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

It's probably not very economical Once you've factored in

1. Money to buy pots / compost
2. The space to put the things (where??)
3. Time spent researching/ learning/ planning/ thinking
4. Time spent actually gardening / foraging

Also let's not underestimate the mental load if someone who is on low pay struggling to get by. I don't think they will want to add to that by growing veg / finding time to forage.

I have noticed a massive shift in people since lockdown and think perhaps money worries will push it further

Perhaps we should join up and start a group!

very inspiring.

If enough people got into it we could all swap and share wouldn't it be lovely

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!

Not nettle tea. Nettle soup. a whole meal for the cost of one onion and stock cube. I couldn't believe it when I found out you can eat nettles!

damson jam must be a winner though, I can't believe it isn't in the shops. Absolutely gorgeous!

I find the whole tone of these posts oddly excited and jolly when the question being asked is whether more people will be forced, through poverty, to search for food in the hedgerows.

Also slightly delusional - the only one of those fruits that would be ripe in summer is cherry, and you will not get far feeding your children on wild cherries.

For example, I have 6 blueberry bushes, all bought from offers when you just pay 4.99 postage or similar.

And where are you putting those 6 (6!!!!) blueberry bushes?

Did the land those blueberry bushes are in cost you £0? No I think not. So when you work out the cost of the land, I think these are the most expensive blueberry's known to man.

This is peak Mumsnet! Do you think people who are struggling financially have space for 6 fucking bushes! They probs don't have ANY outside space. Christ almighty.

I think it's a lovely idea in principal, but not practical.

I live in Greater London and have sometimes grown a few pots of veg in my garden, maybe enough for 1-2 meal side dishes, but not much more. I've also foraged for blackberries and wild garlic in a local wooded area, but again, no where near enough to sustain a family of 4. I would have to travel 20+ to get any type of quantities which would make it worth my while.

I am from a forage loving family in Sweden, and there it is really common to go foraging. We pick annual supplies of blueberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, forest strawberries, rhubarb, chantarelles, elderflower, herbs etc, all from our forests. We then either freeze the berries or make jam, marmalade or cordial from them. The mushrooms are frozen or dried, same with herbs. I don't think it saves a ton of money, but homemade cordial and jam tastes so much better than the shop bought one, and it keeps for years.

I think families will all sleep and live in two or three rooms only and maybe start putting door curtains up again shutting off the bulk of the rest of their house but foraging in the countryside? No.

Microgreens and sprouted seeds and beans instead of buying salad I am well on board with already.

@D0lphine

For example, I have 6 blueberry bushes, all bought from offers when you just pay 4.99 postage or similar.

And where are you putting those 6 (6!!!!) blueberry bushes?

Did the land those blueberry bushes are in cost you £0? No I think not. So when you work out the cost of the land, I think these are the most expensive blueberry's known to man.

This is peak Mumsnet! Do you think people who are struggling financially have space for 6 fucking bushes! They probs don't have ANY outside space. Christ almighty.

That's a very London centric view to be fair. Plenty of people have sufficient outside space but insufficient money to buy blueberries who could benefit from this sort of thing.

Round here, council house gardens are massive, you could (and people do) have blueberry bushes, fruit trees, grow potatoes and anything you wanted really.

It's time and knowledge/skill that's the main barrier to growing your own mainly.

The only thing near my rural home is wild garlic and mushrooms. No fruit trees 'wild'. If other people foraged there would be no wild garlic and no mushrooms. I'm glad you can do it OP, but I don't think people should have to forage to stay allive in a supposedly rich country. Next we'll be advised to shoot squirrels to eat. It's dehumanising.

Buying 6 £4.99 baby blueberry bushes a) isn’t going to be affordable if your entire food budget for the week for 4 people is £40 and b) isn’t going to provide you with many blueberries now, when bills are highest and you’re most struggling.

People who are financially stretched and the most likely to have to choose between heating and eating aren’t buying soft fruits and fancy preserves in the first place, they’re buying value bananas 38p basics jam. Advocating growing blueberries and damsons so you don’t have to buy jam or soft fruits from the shops has an absolute “let them eat cake” air about it.

There is a stall near the local allotments called Abundance and people with excess fruit & veg donate it and you can help yourself. I think this is a good idea although it would only work in limited areas and circumstances.

It’s already pretty popular, I have been doing it for several years, the price of living has been high for a long time so people have been making changes. Growing your own doesn’t really work out and cheaper (it’s a lot of work for not much produce) but foraging is 100% free as long as you know what to look for. I forage a lot but it is quite seasonal although there is food available all year but less about during the winter.

