Knowledge
Foraging
Photography by Rob Gould
Rob Gould is a forager with 20 years experience. In this series he will introduce readers to nature’s bounty that can be found and foraged easily. His passion is helping people to think about and develop a love for the wild food all around them and helping them grow a greater appreciation and understanding of the natural world as a whole
Rob with his giant puffball find, which unfortunately was no longer edible
Let’s be Sloe! Autumnal foraging for the family So by the time you’re reading this, we’ll be in early October, and will have just recently experienced this year’s Harvest Moon – traditionally deemed to be the closest full moon to the celebration of the Autumn Equinox. It’s rightly regarded as a time of bounty in plenty of habitats as far as many people are concerned, with the majority of hedgerow and woodland berries, nuts and seeds finally coming to fruition. As I sit here writing this in late September however, where I am in the Cotswolds we have gone almost three weeks without any significant rain and everything seems to be quite delayed
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Polo Times, October 2020
within the fields and pastures. I know further north the seasons are progressing more as normal, and I’ve seen pictures from fellow foragers in Scotland who have already harvested multitudes of chanterelles and the earliest flushes of ceps. but here in the more southern areas of the UK we desperately need some rain for the harvest to truly begin in earnest. Just the other day, I came across a beautiful circle of giant puffballs in some mature, untreated pasture, all around the perfect size to harvest for a delicious dinner. However, upon further inspection the yellowing insides were already starting
Mushrooms need a bit of rain to pop up aplenty
to turn to spores, meaning that they were no longer going to be much good as an edible. The problem seems to be that many of the environmental factors promoting seasonal growth are there, but without that all important rain there is no ability for anything to grow quickly, which is particularly problematic for the mushrooms that we foragers would be expecting to look for at this time. But fingers crossed, by the time you’re reading this there will be mushroomsa-plenty popping up. The same thing goes for ripening fruits. Too much water and they’ll take forever to ripen anyway – fruits are literally a survival mechanism to try to ensure that a species survives the harsh winter period. If there’s too much water – and the weather is too ‘nice’ – the plants will not be stressed by the advancing seasons, and can even start aborting fruit. Conversely, too little water and what fruit there are can start to dry out and may even drop before they are fully ripe. www.polotimes.co.uk
