Category Archives: Foraging

Wonderful Walkers!

May 26, 2014Dandelion and Burdock Coven, Foraging, Urban Herb WalksLynn

Huge thanks to all the lovely people who joined me for herb walks in Park Frankendael recently. It was a pleasure to meet you all, to see new faces, familiar faces and to hear your stories and questions. Here a few links and photos which the walks brought to my mind. If you have questions which are unaswered here please let me know.

Botany in a day – Thomas J. Epel
Available from the writer/publisher.
This is a wonderfully clear and fast track way to learn how to identify a vast number of plants. It works by teaching you the plant family patterns. Make the effort to start the book at the beginning (rather than dipping in and out as I usually do) as it walks you through the most common plant families in the first few pages. Learn those really well and you will be a whizz at plant ID in no time at all! They also produce some other great titles.

Lime Trees and a few of their uses
An UH blog post from a few years ago. You will see instructions on how to make that Provencal Rose coloured infusion which I mentioned today, at the end of that link. Please note the time of the Midsummer gathering this year is 2pm (14.00).

Dandelion and Burdock Coven
A friendly, open group of urban-nature-spirit loving types who gather on the main natural festival dates to celebrate the wheel of the year, also many full moons and other related occasions. We meet in Amsterdam or Diemen. Our next meeting is on Midsummer’s Day (Saturday June 21st 2014) – 2pm, Park Frankendael. This will be a family friendly gathering to celebrate the longest day together, share a few old solstice customs and eat our fill from the plants, whilst many are at the peak of their energy. Lime (Tilia not the citrus) leaves, Lime flowers, Mugwort, Elderflower champagne and other interesting things will be on the menu. As will some time and simple activities to help us reflect on what Midsummer means to us as part of nature. It is free to join but please do bring along a cup/beaker and a snack (maybe some bread to make Lime leaf sandwiches) if at all possible. The link above is to our Facebook group. There is no website.

What is around now?
Here’s a nice summary of what was found this time last year on one of my late May walks. You will see that most of the plants are a few weeks behind where they are this year. Notice especially the wild garlic which was in full bloom. Today we had a nibble on some immature seeds and some seeds were even ripe! The weather here is never average..

Teasel
A beautiful plant. We saw it today and talked about it’s potential for treating Lyme’s disease, collecting fresh water from the leaf joints and “teasing out” wool by using the seed heads as combs. Here’s a link on how to make a simple tincture. It seems that first year Teasel root is what shows promise for Lyme’s disease. In the UK, I wouldn’t dream of pulling up a Teasel root to make a tincture as Gold finches use the seeds as a primary food source. I’m not sure what the situation is here and have not tried it. Interesting to be aware of though, especially if Teasel grows on your land. Click on the image for a link to the RSPB, regarding Goldfinches in urban areas (of the UK).

Urban Foraging Rules
These are the rules I wrote and follow. They are written from a mixture of common sense, country foraging experience and urban awareness. They can always be improved. What additions can you suggest?

1. Be Accurate.
Know the plant, the area, poisonous look-a-likes, local endangered species and laws. Learn all can and always be 100% certain of the plants you harvest. If in doubt, don’t pick.

2. Keep it Light.
Overharvesting leads to rarity and extinction. Take only a little from each plant and leave plenty. Don’t harvest wild roots as this destroys the plants and roots generally harbour more toxins than other parts.

3. Clean Harvest.
Forage in clean areas as many plants accumulate heavy metals and toxins. Bug free environments, manicured areas, pavement cracks, power lines, busy roadsides and railways are often heavily polluted sites. Leave no trace and improve the area. Clean your harvest well and pick above dog height when possible!

4. Safe Harvest.
Test anything that is new to you in very small quantities, before consuming as part of a meal or tea and watch out for any signs that your body reacts badly to the plant.

