[deepinthewoods]

i collect field mushrooms, blewitts and parasols, those ive learned to identify, but the best free food is down on the shoreline, ivegot a converted prawn pot (similar to a crab pot) and i collect shore, green and velvet crabs in it to make  a seafood bisque, mussels are an easy pick, 20mins work to feed us both, cockels and winkles, occasionally clams and native oysters from the mud of the fal. lovely.
 i made £50 last year collecting and selling sweet chestnuts, ive still got a jar of pickled to add to stews, but my favourite, raw or cooked has to be wild garlic particularly the flowers.

[Sandy]

Yummmm, not sure the forth has too much to eat other than the lovely fish in there!!!!

[Lesley Silvester]

My ex would always stop for road kill rabbits.  One day he saw one by the side of the road, stopped, picked it up and chucked it in the back of the car.  We he got home and opened the boot, he found no rabbit but two very happy dogs.

[MAK]

It's amazing what some of you all gather - love the shore line seafood and that money can be made too ( from nuts etc).

Seems that mushrooming should be avoided unless you really know what you are doing.

In France - If it moves it is shot so we don't have hardly any roadkill. Actually the lack of traffic is probably the reason. We thought of selling ( stuff we gathered) walnuts and chestnuts on the market - maybe with some jams around Xmas time.

Some great posts here and still chuckling at some of them.

[Sandy]

Poor dogs....never understand nature doing that to dogs and making them so vulnerable...keeping on the thread, not sure if there is a law about one person running something over and not being able to take it but the next person can? If that were the case how would people find out unless you ended up in the middle of a field in the car chasing a rabbit!!

[Rich/Jan]

yes MAX mushrooming should be avoided especially in the woods in France.  You are likely to be shot yourself.  Remember always to wear your yellow jacket!!     Jan

[princesspiggy]

we had deer once when our very bad dogs chased her and brought her down and injured her neck. we tried to save her but she couldnt walk and died from the shock. we bled her while still warm and put her in the freezer.

another time we found an injured deer from a road accident and took it to the vets who had a wildlife dept. they promptly put her to sleep - i wonder if they ate her...? hmmm

[MAK]

Yeah - I bet the Vet has a network of people to proud to eat road kill but happy to eat his meat - could be a nice earne for him !!!

Jan - A nearby hunt in Dun la Palestel killed 2 mushroom pickers ( and one of their own) a couple of years ago.
Our hunt are nice people  -  and we, apparentley, are on the peasant list to receive a share of the spoils. We got our quarter of roe deer last week. mmmmmmmm.

martin

[Sylvia]

I often drive along a stretch of road where deer are caught by cars.(it's a dual carriageway) If I see a dead deer I stop and put my mobile 'phone to my ear until I am sure the road is clear, then it's into the back of the Landy with it before you can say" you're too old to do that sort of thing"

[doganjo]

http://www.channel4.com/4food/features/british-game-guide-when-to-shoot-and-eat-it-08-08-15
I KNEW I was right!!

To meet the demand for trigger-happy pheasant fanciers, around 25 million of the birds are reared each year but only about half of them are shot, leaving a further 12 million pheasants to roam AWOL. If one lands on your property, and you have a firearm licence, it is legal to shoot it. But, if you run over a pheasant on the road, it is illegal to pick it up.

[chrismahon]

We were lucky same as Bangbang. Field of potatoes harvested late afternoon. We went and collected a couple of buckets of ones they had missed and the next day the whole lot was ploughed over and seeded. They tasted better than our own for some reason !

[bloomer]

free food is one thing i can do in my new life in Scotland, i love a bit of fishing and the east coast has some great fishing on it so when i get time it will be a trip to the coast to see what's going in the freezer!!!

[doganjo]

free food is one thing i can do in my new life in Scotland, i love a bit of fishing and the east coast has some great fishing on it so when i get time it will be a trip to the coast to see what's going in the freezer!!!

You'll be close to the Gartmorn Dam - fishing permits available and a beautiful place to take the kids (and dog if you have one, can't remember if you said)  See you tomorrow

[Small Farmer]

Our neighbours all have fruit trees but no idea what to do with that weird stuff they produce.  We haven't bought apples in six months cos the early ripeners were really early and we're still eating the keepers.

The garage is full of bottled plums, raspberries, blackberries.  Ah, the downside.  OH experimented heavily with  fruit cordials so we bought vast quantities of tesco industrial gin and vodka.  If there's a fire here we'll be too pissed to escape. Pass another glass of raspberry vodka, dear. 

[doganjo]

If there's a fire here we'll be too pissed to escape. Pass another glass of raspberry vodka, dear.