Berry Picking Time
As autumn draws on the hedgerows bordering the woods and the low bushes growing where the light allows become covered in autumn’s harvest.
Blackberries, sloe berries and hawthorn berries ‘squish’ and ‘squash’ with varying degrees of success to make ‘berry paint’ or the berries can simply be smeared onto the logs or small pieces paper to make marks ‘pictures’.
There is lots of room for the children to experiment with bashing techniques, suitable paint consistencies and answer questions about the berries, for example does a red berry give a red colour? If there are no brushes available sticks can be frayed at the ends to see which will break into hair like fibres to paint with. Any resulting art work can be displayed on a line of string and held there by hazel pegs made with the help of an adult.
The right berries are also ‘free food’. Blackberries, sloe berries and hawthorn berries washed and cooked together then mashed and pushed through a coarse sieve give a a berry mush that can be mixed with homey to taste and then dried out in the oven to make a tasty ‘berry leather’. Blackberry and apple jelly on toast cooked over the fire embers is another autumn treat. There are lots of recipes for such foraged food on the internet.
Gathering them from week to week helps the children and us see the season as it progresses and any berries left will sustain the birds as the weather gets colder.