River of Herbs
The orchards that I took the walkers to this spring, are being cared for and slowly transformed by the project which I set up in 2012 called River of Herbs. It is all about People, Plants and Pollinators. It provides free training and support for people who want to learn how to grow useful herbs in small or large urban spaces. Please come and join us sometime, we love plants and we love helpers. At the orchards (most Wednesdays, 9.30 – 11.30) we make herb tea at the site and feed you chocolate laden biscuits whilst you work on simple tasks such as seeding, weed pulling and pruning the fruit trees. It can’t be bad!

Thanks again for all your interest and enthusiasm. I hope to see you again soon.

April – May Herbs in Amsterdam

May 8, 2014Dandelion and Burdock Coven, Foraging, Urban Herb WalksLynn

April and May are very busy and green months!

There were two very pleasant public herb walks in April. Thanks to everyone who came along. It was so wonderful to meet you!

The Frankendael Park orchard project began. River of Herbs is gradually transforming the four old orchards behind Restaurant Merkelbach into shady community herb gardens. If you’d like to get involved then find us there one Wednesday morning (we’ll set regular work dates and times very soon) or email lynn@riverofherbs.org.

I led a large group of town planning students from Lund University in Sweden through Oud Zuid at the start of May. A pleasure to share some urban herb ideas with such enthusiastic and progressive people who are in a great position to make a difference.

A friendly Earth loving group called the Dandelion and Burdock Coven, was launched with my like minded friend Iris de Voogd.

To end the verdant month of May I am offering one more Urban Herbology guided walk through Park Frankendael, in the morning on Monday 26th May. If you would like to sign up for it then please email me via lynn.shore@gmail.com.

Elderflower is opening up all over town right now so be ready when you find it, to make Elderflower honey, dried flowers for tea (simply dry and store them in a paper bag), Elderflower delight and far more wonderful treats!

Two Spring Walks

February 23, 2014Foraging, Urban Herb WalksLynn

I have just set two dates for Urban Herbology walks this spring. They are now on the events page. They will take place on Sunday 6th April and Thursday 10th April. Both walks will be in English but I can speak some Dutch when needed. Handouts will be available in English or Dutch, please let me know which you will need when you book.

Cost: €10 per adult.

It is essential to book a space if you plan to come along.

Please contact me at lynn.shore@gmail.com.

I hope to meet many of you in April!

Sweet Chestnut & Parsnip Risotto

November 17, 2013Foraging, Potions, TreesLynn

I learned on Saturday, from one of my Willow apprenticeship group, that many Japanese cooks like to peel Sweet Chestnuts when raw and add them to rice whilst it cooks. So today I tried it out and wow – what a sensation this cooking combination can create! I intended to take a huge portion of this risotto into work for tomorrow’s lunch. Umm, there is now only about half a portion left so must think again about lunch. This risotto uses sweet parsnips, sweet chestnuts and rice which is naturally on the sweet side. The other ingredients are savoury and the result is sweet savoury. Never again will I cook sweet chestnuts without thinking of rice first. These sweet chestnuts came to me as a gift – foraged in the east of The Netherlands – unfortunately I have not found them of this quality in Amsterdam, though I’m sure they exist!

So here is my latest wildfood recipe for…

Sweet Chestnut and Parsnip Risotto

(makes about 2 main dish sized portions)

1 cup risotto rice – I used wholegrain (non risotto rice will do, it just won’t become so creamy)

1 small onion, finely chopped

Oil or butter

Parsley, sprig finely chopped

1 large parsnip, finely chopped
1/2 organic chicken or vegetable stock cube or 1/2 cup of good stock added in place of hot water

6 -8 fresh sweet chestnuts, shell and skin peeled, then the creamy nut broken into rough pieces.

Seaweed – I used 1 frond of Dulse or equivalent, finely chopped.

A little Spinach, finely chopped (seasonally available local leaves would also have worked very well, e.g. Dandelion, Ground Elder)

Method

1. Gently fry the onion in a heavy based pan and when translucent add the dry, unwashed risotto rice.
2. Fry the rice in the onion, very gently, for a minute or so.

3. Add 1 cup of boiling hot water. Stir to prevent it sticking to base of pan and simmer steadily with the pan lid on.
4. Continue to stir breifly whenever you think about it.

