Signs and Portents

Spring often feels like a good time for looking forward and contemplating what the year ahead may hold. Even if it doesn’t much feel like spring at the moment, the beginning of February has long been a time of foretelling and forecasting.

You may have heard of the American tradition of Groundhog Day. On February 2nd each year, the state of the weather when the groundhog emerges from its burrow is used to predict the coming of spring. If it’s cloudy, it is believed that Spring will come early, but if it is bright then the groundhog will see his shadow and turn back into his burrow. This means there are still six more weeks of winter weather to come!

This is echoed in many old British sayings around Candlemas,  celebrations which take place around 2nd February (like Easter, it is a moveable feast). Although the wording may be different depending upon location in the UK, they all run along the same lines; ‘If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, winter will have another bite.  If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, winter is gone and will not come again.

However, these weather forecasts are believed to have their roots in much older practices. Certain dates have been important to mankind since farming began. The alignment of megalithic structures shows these dates have been important to man since at least Neolithic times (around 5000 years ago).  One of them is Imbolc, the 1st of February.

The summer and winter solstices, and spring and autumn equinoxes divided the year into 4 equal parts - dates close to these events became known as Quarter days.  Important dates midway between two Quarter days became known as Cross quarter days. These coincide with the four Celtic fire festivals (Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasa, and Samhain) and important points in the agricultural calendar.

Imbolc marks the point in the year when the first signs of spring appear, promising that the hold of winter will be broken and the the wheel of the seasons will continue to turn. Customarily connected with the start of the lambing season, the origin of word is thought to derive from either the  Old Irish for ‘in the belly’, signalling the pregnancy of the ewes, or possibly the Old Irish for ewes milk.

Imbolc is traditionally a time of weather divination for the year ahead. For example, it was believed that Imbolc was the time of year when the Cailleach,  a Gaelic goddess also known as Beira, Queen of Winter would go out and gather firewood for the remainder of the winter. If she wished the winter to last a long time, then she would ensure the day was bright and sunny so that she could collect a large amount of wood to keep her warm. On the other hand if the weather is awful, it means she has fallen asleep. She cannot then gather wood to keep her warm, so she will keep the winter short.

An old Gaelic poem has it that “As far as the wind shall enter the door, On the Feast Day of Bride (1st February), The snow shall enter the door, On the Feast Day of Patrick (17th March). So according to prophecy, if it’s sunny, warm and windy on the first of February, we’re in for a few more weeks of winter!

What to look out for:

Days start to noticeably lengthen, and lambs and calves are being born. You can see the beginnings of new growth in the form of snowdrops and leaf bud - although with the mild winter we’ve just had you may have been seeing these things since last year!

You don't have to be a pagan to get a close association with the natural world, but why not get closer to nature and see what signs of spring you can spot at one of your local nature reserves? 

I first wrote this article for Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, and it's published here by their kind permission. It's only right I give them a plug! They hold lots of events for all age groups and abilities throughout the year. Visit www.wildsheffield.com/whats-on for more details or call them on 0114 263 4335 to find out more.

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you

I neglected to mention that last week we found a couple of damson trees. They were hiding in plain sight along the main road in Gran's village. Apparently you should never tell anyone where your damson trees are!

Damsons are such a good fruit, they were known as the housewives friend - apparently for their magical setting qualities. I thought this couldn't be right, given that they are effectively just small plums, but making a jam with them on Tuesday proved me wrong and my old books right! Just a few minutes boiling and the setting point was reached, without adding any lemon juice or pectin.

Damson jam (not quite ready)

I only made three jars of jam because I really fancied using the rest of the damsons for wine. It comes out such a lovely colour, and I was still smarting about the loss of a gallon of last years damson wine to the vinegar fly. If I'd been thinking straight at the time I'd have bottled it as posh vinegar! I didn't have the full 4lb of damsons (because of the jam) but I topped it up with some of the plums that were handily growing a few shrubs down, and a few bullace I found along the route. I reckon it won't make much difference, but I look forward to the testing next year!

Cowabungababy

I have not been foraging today. I had a lot of work to do that required me sitting in front of a screen. It's not all bad though. I do get this view from my office:

I'm not sure if you can see clearly (it was just taken with my phone through a window), but the cow in the front left foreground is suckling a calf!

There's another one in the herd (not pictured) that looks close to giving birth too, so I'll be keeping an eye on her over the coming weeks. I'm just glad they can't get to the apple tree on the far field; I have plans for the windfalls from that tree this weekend (I do likes me scrumpy)!

Tunnel Vision

Last week we went on one of our regular routes, and it occurred to me that if I wasn't careful I could spend all my time looking closely at the shrubs and ground cover instead of the bigger picture. So in favour of balance, have a lovely picture of part of our walk.
I don't always forage on my walks. Sometimes the walk is enough, although usually I do have a bag in my pocket 'just in case'. I find it difficult to walk past without picking. The thought of something going to waste 'bothers my nose' as Mum would say!

Fat sloes

 Even when not actively picking, I've always got my eye on what's coming up. Further along this path, at the end of the tunnel where there is more light, the blackthorn bushes are smothered - or as we'd say 'snided'- in sloes.

Ideally we'd wait to pick them until after the first frost, but my fingers are twitching - and I do have a freezer. I must resist - there is a lot of other fruit in need of picking first!