I find the whole tone of these posts oddly excited and jolly when the question being asked is whether more people will be forced, through poverty, to search for food in the hedgerows

This is what I was thinking too. In a "chin up chaps, I know it's a toss up between paying the leccy or feeding your kids, but look outside at all the foraging opportunities!"

Yeah a load of peed on blackberries and the ghosts of some cherry trees the council bulldozed to build houses. That's sure to provide us with a healthy meal..

I think it will become more popular. There's been a lot of scathing replies and I agree that if you're on the bones of your arse it's not easy to start growing your own, for a multitude of reasons. But it's not only the poorest in society who are conscious of price rises, and I can absolutely imagine people seeing growing your own as a hobby which keeps them away from retail as a hobby and with hopefully a happy by product of some fruit and veg to eat. Whether it's any cheaper in the long run doesn't mean it won't happen.

We have an apple tree which we inherited and have planted some other fruit trees/bushes as well as herbs. Those seemed the best pay off in terms of what they cost to buy in the supermarket. Time will tell.

I love growing things but I'm in poor health so I've lost lots of seedlings when I've had a bad week and haven't been able to tend to them.

I have berry bushes and fruit trees but they take a while to get established and frost and wind can really destroy your crop. I got 2 cherries from my cherry tree last year.

The taste of homegrown is better but I grow things for the enjoyment, it's really not a cost effective way of feeding yourself.

I can't think of anywhere that I would feel safe eating food I had foraged from but even if I did I would feel I should leave that food for people less fortunate who can't grow things at home.

@EddyF

This sounds all so depressing hunting for food whilst freezing in our homes. Who has the brain space for this type of adventure? I understand it maybe for a hobby but with everything else going on, It sounds dire.

Your right, no one should have to go forage food because they can’t afford to eat.

I forage as a hobby and have done several courses to improve my knowledge, I forage berries, mushrooms, plants and flowers but I would never find enough in one day to feed me and the DC’s. I grow my own fruit and veg but despite having a large garden I can not grow enough to feed us all year (and the price of compost, pots, seeds etc doesn’t really make it cheap).

Through my work I’m setting up a community garden and there is a huge demand for it. The community fridge we just set up has 50 families using it. I’m also working to set up allotments for the community too. There is huge demand for things like this.

Round here ‘foraging’ means fishing about for yellow stickers at supermarket reduction time, which is arguably a far better use of your time and the result is probably going to satisfy your children more than a bowl of nettle soup would.

@WheelieBinPrincess

Round here ‘foraging’ means fishing about for yellow stickers at supermarket reduction time, which is arguably a far better use of your time and the result is probably going to satisfy your children more than a bowl of nettle soup would.

Aldi are good for this if you are able to get to one at about 9pm. Lots at 75% off. You need a freezer, though.

@WheelieBinPrincess

Round here ‘foraging’ means fishing about for yellow stickers at supermarket reduction time, which is arguably a far better use of your time and the result is probably going to satisfy your children more than a bowl of nettle soup would.

Same here. Lidl is great for that. I stocked my freezer with tons of suitable for home freezing stuff on Sunday teatime, only spent a tenner and there's food for a week. Fresh fruit and veg is cheaper to buy than to grow. Plus the only waiting time depends on how long the queue is.

I have a garden, grow herbs and enjoy foraging but with vegetables so cheap, I dont really think its worth the effort to grow them, keep them pest free etc . Have grown potatoes, tomatoes, carrots etc in the past and while they taste lovely, its quite a faff

The yellow sticker section of our local M&S/BP petrol station is a forager's paradise around 9pm.

@BarbaraofSeville

That's a very London centric view to be fair. Plenty of people have sufficient outside space but insufficient money to buy blueberries who could benefit from this sort of thing.

No it's not. I don't live in London, have never lived in London and can count in my hands the number of times I've been there.

[quote D0lphine]@BarbaraofSeville

That's a very London centric view to be fair. Plenty of people have sufficient outside space but insufficient money to buy blueberries who could benefit from this sort of thing.

No it's not. I don't live in London, have never lived in London and can count in my hands the number of times I've been there. [/quote]
I don’t live in London either and don’t have a garden. Actually the poorest of the poor here live in council flats which don’t have gardens or balconies.

I can only actually think of one person I know with a garden big enough to grow something.

I think it’s also important to remember that a lot of people who are poor rent as they cannot get on the property ladder. Even when I did have a house with a (tiny) garden, my tenancy agreement said I had to keep it tidy but I wasn’t allowed to plant anything.

Wonder what the impact would be to biodiversity if the masses started to forage?