Acorn Etiquette

We went picking acorn caps last week, however I’m really not sure of acorn etiquette. People eat acorns here – as well as giving them to pigs – so we decided to go further afield to get the caps so we weren’t depriving people of any acorns. It is unfortunate that we were after only the caps as it means that we discard the acorns. So we went deep into a wood to find some acorn trees, which were sadly lacking acorns. However, after quite a lot of hunting around, we did manage to fill two boxes, so that was good – and we didn’t get arrested by the countryside police. I did wonder if there were male and female oak trees, as some were completely devoid of acorns and others dripping with them.

The countryside is just full of people at the moment, olive pickers, wild mushroom seekers and hunters abound – plus farmers illegally burning stubble. In fact, I am often surprised that noone gets shot given the very crowded wild open spaces. I have a high visibility vest that I put on over a sweatshirt if I go out on a Sunday, which is the busiest day, just to ensure that noone mistakes me for a rabbit, although Ian says I just give them something to aim at.

One of my students was telling me that hunting is very important for the village because as well as eating the birds and rabbits themselves, the hunters give the birds and rabbits to the poor people, and any that are left over they give to the village day centre, who cook them for the day residents.

We’re making pickle today with left over fruit from when Mum and Susan were here, we noticed some fruit flies hovering yesterday, and guessed that this was a message that it was time to do something with the left over apples. It is our own recipe – so it will be interesting to see how it turns out!