City Vs Country

[Andy Hamilton]

I have a long standing argument with another forager that the city is a far better place [than the countryside] to forage in terms of the number plants you will find. Gardeners and allotment holders plant a whole host of plants and many escape. Compare that to the small handful of monocrops that farmers grow and you are left with a bio-diverse city and a barren countryside.

[Nomada]

I think you're on to something there! I have a book somewhere called the neighbourhood forager that tells you all the uses of garden escapes as well as the native plants. In terms of quantity of what you find do you think that the countryside comes into it's own a bit though? I'm in a city at the moment and where we are there is one elder in a local park compared to a whole hedgerow of them where I'm originally from.

[Jandra]

A monoculture of elder doesn't sound so bad...

Really can't comment as my foraging is limited to the mundane (elder, blackberries, blueberries, wild strawberries, walnuts from the nearby park), but I think each has its advantages. Paved over area's might be as productive a a strip of land next to a corn field (not very), but suburbia, parks, council green area's could yield quite a bit. OTOH, so would a forested area or a rural type but inhabited (in contrast to monoculture) area.

Jandra

[Annpan]

Well, it might just be cause I am rubbish but.... I hardley find anything to forage here (in the country) some brambles, (but they have been terribly small and bitter), a few wild rasps (but again with the small and bitter)there are no elders or rowans or nut trees in our woodlands and the blueberries (which the villagers used to sell to the cotton industry) haven't made an appearance in the last 2 years... We do get mushrooms, but I am not willing to risk it.

When I was in the city I used to pick loads of Brambles every year, but when I was little my Dad (who would make wine) used to send us kids out to the local park to pick Dandelions, rowan berries, elder flowers, elderberries, leaves (was it oak?) and I am sure some damsons, and sloes too.

So I think the city is MUCH better for foraging, but if someone wants to come and visit me to prove me wrong then please do....

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I reckon the suburbs and dormatory villages are best. Where I grew up in Norfolk we were in a small (well, it was then) village just outside Norwich. Fields still came right upto the village but there were plenty of well stocked gardens and hedges too. The stuff we could find by the side of the lanes was just great!

Blackberries
Bullaces
Sloes
Wild cherry
Crab apples and escapees from orchards
Wild strawberries
Escaped raspbery canes by the hundred

In those days one could even go into the pea fields and glean after they had been picked. Add in the game that came our way and we did rather well.

[Green Aura]

I think it depends on the countryside. If it's major agricultural areas then it will definitely be depleted, but round here there's tons of stuff from bilberries, wild garlic through to field mushrooms and of course seaweed.

As an aside, I've been reading that pine needle tea is an excellent source of vit c. I'd really like to stop buying imported oranges so need an alternative source. Anyone tried it?

[Annpan]

But oranges don't have a lot of VitC anyway, do they?.... doesn't a kiwi fruit have 4 times as much? and I am sure Blackberries have a huge amount too.

[Shirley]

Can we put it to the test here on Ish? I'm in the countryside and haven't found heaps to forage. I'm happy to make more of an effort to forage this year and report any findings back here.

[Loobyloo]

I was living in the surrey countryside last year (no big fields of mono crops though, small sheep farms nearby) and was able to forage:

Jack by the hedge
wood sorrel
nettle tops
common mallow
brambles
crab apples
eating apples
sloes (not many though!)
elder flowers and berries
cobnuts
sweet chestnuts
haws
Rosehips

There was a lot of fungi too but I'm not overly confident on this so left well alone!

I thought that was quite a good range?

[Millymollymandy]

Only just seen this thread and the only thing I've foraged have been sweet chestnuts, but then only after asking a neighbour if it would be OK because the trees belong to someone in the hamlet, only they drop their nuts all over the road! I think it is quite hard in the countryside because apart from what is growing by the sides of fields on the road (not a lot really) most of the countryside is actually inaccessible - ie. the fields belong to people, have either crops or cattle in them and there are electric fences aplenty! Yes there are some woodlands but I'd only go into the public ones and not in winter because of the hunters. also round my way there are hardly any public footpaths and they don't take you past anything other than fields with maybe the odd sloe tree or hazel or a few brambles. We don't have hedgerows in the English sense and the farmers keep these very clear by chopping trees for firewood, coppicing etc to the point of the place looking extremely ugly and barren in winter. It's quite sad really.

So I'm bloody lucky that I can forage all sorts of wild stuff on my own land!

[Flo]

We have the district council here which landscapes everything to be easily hacked back once a year. That rules out the town and village spaces under their care in most cases. If there are brambles they are on one of our vertical climbing walls otherwise known as banks which most of us can't climb and are only there because the council operatives can't reach them either.

Not being a car driver I'm not likely to get out into the country to explore the freebies that might be available locally. A lot of the hedgerows are kept on the annual slash with the flail it would seem so hmm ....

[Milims]

We seem to be quite lucky here. we've foraged:
Plums
Apples
Hazel\cob nuts
sweet chestnuts (they weren't very good tho)
mint
nettles
hawthorn
rosehips
Occasionally mushrooms - although not as many as when I was a kid
Pears
sorrel
dandylions
elder flower & berries
brambles
gooseberries
White and red currants
We have a disused quarry just over the road from us and lots of people throw their garden stuff over there and it grows

I'm sure there's more out there - especially fungus. I'd love to learn more about what food there is for free round here. We live on the coast and I know that people go lobster cleeking and fishing. I'd love to learn more!

[Andy Hamilton]

I'd love to learn more about what food there is for free round here. We live on the coast and I know that people go lobster cleeking and fishing. I'd love to learn more!

I think you might have hit a problem with quantifying this as the levels of knowledge might differ thus skewing the results somewhat.