You really couldn't make this up ...

[JJGraphics]

20 hours ago, colin penfold said:

Plus, if mum doesn't know??

 

I'm all for erring on the safe side with things comestible, but sadly, it seems that many "mums" of today know nothing about anything if it doesn't come from Tesco or Amazon, etc., or if they can't "GooGoo it" and then instantly forget it.

 

However they are happy to spout verbatim the dubious knowledge they glean from their "friends" on FaecesBook with their heads buried in their mobile whilst their offspring are ignored and, as we saw a couple of days ago, run off the pavement into the traffic nearly getting flattened in the process and giving an unfortunate but thankfully fully alert lorry driver a really bad scare.

 

John

[Wheatley]

21 hours ago, jonny777 said:

At 4 years of age, the best policy to teach them is 'Yes, you can eat them, but always ask first; and if we say no it means NO'. 

 

I think that is not too much of a concept for 4-year olds to grasp. 

 

 

 

 

 

Depends on the 4 year old. Mine could recognise every make of car and truck on the roads just by looking at the badge (Vauxhalls have a squirrel on them aparently) but his logic for selecting food was based on "fits in my mouth = food". I still have the 2x4 Lego brick I forcibly removed, it looks like it's been through a lawnmower.

  

18 hours ago, spikey said:

 

Morris dancing.

 

You forgot about Morris dancing.

 

Morris dancing was a perfectly acceptable activity for honest sturdy agricultural working types long before scruffy metro poseurs got near it.

[stewartingram]

My youngest daughter (now in her 40s!) became the pride of the class at junior schol - her teacher asked the class where milk came from.  Daughter was the only one who new it was cows! Her mum's dad used to take her over to the farm to see the new born calves, and sometimes she got some milk there too. The other kids all said bottles or Tesco (other shops are available), if they knew at all.

 

Stewart

[kevinlms]

9 minutes ago, stewartingram said:

My youngest daughter (now in her 40s!) became the pride of the class at junior schol - her teacher asked the class where milk came from.  Daughter was the only one who new it was cows! Her mum's dad used to take her over to the farm to see the new born calves, and sometimes she got some milk there too. The other kids all said bottles or Tesco (other shops are available), if they knew at all.

 

Stewart

But how many kids (OK American adults too), think that chocolate milk comes from brown cows?

[Reorte]

Milk comes from a lot of places, not just Cowes.

[Porkscratching]

41 minutes ago, Wheatley said:

 

  

 

Morris dancing was a perfectly acceptable activity for honest sturdy agricultural working types long before scruffy metro poseurs got near it.

..Which one's Morris, mate..?

[kevinlms]

4 minutes ago, Reorte said:

Milk comes from a lot of places, not just Cowes.

On Phillip Island (in Oz)?

[tomparryharry]

My neighbour popped over from 2 doors up: "Would you like some of these?" Fresh tomatoes, about 30 seconds off the vine... I love fresh tomatoes, these little beauties didn't even make it to teatime....  We have blackberries hanging over the rear of the garden, and just right to pick. I've survived picking wild fruit since childhood. Children never learn the sense of adventure. Perhaps it's the lack of responsible adults......

[tomparryharry]

11 minutes ago, Reorte said:

Milk comes from a lot of places, not just Cowes.

 

That little comment got some gasps in my first school-day in Wales. The teacher asked "Where do 'you' get milk from?" I replied "a bottle".  Much gasps of shock that a London kid didn't know the country.  Now, if the teacher had asked, "Where does milk come from, I would have responded with "a cow". I had up until then, never milked a cow, so it came from the fridge, or from the milkman with his horse & float, as we had in London SE23. 

 

Teachers that are unable to phrase the question properly, really gets my goat.....

 

have a great week, folks!

[tomparryharry]

19 minutes ago, Porkscratching said:

..Which one's Morris, mate..?

 

"That's the smaller of the two, it's Morris minor. The larger chap is Morris major....."

[Reorte]

12 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

My neighbour popped over from 2 doors up: "Would you like some of these?" Fresh tomatoes, about 30 seconds off the vine... I love fresh tomatoes, these little beauties didn't even make it to teatime....  We have blackberries hanging over the rear of the garden, and just right to pick. I've survived picking wild fruit since childhood. Children never learn the sense of adventure. Perhaps it's the lack of responsible adults......

 

And one day I'll manage to grow some decent ones! They keep coming out a bit mushy and tasteless, think I'm not watering them right.

[tomparryharry]

We have an abundance of rhubarb here, but no-one seems to like it. 'Tis a pity, because I love rhubarb crumble with custard on cold winter days.  the last harvest was about 20 lbs, Right now it's being relocated to make room for the railway shed.

[Mallard60022]

22 hours ago, Brinkly said:

We have become such a disposable society now. 

 

When we used to go black berry picking when I was little, the rule was don't eat them until we got home and mum had washed them! I pick tons of black berries from the hedges where I live. For a long time, I seemed to be the only one, but more recently other people seem to be getting in on the act. 

