You really couldn't make this up ...

[peach james]

Picking fruit- we live 22 km from town.  Picking huckleberries is a fine activity for children.  Blackberries are coming into season, (trailing cane type, with way too many @#$#@$ thorns for my liking).  Salmonberry is going out.  If as a kid you didn't know what it was, you don't eat it.  Especially Fungi, of which there are some very nice ones, and some very deadly ones around here...

 

Both my lads pick fruit.  Why not?  Old one is now 13, young one is 9.  I've been eating the results for at least 6-7 years.  That's with red berries, which can be problematic.  Trick is exactly as above.  If you are not SURE, leave it alone.

 

Jam Jars- I have a collection of Bernardin ones, most have been used 2-10x.  You buy them by the 12 here, and the only problem I have is when you trade jars with someone who uses the odd sized lids.  (there are 3-4 sizes of lids on them...).  I don't tend to reuse regular jam jars, but that's because I have enough (>60) jars to hold a normal year's production of jams.  Lids are recommended to be consumable (single use), which I do, based on the seals not being great a 2nd time.  Since sometimes I have had jam stored for 3-4 years, that's not a horrid expense.  It's cheaper than the sugar

 

James

[Porkscratching]

46 minutes ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Porkscratching,

 

May I add; all the stuff they don't need, with money they haven't got, all borrowed at interest.

 

We live in a strange world.

 

Gibbo.

And of course... get your customers/subjects/victims to comply & police each other , using nothing but peer pressure, very clever...

[APOLLO]

Nicest blackberry jam i've ever had was made by my wife. The berrys came from wild plants growing around No3 Gasholder at Wigan gas works (now demolished).

 

I saw some nice blackberrys alongside the Leeds Liverpool canal the other day, side of the old Wigan Coal & Iron company's steel works at Kirkless (VERY long gone !!) - not quite ready - a couple more weeks. Where's my Jam Jars.

 

Brit15

 

 

[Porkscratching]

There is by the way nearish to me, an ex orchard, now a golf course, that still has many trees with both apples and plums..the plums are particularly good and are well 'grazed' by quite a few folks at the appropriate time. You just have to avoid the flying golf balls..

[Ian Hargrave]

2 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Not all folk did survive childhood, and the childhood you remember didn't involve anything like the amount of road traffic kids today deal with. You won't find many doctors who think getting kids into the habit of wearing a helmet is a bad idea. It might not make (I don't have numbers for this) much difference on a scooter, but in a few years time, then wearing one on a bike might just save a life.

 

A common failing with the cohort of those of us who are in late,or even later,”middle age” is that we have difficulty in accepting just how much the world has ,as is said,”moved on”..The sun is stronger,the world is hotter,there are more of us,the traffic increases by the day. So yes we all need to attend to self preservation of whatever kind.

 

As a footnote,I survived pneumonia in childhood during the last war due mainly to the modern miracle of penicillin.

[colin penfold]

45 minutes ago, spikey said:

 

So would I perhaps be right in assuming that when you see small children with scooters (old-fashioned type) and they're wearing plastic helmets, you don't shake your head in wonder how any of us old folk managed to survive childhood?

 

No you wouldn't be right about that. I just happened to think you were being a bit judgemental about that mum. If she doesn't know what is safe and what isn't it's very sensible to take the approach with a 4 year old not to encourage her to eat things of unknown origin. I can see I am in the company of people on this thread who think differently so Im going to keep out of it.

 

[Baby Deltic]

There's no excitement for kids anymore. Where I used to live as a kid there were various premises with high value fruit trees such as cider apples, Victoria plums, greengages etc which had to be raided after dark. The operation was usually meticulously planned with diversions if necessary to draw away the occupants attention if they heard something and came outside. Nowadays scrumping is a lost art.

Edited August 4, 2019 by Baby Deltic

[Brinkly]

7 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Not all folk did survive childhood, and the childhood you remember didn't involve anything like the amount of road traffic kids today deal with. You won't find many doctors who think getting kids into the habit of wearing a helmet is a bad idea. It might not make (I don't have numbers for this) much difference on a scooter, but in a few years time, then wearing one on a bike might just save a life.

