What's the hardest you've ever worked for FREE fruit/veggies?

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Tonight, if it's not rainning. My husband and I are going to hike about 1/2 hour out through the woods to an old homestead to collect grapes and apples. It's not like there is a trail. You know, its over stumps, stone walls, through the wetlands, over fallen trees and through the brush. The hike out there isn't too bad, however, it will be a challenge getting back lugging bags of fruit! The good news is, we will start out with grapes and by the time we get back, part of the crushing will be done already!

How far have you gone for FREE fruit?

 

[Wisher1000]

For me, it was gathering wild dewberries for cobbler when I was a kid. Mom would make the cobbler only if I brought her a 2 1/2 gallon bucket full. I would search far and wide to find that many, come home with briar scratches and bug bites, but the cobbler was totally worth it (especially with homemade ice cream!)

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

For me, it was gathering wild dewberries for cobbler when I was a kid. Mom would make the cobbler only if I brought her a 2 1/2 gallon bucket full. I would search far and wide to find that many, come home with briar scratches and bug bites, but the cobbler was totally worth it (especially with homemade ice cream!)

and wow! 2 1/2 Gallons of any kind of berry is a LOT of berries! And you're talking to an ice cream lover here. I can imagine I would search high and low for those berries just to get a taste of that cobbler and home made ice cream. YUM!

 

[Wisher1000]

You know, you're right, that bucket may be bigger in my memory than in reality! After all, I was alot smaller back then! It was this one special "berry bucket" and that was the deal, if it was full, Mom would make cobbler. Once I started picking berries, the bucket would go in the fridge, and I had a day or two to get it full. If I didn't, we would put them on cereal or in pancakes, or just eat them with cream. The cobbler was made in a big glass baking dish (the kind you can roast a turkey in) and she would mix all the ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, berries, etc.) together and pop it in the oven. The flour magically came together into dough balls (or so it seemed) and rose to the top where they would brown and have sugar crusted around their edges. She tried to teach me how to do it when I was young and I didn't care to learn. She died last year, and I would love to know how, now, so I could make it for my boys.

ETA

I know the bucket was bigger than an ice cream tub (1 gallon) and smaller than a 5 gallon bucket! It was probably around 2 gallons.......

 

[Jared77]

Far as processing goes......elderberries. They taste GREAT but talk about a LOT of work to prep. Collection is easy enough its just the work load to get them apart.

Other than that, Id probably say hunting for morels. But even thats just a walk in the woods.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Wisher1000, I know how things can seem different when you are a kid. You know, the old neighborhood that seemed so large is really pretty small. The walk to the store, that you thought was a million miles away is really only 2. I'm sure that you are pretty close on the size of the bucket. Berries shrink down so much! Maybe you will some day run across your mothers cobbler recipe and be able to reproduce it for your boys. I was just thinking the other day of all of the wonderful things that my Gram used to bake. Now she is a bit "dangerous" in the kitchen, so she doesn't bake much anymore. I want to have my mother try and talk her into gathering all of her recipes and making copies for the children, grand children and great grand children that are of cooking age.

 

[Carol Dee]

Wisher1000, I want to have my mother try and talk her into gathering all of her recipes and making copies for the children, grand children and great grand children that are of cooking age.

That is a wonderful Idea. I so wish I had more of Grandma and Great Aunt's recipes. Luckly I do have a few.

 

[Kassaundra]

You know, you're right, that bucket may be bigger in my memory than in reality! After all, I was alot smaller back then! It was this one special "berry bucket" and that was the deal, if it was full, Mom would make cobbler. Once I started picking berries, the bucket would go in the fridge, and I had a day or two to get it full. If I didn't, we would put them on cereal or in pancakes, or just eat them with cream. The cobbler was made in a big glass baking dish (the kind you can roast a turkey in) and she would mix all the ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, berries, etc.) together and pop it in the oven. The flour magically came together into dough balls (or so it seemed) and rose to the top where they would brown and have sugar crusted around their edges. She tried to teach me how to do it when I was young and I didn't care to learn. She died last year, and I would love to know how, now, so I could make it for my boys.

ETA

I know the bucket was bigger than an ice cream tub (1 gallon) and smaller than a 5 gallon bucket! It was probably around 2 gallons.......

That is the old fashioned southern way to make cobbler, I have always heard it called slump (by everyone except southerners who make it lol) There is a chocolate cake version that is awesome too, the cake magically rises as it bakes leaving a chocolate "fudgy / pudding like" gooey delishousness at the bottom.

 

[retiredwith4acres]

I guess I would have to say the hardest free food was picking blackberries in early July in the briars, snake infested hills with my grandmother and mother. BUT, those cobblers were the best!

My Aunt is visiting my mother this week and brought a cookie my grandmother used to make. It was SO sweet and yummy and we talked about how it was made and wondered how many thousand times she made them. She was a school lunchroom cook where she made them probably once a week and we always had them at home. A poor man's dessert: 1 cup sugar, 1 stick softened butter, 1 egg, 1 cup flour, 1 cup of milk, and maybe a little vanilla. Thin, moist, and chewy delicious bar cookies!!

 

[Wisher1000]

Kassaundra - Slump, huh? No doubt a southern thing (I'm born and raised in Alabama.) I think I'll stick to calling it cobbler! LOL! I must admit though that chocolate cobbler sounds sinful! Do you have that recipe? How about one for "slump?" Anyone out there know the recipes?

Retired - I want to try those cookies! There's no milk in the batch? I mean other than the obvious tall cold glass that goes with the cookies......