It's often in your own back yard - observe

I read a really good article the other day written by a forager from The Botanist pointing out how we often approach foraging as a destination activity and tend to not realize what we have under our noses in our own back yards (http://www.thebotanist.com/articles/foraging-starts-home).

It made me realize how many edible free plants I have growing in the publicly accessible field that is literally meters behind my apartment. It's crazy because foraging has been on my radar for a couple of years now, but even though, I have been blithely walking by a number of fruit and nut trees for a good 4 years now and just not registering their presence. Or registering some of them but not really making an effort to follow their progress attentively enough to gather the fruit/nuts.

I have not been observant.

So in penance for my sins, I have set myself a task this season to really truly look closely at one of these trees on a weekly basis. Notice the leaves and branch structure. Pay attention to the flowers as they bloom and are pollinated. Watch the fruits begin to form and ripen. Remain attentive to the right moment to start picking the fruit (before some other observant soul gets to it).

Walking through the field this afternoon, I chose to track the Mirabelle Plum.

So here we go.

Week 1 - 07 April 2015: