Scrumping on Hvar? We advise against it.

Published in For the Common Good

As July progresses, the grapes ripen on the vines, ready to reach their full luscious ripeness later on in August. However, foraging is not recommended.     

Ripe grapes may look tempting, but... Ripe grapes may look tempting, but...

Hvar's fields offer plenty of edible plants for our health and delight throughout the year. But think twice before going scrumping. For a start, most of the land is in private ownership, and even if a field looks unkempt and neglected, the owners may still resent strangers stealing their harvest. It's certainly possible that the owner won't mind you taking the odd grape or fig, so long as you don't get carried away and try to load up with bagfuls.

Spraying vines in springtime. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

But BEWARE! A lot of landowners on Hvar use copious amounts of synthetic pesticides on their crops and soil: herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, also limicides (slug poison). Roadside fields and kitchen gardens may also be subject to insecticide spraying ('fogging') by the local authorities, at least three times during the summer season. All of these chemical pesticides are dangerous in themselves. Their effects when combined are unknown and unimaginable.

Figs ripening in July. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

If you don't know whether or not a crop or apparently wild area has been treated with poisons, we advise you to resist any temptation to sample the produce!

You are here: Home For the common good Scrumping on Hvar? We advise against it.

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Blazes near Madrid coming under control but efforts to contain huge fire near Bordeaux hampered by windy conditions while another heatwave forecast

    Authorities in France battled to contain a huge wildfire near Bordeaux as the forecast of another heatwave threatened to deepen the crisis and the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, warned Spain and the Iberian peninsula were suffering the effects of the climate emergency.

    Windy conditions on Saturday night hampered efforts to extinguish the blaze in the Gironde region of south-western France – which has consumed an area four times the size of Paris and caused nearly 220,000 people to be evacuated.

    Continue reading...

  • Experts who helped Burnham draw up Manchester carbon neutral pledge say backtracking would send wrong message amid wildfires and heatwaves

    Leading climate scientists who created Greater Manchester’s carbon neutral by 2038 commitment are urging Andy Burnham to unequivocally reject new drilling in the North Sea.

    In a letterto the prime minister they said he, as mayor of Greater Manchester, had unveiled one of the UK’s most ambitious local climate programmes that tackled housing, green growth and public transport.

    Continue reading...

  • As heatwaves make the capital increasingly dangerous, outreach workers warn that vulnerable people face barriers to finding water and cool spaces

    “You’ve just got to bear it. It’s like being in a hot country. It drains you,” said Tom*, a man in his 60s who has been homeless for a number of years. “I haven’t seen weather like this for as long as I’ve been outside.

    “I keep to my routines, but you need to find somewhere to sit down and rest. Either some cardboard outside or you find somewhere they’ll let you sit and sleep a bit inside,” he added.

    Continue reading...

  • Comins Coch, Ceredigion: It took more than 30 years, but now I am walking it for the first time – and no hi-vis clothing is necessary. It will benefit the community for generations to come

    Where the lane heading north from the village joins the main road, a small, venerable stone barn used to stand. Like me, it had seen better days. I walked past it twice a day on my journey to and from work, hoping to catch a glimpse of the semi-resident barn owl that used it as an outpost. Sadly, the barn was demolished years ago and the owls are now less frequent visitors, but the site where it stood is changing once again.

    A network of paths between villages has long been proposed to promote active travel, and sections have appeared over recent years. Now, these routes are starting to connect and form a resource for walkers and cyclists.

    Continue reading...

  • Exclusive: Foreign secretary to take up World Bank seat and play active role in shaping changes to global lender

    Britain’s foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, is to indicate he will put the climate crisis and overseas development at the heart of UK international relations by taking up the country’s seat on the board at the World Bank.

    The position, which is usually delegated to a junior minister, means Miliband will play an active role in shaping the changes to the World Bank that developing countries have called for, and ensuring the climate remains a core focus for overseas aid.

    Continue reading...

  • Coalition says Chemours downplayed health and climate risks in bid to fast-track the compound’s use

    A coalition of 17 environmental groups is demanding the Environmental Protection Agency reject a new Pfas that chemical giant Chemours is attempting to fast-track for approval for use in cooling datacenters, and would almost certainly pollute regions around the facilities.

    In formal comments submitted to the agency, the groups accuse Chemours of using bad science to downplay the chemical’s toxicity and climate risks. Approving Chemours’ application as it is would violate the law, the Earthjustice legal non-profit, a lead author of the comments, wrote.

    Continue reading...

  • Allowing use of two neonicotinoids to combat crop-ruining disease will kill bees and reduce harvests, union says

    Beekeepers and environmentalists in France have reacted furiously after parliament approved a bill reauthorising two banned pesticides scientists say can poison bees.

    “There are no words to describe the frustration,” said Carolyn Bouguet, a beekeeper in Essonne, greater Paris. “Bee populations have already been badly compromised by climate change, new parasites and loss of habitat. And now this.”

    Continue reading...

  • With large areas still burning, damage from national park’s worst blaze could take decades, if not longer, to put right

    It is the jewel in the crown of the Highlands, one of Scotland’s most impressive natural landscapes, but 12 days on from the start of an enormous wildfire that is tearing through moorland and forest, the Cairngorms national park is unrecognisable.

    Hectares of blackened land were visible as low cloud cleared on Sunday, with smoke billowing into the air from large areas still ablaze. In the evening, the sky glowed an eerie orange.

    Continue reading...

  • Matthew Wolfe’s Fires in the Night examines Earth Liberation Front, a US eco-anarchist movement, and its legacy of radical environmentalism

    Are echoes of 1990s radical environmentalism returning louder or fading away? It’s a question posed by Fires in the Night, a new book on the history of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a loosely grouped band of US Pacific north-west activists that used economic sabotage and arson to protest against environmental destruction.

    The members called themselves “the Family” and were known to the outside world as Elves, after the acronym for the group: ELF. Unlike rightwing extremists of the era, they practiced non-violence toward life, though not property. They were labelled domestic terrorists and practiced “leaderless resistance”.

    Continue reading...

  • More than 3,600 people sign petition for careful assessment of proposed AI hub, now a flashpoint for national debate on datacentre boom

    For some residents it started with a letter in the mailbox. It was a “friendly introduction from the team behind the Victorian AI hub”.

    “I am knocking on doors to explain what we have in mind and, most importantly, to listen,” the letter from Syncline Energy stated.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds