to wonder why there are blackberries going bad whilst people complain that they don't have enough money to feed their family healthy food.

[froken]

We went blackberry picking today, I was expecting a couple of manky blackberries to be left because I hear so often in the media and on mumsnet people saying how they struggle to feed their dc healthy food and sometimes people saying they have a hard time finding enough money to feed their dc at all.

There was a huge amount of blackberries, we were a 20 min walk outside a major city so an easily accessible place for 1000s of families.

We picked 9 pounds of blackberries.

Aibu to think that it would be a good idea for those struggling to feed their family a healthy diet (and those struggling to feed their family at all) should be out picking the free fruit that grows all over England's public spaces?

Bogeyface how does mentioning that an allotment may yield a bit more food than foraging for the odd blackberry equate to "advocating that people live off the land" or saying it 's a "solution" to anything?

Do you not read the papers Saffyz? This has been pushed as a genuine solution! Posts on here back that up.

Do you know the effort it takes to manually dig over and entire allotment and then plant it? I do, it takes a long time and is absolutely knackering for someone who eats well and is fit and healthy. For someone who doesnt have enough to eat so it not fit and healthy it is almost impossible. Add into that the cost of your plantings and buying tools if they need them then you are in the realms of fantasy.

So even for "a bit more food" it is simply not realistic. The only people who can afford to do that are people who have the spare time, cash and health to do it. Families who are so in need they use food banks may have the time but they dont have the cash or the health.

Blackberries, blackberries everywhere
But not a bite to eat.

Don't really like blackberries...

Everyone faffing about and cultivating independent allotments is not a very cost effective or efficient use of the national farmland stock. If people want to do a bit of hobby planting, then fine, but you need at least an acre or two to make a real dent in a food budget, and time to cultivate it.

I am put in mind of the Good Life.

yep sorry completely pissed, so have to ask, is this for fucking real?

Some of our near neighbours have completely dug up back, side and front gardens to plant vegetables. It looks quite lovely, at the moment anyway, oddly enough.

Totally agree Boffin

As I said, it is a middle class hobby. Which is fine, its a hobby I had for a couple of years (not MC but still...) but it really gets my goat when it is touted as a solution to food poverty.

There was an article I read about The Good Life (currently googling to find it) that said that there is no way that Tom and Barbara could have even fed themselves on their gardens and allotment, let alone had surplus to sell. Having an allotment and not having to buy a bag of spuds a couple of times a year is not the same as using it to supplement a v low budget. As I said above, buying the initial seeds etc is beyond the budget of these familes, never mind the allotment cost (they are not free, you have to pay rent), tool costs, etc

iirc, you need roughly one acre per person to be truly self sufficient, so bearing in mind that this is to supplement the family budget and not replace it, I would hazard a guess at 1 acre to be needed to make enough of a difference to a family of 4. Again, that is not taking into account the cost and man power it would take to work that land.

Not realistic.

Cant find the article, still looking.

I dug up my front garden and because we are social tenants on a naice development all the wankers in the private houses who own dogs let them shit on it

Does dogshit improve the quality of whatever I plan to grow?

Put a sign up saying "Weedkilling in process, not suitable for animals or children" :o

I'm sure if you grow cake vault that it would be fine

the trouble was, op, that you phrased it badly. I dont know if that was because of the language barrier.

As you soon pointed out, blackberries can only be a snack.And you have to also take away the extra cost of wear on shoes and wellies.

fwiw, I have got a couple of books on what is edible to eat in the hedgerows. Just in case a very large credit crunch comes. Hope I never have to use it properly.

And fruit and veg sold by the roadside. I stopped buying that I am afraid. And think twice about edible produce out on pavements too. Too many fumes.

lol at cake and signs.

I'm just going to cover it with stones and fake mushrooms and little lights like they do and try to grow things in the builders rubble that our lawn seems to have been filled in with - broken glass and massive stones appearing with each rainfall.

And content myself with the fact that the entitled twats who live on my development probably have interest-only mortgages with no repayment vehicle. I'm nice like that.

Coming late to this thread, but I get what the OP is saying - if people knew how to forage a bit more, it could supplement a diet.
There was a thread on here a few months ago - about Universal Credit, I think - and if Froken had come on to talk about foraging then, she may have got a better reception. A lot of the UC thread was taken up with gathering cheap ingredients for a basic bean/barley broth, and how you could add whatever fresh/tinned veg you could find, so a mention of a few nettles/mushrooms/wild garlic and so on wouldn't have gone down so badly. A common complaint associated with a low-income diet is the lack of fresh fruit and veg.

I think it's just the "all the poor need to do is get on their bikes to a nice farm/woodland/meadow and they'll be sorted" angle.

There's a lot of wild food websites, and it's worth having a look. Also, Froken is Swedish, and it's the thing to do to get out in the nature and get picking.

LRD - I've heard tell of a comely damson tree round Portmeadow....get off....it be moine!