 

The only thing I worry about is taking food the birds might eat; although, I have several bird feeders in the garden to supplement their diet throughout the year.

 

Regards, 

 

Nick.

That's really thoughtful Nick, however the birds can reach where 'we' cannot, unless we enjoy being spiked and ripped beyond toleration. Most birds prefer insects at this time of year. 

Phil

[Mallard60022]

20 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

And one day I'll manage to grow some decent ones! They keep coming out a bit mushy and tasteless, think I'm not watering them right.

The little ones (are they Tumblers?) are sweet as sweet can be; try those and they can be grown in a bucket/small tub.

P

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, tomparryharry said:

My neighbour popped over from 2 doors up: "Would you like some of these?" Fresh tomatoes, about 30 seconds off the vine... I love fresh tomatoes, these little beauties didn't even make it to teatime....  We have blackberries hanging over the rear of the garden, and just right to pick. I've survived picking wild fruit since childhood. Children never learn the sense of adventure. Perhaps it's the lack of responsible adults......

Our tomatoes have done very poorly this year - fewer, later and not as tasty as the last couple of years.

 

We've got semi-wild blackberries growing across the bottom of our allotment, and they're just starting to ripen now - as others have said it seems much earlier than it used to be, I too remember picking them in the early autumn as a child.

[Fat Controller]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

 

And one day I'll manage to grow some decent ones! They keep coming out a bit mushy and tasteless, think I'm not watering them right.

You may be watering them too much; the Southern Europeans seem to keep the plants very dry.

[Colin_McLeod]

Did someone mention Boris Dancing.

 

 

 

Could not find one of the British Boris Dancing but I set that as a challenge  others.

 

[Reorte]

15 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

You may be watering them too much; the Southern Europeans seem to keep the plants very dry.

 

Last year some split too - water and temperature related I believe, although possibly down to too much variation of one or both.

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

 

And one day I'll manage to grow some decent ones! They keep coming out a bit mushy and tasteless, think I'm not watering them right.

You're not - you need to be very consistent in the watering of tomatoes and you need to feed them once the fruit has started to set,

 

Our tomatoes aren't ripe yet but we're harvesting cucumbers by the bagful and capsicum peppers as they flesh up, plus runner beans (which are doing very well this year as are the onions).  But the carrots are a disaster zone  - they were good last year but onions and runner beans weren't.  Hopefully I've dealt with the blight on the spuds but we won't really know until they're ready to lift, fortunately not many plants.  The sweet corn looks pretty good, the apples look good too and I think the blackberries should be ok.  The cultivated strawberries weren't too good but it's been an excellent year for the wild strawberries which are all over the place in the garden.

 

Bees and butterflies have been working really hard and a good year for lavender has really encouraged them plus various other flowers and shrubs we have specifically to encourage them.

[Porkscratching]

49 minutes ago, Colin_McLeod said:

Did someone mention Boris Dancing.

 

 

 

Could not find one of the British Boris Dancing but I set that as a challenge  others.

 

Here you go...( mmm..Grooovy..)

Edited August 5, 2019 by Porkscratching

[sharris]

On 04/08/2019 at 11:28, Fat Controller said:

No, but you could try teaching them which to avoid.. 

 

My partner's a nanny and teaches the children she looks after which berries are safe - and also not to pick the blackberries from low down, or they'll taste more of dog wee than blackberry. 

 

[Reorte]

45 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

You're not - you need to be very consistent in the watering of tomatoes and you need to feed them once the fruit has started to set,

 

They've been getting fed (but probably not enough). How do you consistently water though when the weather varies a lot? I believe being too wet isn't any good for them either. They're in growbags, should I put more holes in the bottom (next year now!) and water them the same whatever the weather is doing? They're in the greenhouse but even then sometimes they dry out during the day and sometimes they don't.

[spikey]

4 hours ago, Wheatley said:

Morris dancing was a perfectly acceptable activity for honest sturdy agricultural working types long before scruffy metro poseurs got near it.

 

Speaking as a lapsed member of the Morris Federation, I totally agree with you.  Mind you, there's nothing wrong with it when done properly by other types of person, provided they do go about it properly.

 

Obligatory Morris joke - Q "Why do Morris dancers wear bells?"  A "So they can annoy the blind as well."

Edited August 5, 2019 by spikey
clarity

[Wheatley]

Said 4 year old (now a 10 year old) has become interested (or at least, less disinterested) in Morris Dancing since realising that around here it often involves belting each other with sticks (Wharfedale Wayzegoose).

[Reorte]

2 hours ago, sharris said:

 

My partner's a nanny and teaches the children she looks after which berries are safe - and also not to pick the blackberries from low down, or they'll taste more of dog wee than blackberry. 

 

 

I was with someone once who refused to touch another bilberry after I made a comment about wandering sheep... All the more for me! Must check out what's been a decent patch of raspberries by the side of the road in previous years (but not last year). They're very good!