Have you noticed more people picking apples and blackberries?

[autyspauty]

And is this a good thing?

I pick loads of both and freeze, process or store as much as I can for the coming year. This means I am at the bushes and trees basically every day or every other day.
I have noticed this year loads of people coming with boxes or bags.

For blackberries you always see someone but not many people go for the apples. I've seen loads of people with bags and boxes, and not just the old couple I always see or people with children, people are coming on their own and staying for ages. it's quite nice.

But aibu to think this is most likely because of the increased price of food and, well, everything?
It seems like the value of these free fruits has gone up with the cost of everything else.

I always get suspicious when I see all the heavily-laden blackberry bushes around my neighborhood… (Why don't the birds want to eat the berries?)

I did pick a cupful last summer to have on my yoghurt and they were sour as f*! Perhaps that's the answer to my question.

The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The next best time is now.

Please look into buying a fruit tree if you have garden space. Ask your local council to plant fruit trees on their land too.

Bramble jelly (no seeds), blackberry vinegar (no seeds) and blackberry and apple pie. Seeds don't bother me. 😋

Not here, most are left to rot on the bush. So even the birds haven’t eaten them.

DD picks a few on walks to munch on. Never pick from the bottom 😂.

I don’t think it’s cost of living, I think it’s just one of those autumnal activities.

They do but there is just so many blackberries even birds and insects can't eat them all😁
I have lots of birds in garden and moths etc and I still get plenty of berries for myself

I've been picking today to make jam but missed the best of them which was approx 2 weeks ago before the rain. This seems to have been a very good year for them and I am so annoyed I didn't pick sooner. Most of them near me, and there were loads, are now mouldy :-(

I've always enjoyed collecting apples and blackberries with the children and then making a crumble. I've not noticed many other people doing it.

Well two weeks ago some greedy buggers stripped ours bare in a 12 hour period. Apparently having a fence and no entry signs just isn’t clear enough.

I think the long mild summer has been good for them.

certainly agree with this.
I will be buying a fruit tree each for my children to find on Christmas day. It only costs £50 for 4 trees that will be fruiting in 2/3 years.

I don't have garden space for this but a charity or group have planted some fruit trees this year on council land. I suppose they wouldn't mind a few more to add to the collection. especially different varieties.

I don’t know where I went wrong but I picked blackberries once, soaked them in cold water because my gran told me to. When I got back the whole thing was full of maggots within the hour. Literally hundreds floating in the water around the berries.

Never touched one before or since. There’s loads of bushes outside my house and I just want to shout out the window are you people mad 😄

Yeah you have to do that to get them out, thats why you should never eat them without soaking.

Well it's a delicacy somewhere 😂

I am quite surprised at the blackberry love. They are sort of hairy and full of gritty seeds-horrible things, and they ruin a good apple pie or crumble. Only worse things are Gooseberries.

Nah, people aren't doing this out of hunger. It's fashionable. Instagram, social media. Picking wild apples obviously shows they haven't a clue as they're most likely utterly inedible. Blackberry picking has been on the up for years as magazines, newspapers and social media run endless articles on it. You'll see, though, that many newcomers pick dreadful spots, pick too low and pick too many. Usually too early, also.

All for the gram and the bragging rights.

I have a Holly tree and get idiots coming right into my garden to take boughs near Christmas. It's over a hundred years old and I take good care of it. The last thing I need is dopey Insta trespassers who haven't a clue about proper tree cutting risking my bloody tree. Also, who the hell just swans into a garden and starts lopping?

We always put boxes of apples ( nice Bramleys too) outside our house. I have 6 trees and if they all fruit heavily like they have this year then we are awash. This year we have even more than usual.

I'm noticing the apples are going much faster than usual - we're picking and refilling the box several times a day.

I am quite surprised at the blackberry love. They are sort of hairy and full of gritty seeds-horrible things, and they ruin a good apple pie or crumble. Only worse things are Gooseberries.

Have you considered counselling?

Yes we've been out picking brambles, gooseberries and elderberries. Nit done it before because we now live rurally and all these things are within 10 minutes walk from home. We've also been given plums and apples from our lovley neighbours too who had too many to use themselves. Its great!!

We made elderberry cordial, its lush!

No but luckily there's lots of other really nice fruit and berries. Maybe not growing at the side of the road though. I love a PYO place for cherries and plums.

I've been picking and eating and cooking with blackberries for all my life. Never had maggots and always had lovely crumbles and jam. My other favourite is elderberries. I thought everyone spent their childhood picking and eating berries in September!

nope, loads more left, noone picking them any more.

I think its more about environmental concerns.

People want local/low food miles, low packaging

I always go picking. Only picked a small amount this year with a box or two for the freezer. Haven't seen anyone else out but then it's usually only me picking seriously.

No, about the same this year as ever. We forage a lot, including potatoes most years.

I've not seen anyone foraging for apples, but there's not many places you can get wild apples round here. Blackberries this year came much earlier than normal, and looked really good quality. I thought to myself that it was a shame no one was picking them (in previous years I've always noticed a few foragers). Then, a couple of weeks later, I decided to pick some, by which time the best had already gone.