The first two years at this house, I grew veg. Mainly because everybody kept on at me (as on Mumsnet, so in real life) about how foolish it is for poor people, such as me, to pay supermarket prices when you can grow your own for free, and so much better, and how good for depression it is to be out gardening!

I should add that I live an eight-minute walk from Aldi. Anyway, right, I took money out of my food budget for seeds. I realised the soil here is rubbish, so I spent more food money on compost & fertilisers. And on spades, forks & shizz. I got a massive crop of tomatoes. They caught blight. The blight also killed the peppers - sad little sods they were, all stunted and weird. I spent even more of my food money, buying anti-blight treatments. I also had to spray everything with anti-fungal stuff and anti-bug stuff. I was unhappy about this, not only because it costs £5 for a month's worth, but also because I'd like the bees & birds to live instead of being poisoned by my attempts to grow food for myself.

The carrots got eaten by something before they grew to useable size. I didn't bother with potatoes after I saw the price of seed potatoes. All my herbs & salad got eaten by slugs. I should have started a slug farm. The birds got the soft fruit, and it probably made them ill due to the sprays :(

Fuck gardening for food!! You know how much a kilo of carrots costs? 79p. And Aldi has tomatoes at around 10p each, not to mention the enhanced nutritional value of 29p-a-box passata. I still keep herbs, but only in pots to discourage the damn slugs, and the rest is now weeds roses.

'Families who are so in need they use food banks may have the time but they dont have the cash or the health.'

Cash maybe not but what a generalisation re health. They won't be smoking or drinking alcohol will they if they have little money for food so are likely to be healthier than those who do!

They won't be smoking or drinking alcohol will they if they have little money for food so are likely to be healthier than those who do!

Oh how I wish that were as true as it sounds like it should be.

I had to look up the price of cigarettes - a pack of 20 is now £8 and not many people who smoke would just have one pack a week. Gosh, if people can afford to smoke nowadays, they can certainly afford to put food on the table!

I don't think blackberries are the answer to the current dire situation!! However it does seem strange how few people pick them. Whenever I go out with the dog I pick a small bag full and stick them in the freezer. I intend to make BlackBerry jelly but don't have enough jars atm. Kids love them raw, not had a problem with beasties, I just rinse them quickly in a colander. Very high in vit c.

I've come very late to this thread....

Where I live is a real mix of housing - mainly ex council houses which have been purchased next to new social houses. Anyway it happens to be a very green area and I got chatting to some neighbours who have taken over a bit if field and turned it into a mini community allotment. They were digging up their tatties and carrots and had a real pile.

It might not save much cash but it really helps engender a feeling of community and tastes so much better too there are blackberry bushes nearby

We took the kids blackberrying a couple of weeks ago. They loved it and enjoyed the crumble that was the result. However I would not be able to feed them blackberries every day without them get extremely fed up!

As for beasties, soak them in salt water to get rid.

I'm staggered at the negativity on this thread to the OP and any one else who has the audacity to make a suggestion about where to get free or cheaper food

"You have to factor in the cost of footwear"

Are you having a laugh? Seriously?

I regularly make nettle soup because its a free version of spinach soup. There are berries everywhere. Windfall apples. Of course it's not the whole solution - nothing is - but it's a hell of a lot nicer than moaning and doing nothing.

I live in a mixed housing area, there are retirement properties one end of the road, privately owned houses in the middle then housing association at the other end.

There is hundreds of Blackberrys around the street, you don't need to look for them, there is also Sloes, Blackcurrants and Elderberries.

Not one single person has picked any so we took advantage and got about 4lbs of Blackberries and have a stock of Jam and Cordial now.

Next I'll be getting currants and Elderberries.

and Sloes for Gin

There is a ton left for wildlife don't worry and as for pollution a for traffic, we live very near a train line but they've all been well soaked before using.

The cordial is so easy and very, very nice, I know there is no aspartame shite in it, it's literally fruit, sugar, water and lemon juice.

It's madness that more people don't gather some for some home produce,

9lbs of blackberries picked.
So approximately £20 worth?
So on an average family budget, that is 8 hours worth of income?

oohdaddypig.
I would strongly advise you not to go too far down that route. The pperson I know who did that went quite eccentric. Had 8 people to his funeral apart from family members[which he did manage to keep].
He used to get everything and I mean everything he could from skips, auction junk shops and the like. His house was one of those houses you see on the tv, not quite as bad, but nearly.
So be careful.

I've actually read back this thread and it's the bitchiest I've seen in a while.

The OP's argument was a fair one - why don't people pick blackberries anymore as they are a free nutritious food.

She did not pronounce this as a way to end uk poverty. Or that everyone who is hard up becomes self sufficient. Or that "poor" people can just eat off the land. Or that this is an option for inner city dwellers.

You are a bunch of playground bullies and its vile responses
to posts like this that give mumsnet a bad name - a bunch of bored bitches who like to make unpleasant snipes.

I'm off to hunt more blackberries and research cadmium levels as that was very interesting