Well again I find myself apologising for the lack of posts, that unfortunate turn life dealt me took another one, my blog needed to go on the back burner again. I'm happy to report that Martha is now finally accepted and is laying well, working on 3 eggs a day that's 84 eggs a month so I am thinking as its harvest time I might post in the local rag swopping eggs for veg ,any allotment owners that cant waste seeds can swop their surplus. Its an idea I've been playing with for a while . My area is full of allotments and I'm sure they must swop stuff so why not 6 leeks for 6 eggs. I acquired a beer barrel thanks to https://www.freecycle.org/ (should I start my food swapping here or in the local rag). the beer barrel will eventually become a log burner but I need to acquire an angle grinder or sell enough eggs to buy one. and speaking of logs I've got 3 paper logs drying out in the greenhouse for my good brothers log burner. When I get my own burner mate you will need some buckets. My purchase of the month was ...
and so armed with my book I headed of to the local woods for an exploratory forage. although a little early for sweet chestnuts my goal is to find a tree in my area. I'm aware of one near my old place of work but that's a 45 min drive so the quest to find a more local tree is on. The book itself is a great guide and has a section in the front outlining what is available each month of the year, just in the hedgerow I found blackberrys , elderberries ,sloe, hawthorn berries, and rosehip then I discovered this little beauty.
As you can see at this point I was lying on the floor with my mobile phone taking the picture, I didn't pick it but some research when I got home suggests it is a Parasol Mushroom
(Lepiota Procera/Macrolepiota Procera) http://everyonelovesafungi.wordpress.com/profiles/ which is perfectly edible, I saw 3 or 4 but left them as I need to be 100 percent sure what it is especially with fungi I didn't want internal organ failure or to be seen sat in a field singing I'm a little pixie. if anyone can confirm my identification please let me know. I continued deeper into the wood and discovered I was actualy in a pheasant enclosure. woops. beating a hasty retreat I then discovered I had lost my phone. the next 30 minutes was unsucsefully spent searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
I returned 4 hours later armed with my daughters mobile phone and wandered round the woodland ringing my phone and would you believe found it within 10 minutes thank god for a full battery and not being in silent mode. I bet the pheasants where confused by the 5 missed calls I had. And finally as I left I encountered a farmer who thought I was poaching I explained the situation and he was very good about it . I discovered where his farm was and will visit him to ask permission next time. you never know he might be able to rent me a field. So the day didn't go fully to plan foraging for a smart phone wasn't what author Richard Maybe intended.