Rewind: It was a cheap day out when we were kids. Mum would take us to visit family in Caerphilly and we’d go for a walk down the river with an empty bag and go “nutting”. We loved to shake trees and grab nuts on the lower branches we left the top ones for the squirrels. It was a bonus if we got a 3 “peggie” or more. (Mum says she had an 8 peggie once and kept it for over a year!) Once home we’d crack them open and cover with salt before eating or selling on to the neighbours.
We also loved to pick blackberries and go bramble picking, and mum would make the best crumbles and we would again sell any extras on to neighbours (our neighbours were good sports!).
We wouldn’t always venture over the mountain to “The Valleys” but could sometimes go picking in Splott Park and Howardian playing grounds. This was one of our favourite activities at this time of year along with testing if the conkers were ready to crack open.
Ways To Cwtch on foraging
This is a trend we can back, after all we have been doing it all our lives. What the pandemic has shown is people appreciating nature and enjoying things you can find close to home. You may notice paid for events where you can go for a foraging expedition and have an expert lead you, we’d recommend this if you’re not familiar with an area, going to look out mushrooms for the first time or want to go with a group of like minded people. You really can just step out of your door and go exploring and foraging yourself. One of the best things is eating blackberries straight from the bush. Kathryn remembers eating hers before we even got home.
We’d love to hear your experience of foraging. Have you given it a go? At the very least try finding enough brambles for a gin or a crumble.
Ways to Cwtch 