Hip hip

 

One of the wild fruits of the forest that appears to have done really well this year are the Dog Roses (Rosa canina), their bright fruits, or hips, can be seen throughout the forest. Rose hips are packed with goodness including high levels of vitamins C, B and E, along with a wide range of other beneficial compounds and have long been utilized as a consequence. During world War Two Britain relied on Rose Hips for their Vitamin C; school children, Guides and Scouts, and Women’s organizations were encouraged to collect the hips, which were subsequently sent for industrial processing; in the autumn of 1941 200 tons, or 134,000,000 hips made 600,000 bottles of rose hip syrup. We could do with re-learning many of the foraging skill of our elders and ancestors; really, we should never have abandoned the suite of foraging/bushcraft skills that sustained us for millennia.

Berry good

If you're of the school of thought or tradition that says, berries (sloe, hip, haw and so forth) should be, or are best, picked after the first proper frost, then now's your chance.  Frost still clings in the shadows this morning, puddles have opaque crusts and the shrubs are laden with useful fruits. Come fill your boots!