elderberries wanted

[hedgerow pete]

this is to all the brummies mainly, but i will travel for a rough hour each way, does anyone have any un tapped areas of elderberrys i am struggling to get hold of some, all my usual areas have been pruned with chain saws in the summer or allready stripped by the birds, i have all the gear to scrump any hedge or embankment, i just need an area to scrump first, also if anyone has any spare fruit going i will gladly collect it from you, apples and pears are the mains with plums and damsons close runners up. any thoughts anyone please help there is little time left and i am running out of red wine fast

 

[hedgerow pete]

does no one know what elder berris look like or is it just me

 

[peteinwilts]

strangely enough I collected some fruit yesterday afternoon.

I picked about 5 carrier bags of damsons, 2 bags crab apples, 12 gallons of blackberries (2 1/2 buckets) and 6lb of elderberries (first time I have collected these... 20 minutes to pick, an hour and a half to strip )

The worst thing about this time of year, is the freezer is not big enough to take anymore and the other half is fed up of making jam already!. What I picked was the tip of the iceberg and is just falling from the bushes!

Sloes also do well down here, although I still have about 10lb's from last year...

 

[JCBrum]

There's gotta be some along the cut surely Pete ?

BTW, I wanna make some Sloe Gin for Christmas, ...... but I can't find a Gin bush.

JC.

 

[hedgerow pete]

pete you can realy go off some people you know, this is the one thing i hate about brum compared to the country side when i used to live , townies plant the wrong sort of hedges, as for the cut sorry john but this year british waterways have cleared most of the banks, i had every elderberry, hazel tree, sloe and a few others all plotted on a map ready for collecting i was evan planting cutting from them to further the tree and bushes, but no all gone i am crying with rage

 

[taff..]

I've got elder at the bottom of the garden and about 7 damson trees behind my garden that no one else has access to, none have been touched by anyone this year.

not much use though as Somerset is a bit further than an hour from you

and a shot of a nuc I made following your video instructions

 

[JCBrum]

this year British Waterways have cleared most of the banks

Huh, anybody would think they owned the place !

 

[hedgerow pete]

taff i love the nuc box but i hate the shrubery, i have now stripped all elderberry shrubs from gas street in the town centre all the way to the glass house or as others know it the m5 junction two thats over 5 miles of two differant canals and i still have no where near enough, i am getting concerned now as there is blood in my alcohol system

 

[Somerford]

I'd have to agree with Pete in wilts - plenty of elderberries in our neck of the woods (I'm next door!!) Also have seen HUGE amounts of sloes and crab apples you could help yourself too.

Why not pop down this weekend for the day ? Cuppa or something stronger always available.
SN155JS

S

 

[peteinwilts]

I am thinking about making some Crab Apple liquer.

Are large food brade buckets suitable for steeping fruit, or will the alcohol do something nasty to the plastic?

Cheers
Pete