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?

at shooting free pigeons and licking chewing gum off the pavements.

I'm going to see if there are any blackberries about where I live tomorrow I think.

If I can bag a squirrel too I think it might taste quite nice with a blackberry jus.

I know,reeling.

I have such an excellent recipe for hare with blackberries, too, and it only requires me to spend 23 hours on foraging, amateur butchery, distilling my own white lightning from windfalls, etc. etc.

Thank god The Poor are feckless and don't need to spend time on jobs.

Re the blackberries ready in Scotland yet? I thought it was a bit early for them yet

The foraging idea is obviously The Answer. Quick tell IDS. Why are we giving these people money, when there's all that free food out there.

There are plenty of delicious rats out there for those with a bit of gumption. Even better, telling the poor to hunt rats (to go with their nettle soup) has the advantage of cutting local authority costs for pest control. Win-win.

I will always be proud that I was present on the thread where all the world's problems were solved.

[Wanders off, shouting, 'tosser'.]

I picked lots of blackberries today too. And lots of raspberries the other day. Other times of year we pick wild rhubarb, elderflowers, even wild garlic.
Do I get a medal?

Jamie Oliver is in the trolling mood tonight.

Those in cities, better get racing the local rats, foxes and gulls to the wheelie bins!

It's probably better if the blackberries are bit maggoty really. Adds some protein to the meal.

It'll mostly be rat followed my more rat during the winter though really.

I pick sloe berries for gin - do I win something?

No, no, expat. They should be hunting down those rats, gulls and foxes and then they will be free to raid the wheelie bins themselves.

They are far from ready in parts of Scotland. And last year, as someone stated, was a very bad year for them.

When we went blackberrying a couple of weeks ago my piggy children scoffed them all afternoon and didn't come close to filling their containers. They looked like vampires and I didn't have enough for blackberry casserole. Roll on hotchi-witchi

I watched a dog wee half way up a blackberry bush and I fear I will starve for not eating piss-ridden fruits.

My children will starve because of those pesky dogs

I made apple and blackberry cake using fruit from my back garden, so it was FREE! All I needed to add was flour, sugar, butter, eggs and cinnamon, which are all practically free, right?

Cat - have you not heard of the health properties of dogpiss blackberry tart>

I bloody love sloe gin ABF - can get as pissed as a fart on it and still come back for more.

The bugger is having to buy the gin in the first place - it seems somehow unfair!

expatinscotland:

Foraging is definitely a way to reliably sustain a human being. That is exactly why humans, thousands of years ago, starting farming.

This.

at OP. This thread reminds me of the Victorian lady who claimed that no-one need starve when there were slugs to be eaten. And claimed that slugs could be preserved with salt!

I get where you are coming from. Being Norwegian it is part of our culture to forage for blueberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants(in gardens mostly), local variety of billberries/cranberries and cloudberries. You would get several liters of each variety, and either make jam, cordial, sugar and freeze. When I was young, we used to collect a full years supply and we had delicious jam, and cordials, along with dessert. Berries served with custard and ice cream was a yummy treat. We hardly ever bought jam or berries. We got our own, and had nice days out in the process.

Cant be done easily in the UK.

If you live in Sweden froken, I dont think you realize just how urban and built up the UK is, even for people who claim they live "rural". Rural here is nowhere near Rural for Scandinavia.

Children have no idea what blackberrying is.....they think it's playing on their mobile phone.

In a way I'm with you OP. it's sad.

I love nettle tea.

If you saw my flowerbeds you'd know what a silly fecker I am buying it in Holland and Barretts.

Tbh I could supply them.

Yes! We've all overlooked the slugs. I'm sure they're delicious.

And the rest of us can let the poor in to gather slugs in our gardens, this doing our bit to help the feckless.