All posts by Lynn

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About Lynn

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2012 Apprenticeships

Apprenticeship

I’ve been giving urban herb walks and workshops for some time now. After being asked for more from some of those who attend, and reflecting on the matter, I’ve decided to offer an Apprenticeship course which will begin this October. Those who join me on this journey will be shown ways to make use of and engage with, the the wild places in towns and cities. The course is open to anyone who yearns to learn such things, with someone to help them as they travel along the path and to be in the presence of a small supportive group, of other apprentices.

Whilst away on holiday, I slept on my ideas and the needs of those I meet in Amsterdam. From this I have written the syllabus. The course will cover Herbology and nature based spirituality topics, which I hope you will find interesting and relevant.

For details of the course please see the new Apprenticeship page and follow the link to look at the syllabus.

The course is planned for a maximum of 8 apprentices, meeting once a month, for one year (or 18 months if desired). The day of the week is yet to be finalized. I am planning on Mondays but if you have a strong desire to join me and another day in mind then let me know. 3 places are currently reserved. If you’d like to join me on this journey of self discovery and urban herbal wonders then please make contact.

365 Frankendael day 130

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Today in Park Frankendael, Elecampane in seed.

Elderberries in various degrees of ripeness, this half eaten bunch is ripe for picking.

St John’s / St Joan’s wort, still in flower.

Russian Comfrey.

Yarrow, with super-fine feathery leaves and white flowers.

Himalayan balsam, with silky flowers bouncing around in the wind.

So many useful plants! If you are not sure of how they can be used, for medicine and or food, use the search bar on this site.

365 Frankendael Day 129

365 Frankendael, Growing herbs

I am now back in Amsterdam but too late to visit park Frankendael today, so here is a twilight photo of the tree pit which I care for outside of my house.

It has faired very well over the summer. The self seeded Artemisia absinthium (Wormwood) is looking very strong, self seeded Geraniums also like the spot and a few other plants too. These include a Curry plant ( Also a type of Artemisia I think), Lavender, Calendula from seed, Mint, Ivy (that has less of a good time in the warm months) and Goldenrod.

Thanks ever so much to the people who sent me photos of edible plants in Amsterdam, whilst I was away. It was great to see what the plants were doing and also to be able to add an entry to this project every day.

I’m really looking forward to visiting the park tomorrow.

365 Frankendael day 126

365 Frankendael,

Here’s a tree that a couple of people have taken photos of this week, saying that it could be a French nut tree. I think the leaves look rather like a Cigar Tree and the nuts look rather like Pistachios. I can’t find the name of it at the moment, but post it incase anyone who sees this knows it. Please let me know if you do.

Thank you to Youko and Dennis for the photos. Dennis found the tree in the top photo within Park Frankendael and Youko found the te in the other two in Oost Amsterdam.

Golfball Hailstones in the Morvan

Growing herbs,

There are so many beautiful plants here in the Morvan, stunning landscapes and sometimes dramatic weather – as we discovered yesterday.

Here are a few supersized hailstones from one of the storms that reined down on us yesterday evening in France. It was quite an experience, I imagine similar to being trapped infront of a tennis ball practise machine that has been loaded with golfballs and turned on the fastest, hardest setting. Protected behind double glazing and shutters during such a storm was quite entertaining but our car did not fair well. It now sports hundreds of substantial dents and drew incredulous glances as we cruised by a local market today.

Many trees lost boughs and branches. Many smaller plants have been snapped in two or punctured cleanly by the hail. It did taste very refreshing though and in a way was welcome relief from the soaring temperatures.

I heard that recent weather has been quite disastrous for wine producers of the Burgany region. Now I can empathise when I hear of “hail” spoiling crops.

365 Frankendael day 124

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A few more photographs taken this week by Joop Eisenberger…

Red clover:

Nasturtium climbing out of the garden surrounding Restaurant de Kas – and they do taste good!

Meisjesogen, Coreopsis making a dramatic display at the moment in a wild flower meadow within Frankendael.

Here’s a fresh sprig of Elderflower, not much of this around at present because most Elder shrubs are busy ripening their berries. It is said to be bad luck to have fruit and flowers on a shrub or tree at the same time. To me it seems quite fortuitous as you can make Elderberry syrup and Elderflower delight in the same week!

365 Frankendael day 123

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Thank you Dennis Breedijk for this tasty photo of Raspberry (Rubus ideaus) growing in a bush near Amsterdam. Apart from being a mighty fine fruit shrub, Raspberry leaves remain a well known and often used remedy during some stages of pregnancy. They are said to specifically tone the uterus and help prepare it’s muscles for childbirth.

Here is a lovely closeup of the flowering part of Common Hemp Nettle (Galeobdolon tetrahit).

Some more information about it on day 107. thank you Joop Eisenberger for this photo. I’m finding a pink flowering version of this plant on holiday, at the moment.


Here’s another of Joop’s photos, taken the other day, NL: Meisjesogen (Coreopsis verticillata) Coreopsis,
There’s a beautiful, new, wild flower meadow in Frankendael. It is next to Restaurant de Kas and every time I pass it, there are different flowers coming in and out of their blooming period. At the moment, this edible flower is in bloom, there are hundreds of them to see there. Very pretty, I have never tasted itbut look forward to trying one soon. I love the Dutch name for this plant, it means Little girls eyes.