Do you think growing your own or forraging will become more popular now energy prices have risen so much?

[kirstyalslap]

It seems like the natural next step to me but want others thoughts on it? Forraging is completely free and things like nettles, dandelions, cleavers (sticky weed) and obviously blackberries, apples, plums, damsons, elderflower, elder Berry are all edible and easily identifiable.
Not to mention salad leaves can be grown all year round on a windowsill or kitchen side.
What does everyone think?

Only posting as several people (not connected) have spoken about being interested in it.

yabu - you personally are not interested in either
Yanbu - you personally are interested

@TheresSomebodyAtTheDoorNeil well of course that's true but maybe we could plant more fruit trees? set up more communal gardens?

@SantaClawsServiette following Facebook groups I have managed to skip out many mistakes that others have posted about with photos. the Internet is a wonderful thing. yes my tomatoes got blight too but green tomatoes are nice in a chutney. so it's still a win.

And I don't know with all of the pesticides and chemicals spray over our food, motorways running alongside farms, we don't know how safe the apples from Africa are do we? why do we think its less safe from our city or village than we do from another country?

I’ve already started off this years fruit and veg. Tomatoes and green beans have germinated and several inches tall, strawberry plants have survived so far outside and I’ve got lettuces in a plastic greenhouse.
Cucumbers & courgettes are next to plant. Local nursery sells seed @ 99p a packet.

@SantaClawsServiette

What's the joke about the home grown tomato, by the end of the summer it costs twenty pounds?

I’m sitting here looking at the world’s most expensive pineapple, this fucker has had all the specialist feed and spent its winter under a heat lamp on my desk. I bet it tastes like a potato, too.

I can feed my children for nothing all summer and autumn long because I have noticed all the Hazel nuts, cherry, damson, apple and pear trees. Once you spot one the others follow!

You can gather that much it feeds your kids all summer?

Who owns the land that these abundant and densely-laden fruit trees are on? Where are you foraging?

Whoever owns the land might not care about a few foraging families if it isn't making much difference to overall yield, but if orchards start to be stripped of their fruit, that won't be allowed to continue.

@Suzanne999

I’ve already started off this years fruit and veg. Tomatoes and green beans have germinated and several inches tall, strawberry plants have survived so far outside and I’ve got lettuces in a plastic greenhouse. Cucumbers & courgettes are next to plant. Local nursery sells seed @ 99p a packet.

Bit early but good! I've got the seeds waiting but I'm not ready yet. It's addictive isn't it? Do you think you're saving money on your shopping?

I am not saying you will never buy food again but having a courgette plant will give you successive courgettes. cucumber too.
In season, last year we didn't spend a penny on veg for months. then you freeze or can what you can

Americans have got it down. and they are enthusiastic too

The only thing I've had real success growing is rhubarb. The first year there's nothing but after that, it basically grows itself and there's a huge yearly crop. However, you can't live on rhubarb!

We have an orchard nearby and it’s the kids who need the free fruit the most from the nearby council estate who are the ones kicking the trees down. Foraging / picking etc is more of a middle class thing

This is Jaywick and Blackpool, named as the two most deprived towns in the UK. A lot of people in these towns are already struggling and are going to find the energy proce rises hard, where should they start foraging?

It's a nice idea, OP and if you have the means, the know-how, and the fortitude to do it then go for it, more power to you.

To suggest it as a fix for the cost of living crisis though is a bit much.

@whatthefuckisgoingon2022 parks. So much free food in the park. And apples store for approx 4 months (but you will want to peel them after a while)
blackberries are another, don't store but jam is easy enough to make if you have an hour or 2. (jars free from friends and family)

damsons again. Nobody takes them! just us! crumbles and jam and just eating them like plums. with sugar if needed.

I didn't know I had been living My life walking past so many fruit trees. they are everywhere. especially cherry trees. apples are easiest to spot probably

jam is easy enough to make if you have an hour or 2.

And enough credit in the key meter to run the stove for that long...

