Farm Notes #3 - Blackberries, Elderberries and Rory

Last week’s thunderstorm brought a lot of rain that washed most of the dense summer heat from our farm. I can’t say that I regret summer slowly coming to an end. The summer was hot, too hot to do many of the jobs we had planned. The cooler days of late summer and early autumn are very welcome.

Late summer also brings hedgerow harvests. The brambles growing along the edges of our fields have ripened in the summer sun. Some years there is an abundance of blackberries; in other years, much of the harvest dries out before the berries are even ready.

Birds enjoy the deep purple-blue elderberries that hang heavy on the elder trees. When we pass one with Rory, our young Fell pony, a wood pigeon noisily flies out of the branches. Our passing had disturbed his supper.

Rory arrived two weeks ago. He is young and easily startled. Born semi-feral on the fells near Ravenstonedale in the north of England, he moved to the Netherlands when he was one year old. Now at four years old, he is ready to start learning. He is the sweetest pony, with a good soul.

Both elder trees and brambles are fast growers. They are often among the first vegetation to appear on bare ground. In the right conditions, brambles can spread quickly and start taking over, pushing out other plants and young trees growing nearby. This week I have been struggling with a whole patch that grew along the fences of one of our fields. There is still a lot of work to do.

But brambles also provide great shelter for birds and other wildlife. Their thick, tangled growth and sharp thorns make them almost impenetrable. So although I don't always appreciate them when they take over parts of the farm, I am happy to leave some of them where they are. And brambles make the best natural fencing to keep our ponies in the fields where they are supposed to be.

Foraging

Blackberries and elderberries are some of the easiest wild foods to forage. They are both very common and, at this time of year, there is usually more than enough to pick.

Don’t take too many and leave plenty for wildlife. Always make sure you have permission to forage. I remember when I was a child, people with big plastic buckets, trying to get into the fields of my parents’ farm to pick blackberries. That would make my mother furious.

Only pick where berries are plentiful. Don’t pick too close to busy roads or near fields that may have been sprayed for agriculture.

How to forage

Elderberries

When foraging for elderberries, pick only dark, heavy purple clusters. Cut the clusters from the tree with the stems still on, but always remove the stems before eating. An easy way to do this is to use a fork like a comb and carefully comb the berries off their stems.

Blackberries

Pick only deep, dark blackberries from the hedgerows that come away from the stem with a gentle pull. Don’t pick berries close to the ground, where dogs and wildlife walk.

Give your wild foraged berries a soak in cold water before eating or cooking to get rid of any bugs and dirt.