All posts by Lynn

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365 Frankendael day 172

365 Frankendael, Poisonous herbs, , , ,

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Today I found some beautiful and extraordinary fruit, belonging to a female Yew shrub (Taxus baccata). I never fail to be fascinated by these poisonous wonders. The glutinous (and delicious) fruit flesh is wrapped around a deadly exposed seed. Quite amazing to see!

Yew trees are either male or female. Both are full of deadly toxins – throughout all parts of the tree. Yew has been revered by the British for millennia. Druids apparently built their temples next to them, Christians built churches next to them. It’s very unusual to enter a traditional British church yard and not walk beside an ancient (or young) Yew. I like that.

I was taught the secret of how tasty the flesh of the fruit is, some years ago by a friend who worked with trees. Since then I try to enjoy one or two of those sweet, fragrant, glutinous morsels each year. But it’s not a practice to undertake lightly or ever in the presence of children! The seed must not be broken or swallowed, it is highly poisonous!

In recent decades Taxus baccata has yielded Taxol, a cancer fighting drug, often used to treat some ovarian cancers. Here’s a link that may be interesting about the Yew tree and conservation efforts, in light of this modern use.

365 Frankendael day 171

365 Frankendael, Apprenticeship, , ,

Today a photo of a fresh, beautiful and delicate plant which is a gift to the urinary system. This is Pennsylvania Pelitory (Paretaria pennsylvanica).

The first Urbanherbology Apprentice group meet for the first time today – what a joy to meet and share with those lovely gifted people! We made simple tinctures from this plant, in the woods of Frankendael and by coincidence saw my neighbour and her dog Tobias (my inspiration for learning about this plant) as we walked to the harvest site.

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We found many other lovely, useful plants this morning. Ground ivy (Glechoma hederaceae), Marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis) and Himalayan balsam being amongst them. Here’s a link to a useful old text entry, about Ground ivy.

One topic of conversation was Wild carrot (Daucus carota), it’s traditional uses and recent related research. Here’s a link particularly for the apprentices – it will lead you to you to a little more information about the plant, including Robin Rose Bennet’s informative article and also by coincidence, a photo of the black rose hips and the unfortunately named Birthwort, both were mentioned whilst we walked. I’m really looking forward to hearing how you all get on this month!

365 Frankendael day 170

365 Frankendael

We had a lovely walk around Huize Frankendael early this morning. The weather was perfect for such a wander and the sculptures in the garden, part of the Urban Outsiders exhibition, really added to our pleasure.

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This looks rather like a mini unripe Quince. Here’s the tree it came from:

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Plenty of Ground Ivy growing alongside Common Ivy.

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Plenty of inedible mushrooms.

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Teasel‘s with ripe seed heads.

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Not for eating but interesting to me, enormous burrs on the trunk on a grand Lime tree (Tilia europa).

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Urban Outsiders Exhibition at Huize Frankendael

365 Frankendael, Places, , , , ,

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I had an invitation to the launch evening, on Friday, of Urban Outsiders at Huize Frankendael. I managed a quick whizz around the exhibits just before the end of that event. It contains some really beautiful things, from a walk in Permaculture style caravan to illuminated flower pictures, to unusual herb photos to interesting branch sculpture. I’m far more earthy than arty but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be back to have a slow look inside.

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I recommend anyone interested in the melding of art and nature to visit Urban Outsiders, at Huize Frankendael by the 4th November. The agenda shows when the exhibition is teamed with other interesting events – such as a breakfast, guided tour and meal.

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The three outside exhibits can be viewed for free but entry to the house (and I really enjoyed the chance to nose around in there!) is only €3.50 for adults (free for children).