 

The school I teach in (and I'm sure many others across the land) promotes Bike Ability courses, where the children learn over the course of a week how to ride a bike on main roads. It's very popular. Most of our Year 4 & 5 children (the year groups best suited to the course) complete level 1 & 2 training: so 40-50 children out of 60 learn how to ride safely on Torbay's busy roads. Most then wear helmets outside of school having complete the training, lots on scooters do too. 

 

Sorry to wonder off, but I thought it was worth adding that! 

 

Re blackberries, most of our reception children (aged 4-5 years old) would know what to eat and what not to eat. They might not know the names, but they would know what to eat and what not to. Equally, what 4 year old goes roaming off on their own in this day and age!? I certainly wasn't aloud to go and play on the park by myself aged 4 and that's was 28 years ago with two very pragmatic parents who promoted playing outside! 

 

Regards,

 

Nick.

[Baby Deltic]

I always find a set of secateurs handy if blackberry picking. Helps you get into the bush and reach the succulent berries at the top which cannot usually be reached due to protruding shoots covered in thorns.

[298]

1 hour ago, spikey said:

 

So would I perhaps be right in assuming that when you see small children with scooters (old-fashioned type) and they're wearing plastic helmets, you don't shake your head in wonder how any of us old folk managed to survive childhood?

 

That's the problem, many didn't. Kids were taught to swim in case they fell in the Canal (although I'm not sure why they needed to retrieve a brick). I'm not reassured to know my kids can swim in case they fall in the cut, as I'd rather they didn't fall in in the first place.

 

Working in the food industry, there is something called "Vendor assurance", which could trickle down to the level of nabbing jamjars from skips unless you have a proper means of inspecting and sanitising glassware, which is why bringing back "glass cheques" to England instead of single use plastic bottles isn't an easy win.

 

 

[Phil Parker]

The other danger of collecting jam jars is that you might start thinking they are an acceptable substitute for drinking beer instead of a proper pint glass.

 

This sort of mindset can lead to growing a beard and turning full hipster. Just say no kids!

[kevinlms]

Blackberries, I love them.

 

However in Australia, they are a declared noxious weed and rightly so. Under the climate here, they grow like crazy, as spring weather is simply perfect for them. Big thick brambles with much larger thorns than you get in the UK. Being an introduced species, there is no enemy, the winter not cold enough to thin them out.

 

They get everywhere invading natural bushland, including my backyard!

 

I donned gloves and chopped them back last November and burnt it & sprayed the rest. Spring will be here soon, so I will have to check my results and deal with any new growth. Nothing but a PITA.

[spikey]

56 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

... the childhood you remember didn't involve anything like the amount of road traffic kids today deal with.

 

Oh indeed, but I'm talking about scooters as used on pavements, in parks and so forth - not on the roads.  But whatever - as a lifelong everyday cyclist who's never worn a Magic Hat, believe me I'm well aware of how contentious that issue is, so any further discussion about cycle helmets will have to manage without input from me

[Fenman]

50 minutes ago, Baby Deltic said:

There's no excitement for kids anymore. Where I used to live as a kid there were various premises with high value fruit trees such as cider apples, Victoria plums, greengages etc which had to be raided after dark. The operation was usually meticulously planned with diversions if necessary to draw away the occupants attention if they heard something and came outside. Nowadays scrumping is a lost art.

 

There was also no crime in those far-off halcyon days...

 

Although maybe that's because we called it "scrumping" rather than "thieving".

 

Paul

[spikey]

8 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

The other danger of collecting jam jars is that you might start thinking they are an acceptable substitute for drinking beer instead of a proper pint glass.

 

This sort of mindset can lead to growing a beard and turning full hipster. Just say no kids!

 

Morris dancing.

 

You forgot about Morris dancing.

