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.

where are you getting potatoes wild and free?
please don't say a local farm 😀

I suppose I'm not really 'forraging" for apples or plums because they are purposefully planted for me, a local, to pick. I haven't got any damsons this year- everything seems mega early and gone too soon. There are only the dregs left on the bushes with regards to blackberries.

I did get cherries earlier in the year but I only had a small box because they are quite a lot higher than blackberries and I almost broke my sons neck getting him on my shoulders.

Also apples/ pears/ plums etc any fruit like that its worth asking someone at your local allotment or leaving a little sign at the gate offering a 'trade' (selling produce from an allotment is usually against the rules) for any surplus fruit (possibly veg). I'm sure many are drowning in apples, pears and the like. Definitely worth an ask. I know people hate the waste.

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.

You did nothing wrong, I've had a couple of batches with a lot of critters but usually there are a couple or none at all. I soak all the berries in the sink so any critters float to the top, if necessary I fish the berries out and drain to get rid of the caterpillars and repeat.

Oo! I am very interested to know what you do with sloes? They are so dry tasting.

We've picked quite a few as 16 month old DS loves them. We've picked two large tubs and made jam however there are literally thousands left.

I just do it for fun. Sadly I don’t think I will reduce my food bill picking berries and apples 😂

Maybe by just afew pound or so.

Agree completely. How selfish OP. Really greedy.

I never knew this - I've always let my kids eat them straight off the bush. Obviously I won't any more!

I cook sloes and damsons with sugar for crumble or jam.

Seriously I have always eaten them straight off the bush and so have my kids. Any that have made it home for cooking get a wash but that's all. I have never had any problems.

Don't be ridiculous. People have always picked berries, they don't last long so picking every day is only for a limited period and certainly isn't greedy 😂 who is being deprived of them by the OP's picking??

OP I have made about 7 or 8 jars of jam, 2 big bottles of blackberry vinegar, 1 litre sloe gin, several bowls of hazelnuts, some big chicken of the woods (mushrooms) for dinners, and am hoping to make rosehip syrup but keep not picking them (the thorns!). I missed elderberry syrup but made plenty of elderberry cordial.

It's not 'gross' or 'greedy' to preserve autumn's abundance. I don't do it to save money, I just enjoy the process, it makes me happy and sure as hell beats going to Tesco!!!

DH picks blackberries every year, nothing to do with cost of living rises

Sloe gin! We picked a couple of kg of sloes today along the nearby footpath and have the prickles to prove it.

I have been picking blackberries my whole life and never once soaked them. I now realise I must have eaten hundreds of maggots. Sometimes I think ignorance is bliss!

Just googled and discovered they are more likely fruit fly larvae than maggots. Still gross, but apparently harmless....

My neighbor is kind enough to let me take a few apples from her tree. They are an heirloom variety and absolutely delicious. I have never had any others like them. No blackberries near me but I do know where to find watercress in a ditch close by and I am not the only one to have collected some.

There are three ginkgo trees in a small landscaped area in my town and I have seen people collecting the berries.

My neighbor is kind enough to let me take a few apples from her tree. They are an heirloom variety and absolutely delicious. I have never had any others like them. No blackberries near me but I do know where to find watercress in a ditch close by and I am not the only one to have collected some.

There are three ginkgo trees in a small landscaped area in my town and I have seen people collecting the berries.

While we're on this thread can I ask how people tell the difference between a sloe berry and a blueberry. There's something similar looking growing near me but I don't want to accidentally poison anyone!

Also for years I thought crab apples were those large, hard red berries with what look like crabs legs growing out of the bottom. I realised fairly recently that I was wrong, so what are they (the crabs leg things, I now know what a crab apple is!)?

Can you draw that crabby legged berry?😂 sorry.
Do you maybe mean rosehips?

Probably some sort of rose hip. Some rose hips are huge and have very spidery ends.. Apparently during the war people used to be encouraged to pick them and send them to be processed into rose hip syrup which is full of vitamin c.

I harvest rosehipsbfor tea. They are great. Though you can't drink too much of it! 🙈

You do have to be careful with rose hips because they are very hairy inside, I made rose hip jelly once, it was very subtle in taste , a beautiful pale pink colour, and an absolute pain to make!

@ohfook A sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn. A native deciduous spiky bush or small tree that grows in hedgerows all over the U.K. The thorns are evil.

Blueberry bushes don't have thorns.

Or you could just taste a berry. Sloes are very sour.

There are about 2 dozen fruit trees planted all over the small village including plums, apples, pears, damsons and hazelnut trees specifically for everyone living in the area to help themselves. Organised by the local gardening group. There is still loads all over the trees and they're falling off as they're ready to be picked but not as many seem to be collecting. Even posts on facebook local groups encouraging people to help themselves.

I've run out of jars and I have enough jams, jellies and chutney to last the 2 of us for a several years.