I live in a city. I wouldn't touch the stuff growing in the hedges here with a barge pole. Busy roads, dogs, and I've seen more than one bloke stop for a pee against the blackberries that grow at the corner of this road. No thanks. No fruit trees in our park. Just sycamore and oak. The council planted cherry trees on a piece of spare land close by but they were bulldozed when they decided to build houses on it.

I'm sure in some parts of the country there's all these lovely foraging opportunities. I don't like in one of them.

I've grown a couple of bits in the garden, I grew potatoes last year and from the 3 plants that survived I got 9 potatoes. Barely worth the effort. Tomato plants didn't fare much better. It's time and energy that I just don't have to spare. It's a nice idea but there's just not enough hours in the day.

@Ozanj

We have an orchard nearby and it’s the kids who need the free fruit the most from the nearby council estate who are the ones kicking the trees down. Foraging / picking etc is more of a middle class thing

I don't believe it. Thats such a shame. we are lower/ working class. rough council estate. it's becoming more and more popular here. maybe not with the kids but certainly with the parents. more so mums.

@hospedia

I didn't say 'do this this is the way' I said i have noticed more and more people talking about it and doing it and asked if they are noticing or Interested too.
I don't know anyone from Blackpool but isn't it by the sea? coastal foraging? And they have windows to grow.
I lived in a flat in an estate like dell boy in only fool and horses and I managed to get something growing. so it's not like I'm a posh cow.

Although we do have a fair few parks, grassy verges and the like.

obviously if you can't you can't but it's not for the middle class. that's not fair. why should it be middle class they saves again? no its for everyone. especially picking apples and stuff. That's free if you can find a tree.

To suggest it as a fix for the cost of living crisis though is a bit much.

This.

It is incredible that things have got to the point where we are having this conversation, though.

I've gardened / foraged for the last two years from scratch. To set up to do it, has not been cheap.

I probably am in a position after two years where I could do it, cos i have the tools, seeds, pots etc. But stuff like compost and fertiliser still need to be thought about - its not like you can just add compost from your compost heap from yr1.

You cant just grow tomatoes without feeding them properly unfortunately. And theres no guarantee that they wont be eaten alive by pests and disease.

The alternative is a tin of cheap tomatoes for 50p (or less) which doesn't sound like such bad value when you think about it.

Even doing things like Elderflower wine, you need appropriate bottles and lemon (which you wouldn't otherwise need). Blackberry jam, you need jars and a tonne of jam sugar which works out more expensive than if you got a base spec jam. It might not be in the same league, but if cost is your priority...

One thing I probably would grow would be mustard leaves and salad leaves for the summer which is easily done. Much cheaper / easier / less wasteful than a bag of the stuff imo. And shove a clove or two of garlic in the ground.

Otherwise its financially not worth it.

Mind you, if we have another courgette glut, you probably could live off those for 2 months... Couldn't give the damn things away.

There isn’t enough food available for everyone to forage. In urban areas there’s nothing. Even in semi rural areas you don’t know what’s been pissed on by dogs or sprayed with weedkiller by the council or farmer. Most productive fruit and nut trees actually belong to the land owner and aren’t yours to take anyway. The council isn’t in the habit of planting those sort of trees, they’re usually privately owned. How have you established ownership of the trees you’re stealing foraging from? Are they growing on council owned land or are they on private property? That’s before you even consider the impact on wildlife of you taking their food source.

[quote kirstyalslap]@whatthefuckisgoingon2022 parks. So much free food in the park. And apples store for approx 4 months (but you will want to peel them after a while)
blackberries are another, don't store but jam is easy enough to make if you have an hour or 2. (jars free from friends and family)

damsons again. Nobody takes them! just us! crumbles and jam and just eating them like plums. with sugar if needed.

I didn't know I had been living My life walking past so many fruit trees. they are everywhere. especially cherry trees. apples are easiest to spot probably[/quote]
I know damsons grow nearby but I’m not confident I can tell them apart from some of the mahoosive but toxic berries we have growing locally lol

@ComtesseDeSpair

Plus many of the people most likely to be affected my rising food and energy prices - disabled people, people in urban social housing, people working minimum wage jobs - are also the least likely to have the ability to forage and the least outdoor foraging and growing spaces accessible to them.

