On Sunday, I took a large group of people around some cold, windy and weedy parts of Westerpark. Today a small group of us walked around the woods of park Frankendael in the sunshine and rain, before enjoying a warm drink in Restaurant Merkelbach.

Here are a few of the things we found and tasted on those walks…

Yellow deadnettle (NL:Gele dovenetel)

Urban Dandelion and Burdock honey (NL:Paardebloem en Grote Klis)

Wild Garlic Bread Sticks.

Today’s group had the same bread but with Rosemary and roasted sesame seeds, mixed into the oil.

Comfrey NL: Smeerwortel (Symphytum x uplandicum), with it’s purple flowers, distinctive cucumber scent and taste alongside those winged leaf-stem joints.

Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) NL:Daslook.

Catnip NL: Kattenkruid (as also found in huge quantities, planted along side some Amsterdam roads)

Here is Ground Elder (Aegopodium podograria) NL:Zevenblad.

Skullcap (Sculletaria longifolium) before flowering.

Here is a lovely post by Whispering Earth, all about the beautiful Hawthorn tree, which some of us tinctured blossom from today.

Both the recent groups also received a packet of River of Herb treepit seedmix. I hope that everyone will find a few moments to plant them in the weeks to come.

I won’t be leading any more walks until mid July but on Midsummer’s day (June 21st, 4.30pm) I am organizing a free Lime blossom (NL:Linden, Tilia sp.) harvest in park Frankendael. Do come along if you would like to meet some other Urban Herbies or simply to learn a little more about this magical tree.