Foraging forumagers

I also found a patch of (what I believe is) destroying angel on the same walk. I know very little about mushrooms, but knowing the difference between them and whites is pretty critical...

Can’t get poisoned by apples and damsons.
Possibly by my cooking though.

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Definitely a once only mistake to make. I've not knowingly found those Aminita but as I only take pictures will enjoy capturing them if I ever do.

Plenty of sloes out on a walk today. Not really in a position to buy gin especially to make sloe gin, so will use an old bottle of vodka.

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Anyone made sloe rum? Have found a litre bottle I can’t see us using.

Gotta be worth a try.

I found lots of Sloes near Cwm Silo today, too early to pick though.

Also found what I think was Deadly Nightshade, flowers pictured.

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Grabbed some horseradish on the commute this morning. Few odd looks re: what I was doing with a fork at the side of the road and the ground was pretty stony so hard to get a clean root out, but enough for a few jars of the good stuff.

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Yeah they do look a lot like nightshade flowers. 💀

I've not found horseradish yet - dug up a few likely suspects, but clearly misidentified. Looking in loose, stony earth, isn't that right?

I think so, it can pretty much grow anywhere provided it can get a bit of light. Roadside verges are a fairly common place to find it. Once you know what it looks like it’s really easy to spot. This time of year the leaves shoot up plenty, they look a bit like docs but the leaves are more green, don’t have any of the red tinge that docs do and are bigger/longer. Oh the smell too. I actually smelt this patch as I was riding past before I saw it.

This is an obvious example, but it's essentially what the patch I found looked like, albeit with a few more weeds and grasses around it. There are a couple of smaller patches along the same road, but I'll leave them to grow for a few more years.

Thanks, will start packing my trowel again and see what I can find...

Sounds like a waste of sloes ...

Noted.

Great score on the horseradish, shop stuff is so weak.

What’s this I just came across?

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Walnut, I think. Might be wrong, though. https://www.wildfooduk.com/edible-wild-plants/walnut/

We found a tree at a local park but the squrrels had eaten them all.

I don’t think it’s that, only because we just stayed at a house that had a huge walnut tree and the fruit when dissected were instantly recognisable.

Edit: now I think you’re right, just the fruit are really under developed. 🤷🏼‍♂️

That's abut the stage that some choose to pick under developed Walnuts for pickling.

Yeah, could still be young. The leaves look quite chestnut-like. What was the bark of the tree like?

I’m still stood by the tree! Live nature watch, thrilling.

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This is great. That looks quite similar to the one we found, I'm sticking with Walnut.

Now, that else can you see?

Had some lovely chanterelle for breakfast over the weekend when I went foraging with mini_m. He declared himself a fan and then we went blackberry picking in the evening. Lovely!

else can you see...

My son disappearing into the distance...

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Jealous. Looks lovely.

Ha, I’ll probably look back on this period of unemployment as the best time of my life.