Perfect answer.

@Hospedia no the hour is for washing the jars and cleaning up after need about 30 mins all in all on the stove for 8 ish jars.
And yes we have a key meter. why are you trying to make out it can't be done?

we were struggling. it helped my family. in fact I loved jam day because it warmed the kitchen up. what's the real problem? seriously?

I lived in a flat in an estate like dell boy in only fool and horses and I managed to get something growing. so it's not like I'm a posh cow.

But you knew how to do that and you knew how to find out the bits you didn't know (library, Internet, magazines, etc), you knew what kit you needed, what seeds to plant, how to look after them, which trees/plants to forage from, and so on and - again - where/how to find the information you needed. You had the time and the inclination.

Not everyone does.

It's a national scandal that people can't afford to live and that so many are in poverty or are struggling to make ends meet. It's not a bad thing to swap ideas but it's not a catch-all.

Interesting username OP. Next you'll be telling us that if people forage for fruit rather than buy basics jam they'll soon have enough saved up to buy a house

[quote kirstyalslap]@TheresSomebodyAtTheDoorNeil well of course that's true but maybe we could plant more fruit trees? set up more communal gardens?

@SantaClawsServiette following Facebook groups I have managed to skip out many mistakes that others have posted about with photos. the Internet is a wonderful thing. yes my tomatoes got blight too but green tomatoes are nice in a chutney. so it's still a win.

And I don't know with all of the pesticides and chemicals spray over our food, motorways running alongside farms, we don't know how safe the apples from Africa are do we? why do we think its less safe from our city or village than we do from another country?[/quote]
Good luck finding appropriate land / labour to do this.

Seriously, i live in an area where there's a fair amount you can forage - me and my local friends went slightly loopy with foraging in 2020 to banish lockdown blues. So we've done this recently.

It cost money.

Not to mention nettle beer is the most rancid thing ever.

@MaggieMooh

There isn’t enough food available for everyone to forage. In urban areas there’s nothing. Even in semi rural areas you don’t know what’s been pissed on by dogs or sprayed with weedkiller by the council or farmer. Most productive fruit and nut trees actually belong to the land owner and aren’t yours to take anyway. The council isn’t in the habit of planting those sort of trees, they’re usually privately owned. How have you established ownership of the trees you’re stealing foraging from? Are they growing on council owned land or are they on private property? That’s before you even consider the impact on wildlife of you taking their food source.

I'm in an urban area, and it's council. nobodies interested? more for me!

And it isn't a race to the bottom! if you haven't got any green space then that really is a shame. perhaps save a seed and grow something? or just move on to a different thread?

what's the real problem? seriously?

I don't have a problem. What I was saying is that "I did this" is great, good for you, but it's not suitable for everyone and it feed into the idea that people in poverty/hardship should just buck up and go foraging/grow their own food like its totally free to do, takes no time at all, and requires next to no prior knowledge. Like I say, it's great that you've done that but it is very "let them eat cake".

Regarding lettuce and stuff - you can’t grow enough to feed yourself in a domestic back garden, it isn’t big enough. It costs way more than supermarket by the time you factor in compost, seeds, feed, slug deterrents etc. In the summer you can’t go anywhere or your crops die, they need watering every day. A tomato plant grows a dozen or so tomatoes at the most and you’ll have to wait till July-Sept to eat them. The supermarket equivalent costs about £1.50 and is available all year round in massive quantities. Backyard food growing is a hobby, you need about an acre to feed yourself. Loads of people don’t even have a garden never mind an acre!

I make lovely apple and mango preserves using sakar from Indian supermarkets. I can usually find it for £1-2 per kg. It takes a lot longer but the taste is lovely. I think it’s Important to know that many cultures preserve with sugar because the minute you add the word ‘jam’ things become ridiculously expensive. Same with ‘Kimchi’ - its actually Indian preserves / chutneys that can be made the most cheaply and easily which is why we still eat them. Carrot kimchi vs carrot pickle - both last just as long but the Indian versions are
ready to eat more or less immediately and can be made with as little as 2-3 ingrediants.