Harvesting in the hedgerows

Firthside we have hedgerows. Fellside, they have drystone walls. We have hedgerows because we don't have stones, just mud. Our houses are built from clay (on boulder and cobble plinths and with cruck frames and thatch roofs) or bricks. Their houses are built of stone - slate, old red sandstone, limestone. Our hedgerows have willowherb and meadowsweet, old man's beard and roses, blackberries, elder and haws. Their hillsides have mountain ash and bilberries, bracken, foxgloves and heather.

Two weeks ago as well as looking for art I looked for rowan berries. Most of the trees on my route were 'public trees' in town streets and on village greens, which I wasn't keen in picking from. Up the east fellside returning home there was a promising looking woodland which included many rowan trees - but unreachable behind a drystone wall (not to be climbed), a deep ditch, and a thicket of nettles. Finally two tall trees laden with fruit - one of them yielded well over a kilo of fruit, enough for rowan jelly and a fifth share of hedgerow jelly. Picked over they went straight in the freezer until the rest of the fruit was ready.

One week ago I was in London dropping off half a dozen jars of jam and replacing them in my luggage with a dozen limes to pickle (half the price in London greengrocers than in major supermarkets), half a dozen figs to eat, thin-skinned lemons for preserving and the unexpectedly elusive dill for the dill-pickled cucumbers that have been waiting their time for three weeks. The last week has been pickle week.

Raspberry vinegar, fig vinegar, pickled plums	Two sorts of pickled cucumbers, pickled horseradish	Cucumbers, preserved lemons, pickled limes, horseradish vinegar

I'd planned for a wet weekend with a long list of household tasks, but unexpected sunshine sent me out in search of the rest of the fruit for the hedgerow jelly - hawberries, sloes, rosehips, elderberries and blackberries. The west side of the road is hedged mainly with hawthorns, invaded from time to time by blackberries and occasional roses, whereas the east side is more varied and includes the elders and more of the roses. The hedges have been largely cut back - this road sees cows and sheep frequently walking down it, and the trimming is presumably for their benefit. With nettles and a wet ditch defending the hedges, much of the fruit is out of reach unless I can get into the fields. Hawberries are abundant and one bush yields the necessary quantity - the next 99 can be ignored. Elderberries are in short supply and it seems to have been a bad year for blackberries - it's not as though other people have been out picking first, just that the fruit didn't form properly to start with. As for sloes, after picking eight from a neighbour's hedge, there are no more to be found for an hour. Are we too close to the sea? I knew the mountain ash wouldn't grow down here but I didn't think sloes wouldn't. Eventually I find one small bush, but that's not enough. I may have to go down the manor field boundary later in case there are more there.

Abundant haws	Rosehips
Meagre blackberries	Solitary sloe
Firth with hedges	Fell with hedge

And then, on the way home, a sloe hedge on a neighbour's garden. About three foot thick, that means 18 inches depth is public, right? The sloes are not abundant in number, but they're the size of American blueberries. Quite glad that no one drives past in the time I spend almost inside the bush collecting what I need.

When I get home, my hands are purple and deeply scratched. The perfect moment to move the salted cut lemons that are a preserving work in progress from one jar to another - ouch!