It's been a bit busy in the FF household over the last couple of weeks. What with that and the weather the foraging went a little quiet. It did give me time to start producing goodies from the bounty though!

Cherries may be my new favourite thing to make things from. I've been determined to make the most of the lovely flavour and try to save it for a hit of summer in the depths of winter. So, cherry jam for starters. I did make five jars but only have one left as it's ever so popular with my friends! I used the wrong sugar (preserving rather than jam if you're interested), so it didn't set hard, but ooh it is good on a scone.

I used 4lb of the lovely fruit to start a cherry wine. I really hope the flavour comes through in the finished product, but I'll just have to wait and see. I don't use artificial methods of stopping my fermentation (as I'm allergic to sulphites), so it will probably be next year before I find out! As I'm impatient though, there are a couple of bottles of cherry liqueur on the go (one vodka, one brandy) which will be ready by the festive season. I'm picturing a good book, a roaring fire, and me getting gently sozzled thinking of summer!

I do have a few cherries left in the freezer (both wild and morello) so I can extend my cherry-fest a little longer. I also bought a new toy, so had to try dehydrating some cherries. I may have taken them a bit far as they are now rock hard, but I reckon that will just make them able to soak up more of the brandy I plan to rehydrate them in!

Cherry stem in her mouth she could tie with her tongue*...

You don't need to go yomping off into the great wild yonder to go foraging. Blackberries grow almost everywhere. There are apple trees along many roads thanks to all those cores thrown out of car windows. I still wouldn't pick directly next to a busy road (although I'm less concerned since the advent of lead-free petrol), but in my opinion a few apples from the side of a quiet residential street are not likely to harm you, especially if you wash them before eating. However, always do your own research and most of all, use your common sense.

An often overlooked food resource is gardens. Many gardens, especially in older properties have a few fruit trees, raspberry canes, or gooseberry bushes. Now I'm not suggesting you go scrumping, but if you have a neighbour who seems to not be doing anything with their bounty, why not just ask? The worst they can say is 'no', and you'll still have met your neighbour (apparently, some people out there don't talk to their neighbours)! 

Offering to repay their kindness with some produce is only polite and can build up a lasting friendship. I have one bloke who lets me have cooking apples from his garden every year in return for an apple pie, and someone with an old orchard who gets a bottle or two of plum wine. The fruits of my labour from their fruit! 

My favourite cherry variety- Prunus cerasus v.Freebius

Anyway, what got me on to this blog today was cherries. My sister-in-law recently moved into a house with a lovely garden. With a cherry tree. Best of all...she hates cherries! Win! These are not the small wild cherries like I was foraging last week, but big fat juicy beasts. The tree is small, so all the branches were easy to get get to (no crook required), and really heavily laden. I got 9lb (just over 4kg) off in a short space of time, and now my fridge is groaning. 

The cherries are quite sharp, so they're more for cooking than eating. I have enough to make a batch of wine, some jam, and some cherry vodka. My sister-in-law has some on the go and it smells just like maraschino cherries - divine! 

*yes, yes I can

A Plethora of Plums

I should have started this blog last week when the ridiculous number of cherry trees on one of our walks was pointed out to me. All the years I've been going there and I never noticed them! I made cherry curd with the first lot (ooh that was good on scones with cream), and the remainder are going to be carefully drowned in brandy. Anyway, I didn't start there, so you'll have to make do with plums instead.

Today's amble took me round a local country park with Mum and Gran. I was as they say, 'going equipped'; armed with my trusty crook, several carrier bags, and two of the fastest pickers I know (you should see Gran move when she wants something).

We knew the plums were there from the last walk, and were hoping that they were ripe - we were not disappointed. Hanging like grapes, the weight of the fruit made the branches bend just enough to be tantalisingly out of reach. However, applying the crook and a bit of stretching got the fruit into our grasp and the fun began. It would really help if I put a picture here wouldn't it? I'll try to think about it next time I'm there!

There seem to be a mixture of plum varieties growing alongside and entwined around each other, which makes choosing the ripe ones a bit of a gamble at first. There are a few trees solely covered in the small yellow/orange, incredibly sweet ones (I wondered if they might be related to Mirabelles) then some with multihued fruit I think are Cherry plums Prunus cerasifera. These start off green but can ripen at any colour from that to deep red/purple, and even then can be quite tart. There's another bunch of trees on the other side of the park with currently all green fruit which look more like a traditional plum in size and shape, so will be keeping an eye on those too!
 

We used the squishiness of the plum as our guide to ripeness, and left quite a lot of fruit hanging - whether that be for other people, or our next visit remains to be seen! There's such an abundance of fruit and the trees are so tall there's no danger of stripping them bare.  We came away with a bagful each, and now I have to decide what to do with my share.
Whatever's left after playing cat'sbumface* roulette I suspect is going to be turned into plum jam, possibly with a hint of ginger, and maybe some chutney (which should be perfectly mature by the festive season). This is only because I currently have no need to make any more plum wine as yet, as I have many gallons of that (and damson wine) on the go from a visit to an old orchard last year!

The next trip out  in a few days time is to see if we can find some bilberries. There's a spot fairly close to home that used to have them. It may be a little early for the fruit to be ripe but we can at least find out if they still grow there. Failing that there are loads in the Peaks if you know where to look. I'll let you know!

*the face you make when eating something really sour