[Phil Parker]

4 minutes ago, spikey said:

 

Oh indeed, but I'm talking about scooters as used on pavements, in parks and so forth - not on the roads.  But whatever - as a lifelong everyday cyclist who's never worn a Magic Hat, believe me I'm well aware of how contentious that issue is, so any further discussion about cycle helmets will have to manage without input from me

 

I doubt many kids use scooters on the road, that seems to be the place for slightly tragic adult hipsters*. However, most pavements are adjacent to a road so they will end up there either while crossing or by accident. More to the point, while sneering at someone for fitting their child with a "magic hat", you forget that your adult skull is thicker and fully formed. The process can take until you are 20 to complete, so they are a bit more vulnerable to contact with hard surfaces than grown-ups are and pavements and parks are full of those.

 

Also, a brightly colour helmet means I might spot them in the park as they career around not looking where they are going so I can dodge. 

 

*says the man who plays with toy trains all day.

[Ohmisterporter]

6 minutes ago, spikey said:

 

Morris dancing.

 

You forgot about Morris dancing.

 

Not by accident.

[Ohmisterporter]

When I was a kid picking apples from someone else's trees was called loaching. Don't know when the term scrumping became ubiquitous. 

[spikey]

34 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

... More to the point, while sneering at someone for fitting their child with a "magic hat" ...

 

Phil, I was not "sneering" at anybody for fitting their child with a helmet.  My comment about a Magic Hat was in the context of an adult (me) not wearing one while cycling on the road.  Cycle helmets have to be a Good Thing for kids cycling on the roads. 

 

AFAIC though, helmets of any kind on the heads of kids playing with a scooter under adult supervision on the pavement or in a park are a sign of over-protective parents.  Just my opinion, is all.

[Fat Controller]

39 minutes ago, Ohmisterporter said:

When I was a kid picking apples from someone else's trees was called loaching. Don't know when the term scrumping became ubiquitous. 

It was 'scrumping' in S W Wales and North Staffs in the 1960s.

[Porkscratching]

14 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

It was 'scrumping' in S W Wales and North Staffs in the 1960s.

And in London and the surrounding area of the same era...

[The White Rabbit]

'Scrumping' in Yorkshire... 

 

Blackberries, those on our planted bush have started to ripen, had our first batch yesterday. We also have some wild blackberries (admittedly in a poorer position) and they look several weeks behind the cultivated plants. 

 

Maybe we're lucky but we don't seem to have to compete with the birds for blackberries. I saw our [female] blackbird try a few one day but she doesn't seem to have repeated the experience. Redcurrants, that's a different story. This is the first year our redcurrant bush of four years has flowered/fruited and she scoffed the lot. I didn't mind too much as providing food for the birds was the main reason we got the bushes at that end of the garden, but was struck by just how enthusiastically she consumed a bush's worth of berries. 

 

Our strawberries seem to have been and gone, nice while they lasted, very sweet. And time to look out the plum jam recipe and jam jars, the tree doesn't fruit every year but there are plenty on this year. Another one the birds don't go for, round our way anyway. 

 

Back to the OP philosophy: One day helping a farmer friend do some fencing, a 'city-slicker' type with family in tow asked, "Why do farmers always put their gates in the muddiest parts of their fields"? (in all seriousness). 

[peanuts]

can remember many a happy summers afternoons in the wimberry bushes on the banking above the old moorgate crossing merrily picking  bags of wimberys for mum to make into pies whilst waiting to catch numbers on the transpennine services  below .move on down towards saddleworth viaduct and there woukd be a huge wild blackberry bush on the track bed of the Delph Donkey to bag up and take home to be made into jam .generaly worked off the rule that if it was purple or black it was safe to eat .shame oranges wouldnt grow on the western slopes of the peninnes as my mums whisky marmalade was heaven on hot toast 

[caradoc]

2 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

It was 'scrumping' in S W Wales and North Staffs in the 1960s.

 

And in Oxford in the 1960s. The best apple trees were in the Vicarage garden; That's all I'm prepared to say on the matter.......

[Porkscratching]

The best apples we had were, as me mum told me at the time, Worcester variety from a clump of 3 or 4 trees locally, typically the trees were all blown down in a storm one night and that was it..!  Nicest apples I ever tasted too..