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I don’t know if the lady in I spoke to in Merkelbach will ever read this but here is one of those Jerusalem artichokes (NL: Aardpeer)

365 Frankendael day 169

365 Frankendael, , ,

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I managed to get an enormous dog poop on my bicycle whilst taking this photo today! Worth it though. This is just a fraction of the mature Ivy (NL: Klimop, Hedera helix) which is currently lying beside the Middenweg, alongside the cycle and footpaths that pass by Park Frankendael. It got me quite excited, I need Ivy wood of a decent thickness and fresh, to complete my Ogham stick set. So now I have some. Not sure what Ogham sticks are? Have a look at the work of Glennie Kindred. They are rather like Rune Stones, a simple way of coding information which can be used to answer intuitive questions. The symbols have been found on Druid artifacts. No one can be certain of how they were used but it’s clear that the tree Ogham represented common trees. Ivy requires other trees to grow tall but it does none the less.

365 Frankendael day 168

365 Frankendael, Foraging,

Beautiful autumn scenes in many city streets today. Here are taken leaves on Pythagorasstraat.

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Here’s an interesting herb in a tiny spot. I think it’s Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa). If it is the root would theoretically be edible but the leaves are certainly not.

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A beautiful edible and medicinal Rose, still in bloom, at the end of the street I live in.

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Another, now covered in maturing hips.

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So many plants continue to bloom at the moment. There is so much to collect or forage if it’s wanted (and clean).

365 Frankendael day 166

365 Frankendael, ,

A few more useful street herbs which I found this afternoon in the Watergraafsmeer…

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Yarrow, still flowering beautifully in areas where grass mowers can’t reach them.

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Here’s a mish-mash of edibles and medicinals growing against an apartment block. Wild Rocket in flower, Dandelion, Yarrow and more. There seem to be hundreds of lush Dandelion plants alongside the Middenweg at the moment. Far to close to the road to be very healthy but useful for relocating perhaps.

Funded River of Herbs Course!

Growing herbs, River of Herbs, , , ,

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation is currently offering a limited number of grants (vouchers) to environmental volunteers who want to follow workshops/trainings in the area of nature and landscape management. If you want to learn how to participate in the River of Herbs project then this could be you!

River of Herbs is an innovative urban green initiative which aims to:

Increase the amount of edible and medicinal herbs growing in urban spaces.
Fill dull spaces with beautiful flowering herbs
Help urban wildlife
Increase food security
Encourage community participation in the care of urban spaces.

I have put together a River of Herbs training course, which you can sign up for and if you apply quickly the package will be totally covered by the available grants. My training course (worth 125Euro per person) falls way below the 1000 Euro maximum voucher request per applicant. I want this project to make a positive impact on the city so I’d love as many people as possible to get involved.

The deadline for applications to the Ministry is November 9th. But if you are interested in this you should contact me immediately so I can group you with others and make the application.

River of Herbs Training Package:
5 practical meetings (each 2 hours and on Sundays, in Amsterdam) covering the following topics, each time we meet. This training will give you the skills you need to confidently set up Urban Herb Meadows, keep them going, use them safely and involve others in the project too.

1. Ethical Urban Seed Collection and Storage
2. Identifying Spaces (tiny and large) for Urban Herb Meadows
3. Preparing, Planting & Caring for Urban Herb Meadows
4. Community Involvement with River of Herbs (sharing, helping, sharing)
5. Harvesting and Safely Using Plant Material from Urban Herb Meadows
6. Internet Mapping of Urban herb Meadow Locations and Blogging
7. Being run by Lynn Shore, each session will also include:
– an Urban Herb Walk
– printed info about the medicinal and edible properties of suitable herbs for the project
– the opportunity to stay in touch via my Urban Herbology Facebook group – a slice of cake now and then!

Please let me know straight away if this is interesting to you. lynn.shore@gmail.com

Dates for the training to be fixed in the next few days but all will be on Sundays, starting in January, to give more people the chance to participate and get this project really flowing through the city!!

365 Frankendael day 165

365 Frankendael

Today is the second birthday of this website. I’m pleased it has survived and that a few people have been encouraged to nibble on a nourishing city weed or two after reading an entry. That was the original intention of setting up Urban Herbology.

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Today I found a lovely unstrimmed patch of herbs, at the foot of a lamp post on Hugo de Vrieslaan. It is home to Stinging nettle, Yarrow (shown Achillea millifolium here), Ground elder and more. Quite a useful little patch of untamed plants!