LIVE24SEVEN // Farmer’s Diary
Farmer’s Diary
HEREFORDSHIRE FARMER RICHARD THOMAS GOES ON AN AUTUMNAL FORAY…
“All mushrooms are edible, but some only once in a lifetime.” Croatian proverb.
Of all the fruits in the 'hedgerow harvest’ my favourite is the mushroom. I also like picking blackberries to go into blackberry and apple crumble, a staple dessert from now until the spring! I like damsons and plums, as well as crab apple jelly and occasionally hazelnuts, if I can beat the squirrels before they take the lot. Wild cherries, too, are a favourite in a pie and sloes are great in sloe gin for cold winter days. The mushroom, however, is different, because although I know all the places where they often come up, you can never be sure.
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Unlike the favourite damson tree or blackberry bush, where you know you will get something every year, mushrooms always seem to have a bit of a surprise up their sleeves. A good friend of mine won't touch mushrooms on account of the fact you just cannot trust something that appears overnight! Granted, if you get your identification wrong it can have serious consequences, but from a young age both mum and dad have taught me to identify a field mushroom. There are many edible
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mushrooms to be found out and about but Agaricus campestris, more commonly known as the field mushroom, is the only one I know well enough to eat. It is a bit like picking a tomato from the greenhouse, nothing you can buy tastes better.
Certainly in my case, few tomatoes tend to make it as far as the kitchen and similarly you can't beat picking a mushroom in the morning and having it for lunch with some cheese. Which is exactly what I will be doing today, shortly after finding some whilst checking the sheep earlier. If you do go mushroom hunting this autumn you are best to wait for a damp morning, when the weather is warm. I wish you good luck, but do make sure you consult one of the many identification guides and know what you are eating!
As we come towards the end of the harvest season, there are really only the apples, root crops and maize left. We are not growing maize this year, having switched to whole crop barley and peas, which cropped well and allowed us to sow grass seeds in late summer. This worked better than trying to haul a wheat crop in following what can be a late and muddy maize harvest. They are not a like-for-like swap, but the whole crop will fit in well with our silage ration for our beef cattle and sheep. We are busy drilling our winter corn and picking apples whilst hoping for a relatively dry autumn into winter.
My self-propelled machine does not have a cab and the novelty of picking apples in the rain soon wears off! Still, with a good set of waterproofs, a hat and my radio ear defenders the time soon passes. Of course, as with all the fruits of the harvest, it is important to sample the end product and it would be rude not to try a pint of local cider at the end of a hard day’s apple picking!
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