It'll soon be Mabon and the period of second harvest, the fruit/berry harvest. The fruiting shrubs of the forest, the Crab Apples, the Hawthorns and Blackthorns all see their fruits swelling, with the potential of good crops. For me, Blackthorn is my main focus, every year I make a litre or two of Sloe gin/vodka, and this years crop is looking good, with good sized fruits. It's exiting, I look forward to this time of year and its foraging potential.
Though now when foraging or using wild foods, I find there's an increasing conflict of ideas and traditions. When to pick, how to process and of course the myriad of old folk lore around both, most of which is based in sound observations and understanding, although I feel climate change now challenges some of the old sayings and ways. Take Blackberries for instance, traditional folklore says you can't pick them after a certain date in September (moveable depending on your geography nationally) as they become the 'devils berry'. Clearly they don't, though there is a chemical change around said dates which makes the blackberries unpleasant eating. It was easier to explain this to a preliterate population by associating it with the Devil rather than trying to explain chemical changes, hence the lore. But this was when seasons were reliable seasons, I think due to climatic changes and seasonal fluidity, the date is more flexible (although at some point the berries taste will change for the worst, that aspect still hold true). This year as we rapidly approach that point of chemical change, the majority of the forest Blackberries are still unripe, and will probably ripen and still be edible after the old cut off date. With Sloes they say pick them after the first frost, but again due to seasonal climatic changes we might not get a frost until after new year, by which time the sloes will all be gone, eaten by the birds. So you've got to take them earlier. The same can be said for so many other forageable resources, the old lore, which endured for centuries, now conflicts with our weather/climate reality.
I think we're going to have to adapt our folklore to reflect our current climate, and not stick so rigidly to the old lore, respect it, though adapt.
