cool dark place, but we don't have AC here in the great northwest so....who knows. We'll revisit next year and try again. We have SO MANY of them in the area. For what it's worth, nothing lives in 80-proof liquor (assuming that's what you were using). But I guess the nuts could have rotted before the ethanol had a chance to properly soak into them? Is there a reason not to coarse chop/grind the nuts?
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Nov 28, 2021 18:51
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Lead out in cuffs posted:For what it's worth, nothing lives in 80-proof liquor (assuming that's what you were using). But I guess the nuts could have rotted before the ethanol had a chance to properly soak into them? That only matters for microbes on the surface. If the nuts are already past their prime and rotting inside, no amount of alcohol will save them. It’s like taking an apple that’s rotting inside but doesn’t have a broken skin. By the time the skin breaks the fruit is already spoiled. With nuts you can solve for this by just tossing them in the oven and heating them above 160 for half an hour. That will kill almost all the microbes inside and shouldn’t toast them at all. Best solution for green fruit though is to be careful with selection and skip anything that looks, feels, or smells off. Chopping the nuts smaller would get you a lower extraction time, but you’ll also have a shorter window before you get too much you wouldn’t want. So long as you don’t leave it and forget it you should be able to make something good. You might get some different flavor extraction from the shell being available differently, but you won’t know until you try.
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Nov 28, 2021 20:30
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wild yellow rocket = free arugula to my face 
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Apr 11, 2022 13:24
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Plum tree growing in a random graveyard. I'm going back tomorrow to grab some more because they're delicious, curses notwithstanding. 
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Aug 3, 2023 19:13
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Whimsicalfuckery posted:Plum tree growing in a random graveyard. I'm going back tomorrow to grab some more because they're delicious, curses notwithstanding. be careful with your cursed goth plums
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Aug 4, 2023 00:20
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Kuule hain nussivan posted:Me and the wife Are you from the 1950s?
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Aug 4, 2023 09:35
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b mad at me posted:Are you from the 1950s? True, I really should have used the more accurate cohabitational non-registered partner.
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Aug 4, 2023 09:49
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rojay posted:For foraging in the Southeast, Eat the Weeds http://www.eattheweeds.com/ is pretty good. He's got a pretty goofy series of videos, too: https://www.youtube.com/user/EatTheWeeds This is a person who knows what she's doing.
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Aug 4, 2023 09:52
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:
it's douchebags like this that Tim & Eric were aiming at (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Aug 4, 2023 09:54
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was playing with Theo at the park and found these bad boys, so I took a few home, cleaned them up, and now have them curing out on the balcony. excited to give myself some never before seen disease from dog park walnuts  
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Nov 3, 2023 00:20
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Just watch out for worms. As I understand, the thing with walnuts is that they get infested if the groundfall isn't cleared away. As in, if they're wormy, you could clear up the groundfall and after a year or two they'd be good.
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Nov 3, 2023 02:21
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Just watch out for worms. As I understand, the thing with walnuts is that they get infested if the groundfall isn't cleared away. As in, if they're wormy, you could clear up the groundfall and after a year or two they'd be good. please forgive my ignorance (this is the first time i've done this) but like worms in the flesh of the fruit or worms in my actual little walnuts inside the shells? could make or break how sad i get to hear this news
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Nov 4, 2023 16:58
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In the nuts. But check them before you get too sad about it! They might be fine!
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Nov 4, 2023 19:10
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Lead out in cuffs posted:In the nuts. Reviews are in -- the nuts are good! Boyfriend taste-tested and said "wow! it's walnuts!" Notes for next year: grab more and grab them earlier. And invest in a nutcracker. I used a hammer and sat on the balcony like an ape in the opening montage of 2001 but I have walnuts   Bonus "nocturnal walnut gremlin cryptid" pic boyfriend sent to the gc  
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Nov 15, 2023 02:39
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 And yeah lol, you can probably find a nutcracker at a thrift store.
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Nov 17, 2023 09:22
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I'm not good with field plants, wat dis:
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Nov 18, 2023 11:41
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Horseradish? Cauliflower? It's kinda hard to tell, but I think I see one root half out the ground that looks horseradish-like.
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Nov 19, 2023 05:42
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Tias posted:I'm not good with field plants, wat dis: Looks to me like it could be canola
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Nov 19, 2023 06:06
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CommonShore posted:Looks to me like it could be canola I guess I think of canola leaves as being smaller, but that would be after it "bolts". I don't think I've actually seen it earlier in the season. So yeah, could be. I'd guess cauliflower would be transplanted as seedlings to get more even spacing than that.
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Nov 19, 2023 17:40
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Lead out in cuffs posted:I guess I think of canola leaves as being smaller, but that would be after it "bolts". I don't think I've actually seen it earlier in the season. So yeah, could be. Yeah canola starts its life cycle as a leafy green (a tasty one in fact) with big floofy leaves, and then bolts to the yellow flowers. It's mustard.
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Nov 19, 2023 20:06
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