5. Add the other ingredients to the pan and stir every now and again.

6. Add more hot water, cup at a time whenever you see the rice absorb the cooking water and the dish thickens up considerably.

7. Simmer and add water in this way until the rice is translucent and thoroughly cooked through.

Autumn Street Treats and Tricks

October 25, 2013Food, Foraging, Shrubs, Trees, Wild herbsBittersweet, Hawthorn, Sweet Chestnuts, Turkish Hazelnuts, YewLynn

The past few weeks have seen a bounty of free street food falling from trees in Amsterdam. I’ve been enjoying Hazelnuts, Hawthorn berries & Sloes (plucked rather than fallen) and Sweet chestnuts – all absolutely delicious when prepared! The nuts and fruit are still there for the taking in many places but if you have trouble identifying these, keep your eyes open for fallen orange Gingko fruit, falling to the ground from mature female trees. See here how to harvest, prep and eat them and feel free to join me for a quick lunchtime forage in Oud Zuid, over the next couple of weeks.

Here above is Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) (NL: Eenstijlige meidoorn) in berry. This one is in a hedgerow of Frankendael park. I have mostly been cooking them like this:

I infuse them into casseroles, using a stainless steel tea infuser. It gives a mild boost to the food and avoids me having to deal with the inedible pips. Ripe Haws taste a rather similar to bruised apples. Taste aside, they are reported to have many health benefits.

These are plump plum-like edible fruit which look similar to Sloes (which come from the well known Blackthorn tree (Prunus spinosa) (NL:Sleedoorn)). This shrub is growing in the hedgerow of a local playground and it looks more like a Bullace than a Blackthorn. The fruit are larger and the leaves larger and slightly more smooth. Whatever their exact identity, they are of the Prunus species and they tasted good when ripe.

Turkish Hazelnuts (Corylus colurna) (NL: Boomhazelaar). Larger nuts than the usual multistemmed Hazel (and I haven’t had a blank yet, unlike with the others). I’ve been harvesting lots this year from Pythagorasstraat in Amsterdam Oost Watergraafsmeer. This tree species is used commonly as a street tree in cities, it is very tolerant of harsh growing conditions and doesn’t grow those multiple stems so can be kept easily under control in treepits.

What a wonderful gift from the Amsterdam town planners!

If you are lucky and find some on the ground either within or popped out from these extravagant nut cases, take them home and give them a good wash before drying the surface of the nuts and then get cracking! You can use them straight away as a snack, roast them (when the shell is off) or blend them to make a nut milk, pesto etc. How about mixing them with some cocoa or carob powder and honey to create some choc/carob nut spread? Yum!

And now for the deadly tricks…

These pretty tiny tomato like berries are the fruits of poisonous Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) (NL: Bitterzoet). Please note that in the US there is another plant called Bittersweet which is quite unrelated. The one in my photograph here above is a member of the Nightshade family and I wasn’t able to get a decent shot of the leaves but they resemble a potato leaf rather than the long blade seen next to the berries (see the link for a clearer idea and better still, look in a good field guide!)

A female Yew tree (Taxus baccata) NL: Venijnboom, laden with beautiful red fruit. The soft slimey flesh is actually edible BUT the seed within each red fruit is deadly poisonous.

Another red and poisonous autumn beauty, Fly agaric toadstool (Amanita muscaria) (NL: Vleigenzwam). It is also psychoactive. These two were growing in Park Frankendael last week. There seem to been quite a flush of them across northern Europe recently.

Edible Cities TEDxYouth@AICS

October 2, 2013Foraging, River of HerbsLynn

I love the spirit of TED, where ordinary people stand in front of an audience and speak about Technological, Entertainment and Design ideas that are worth spreading. I’ve watched some great talks in recent years and each has taught me something, has made me think slightly differently and has spurred me on to do what I know is right. Amsterdam International Community School will host a TEDxYouth event in November and I am so excited to be speaking there. The title I have given my talk is Edible Cities. I am totally buzzing with ideas but as I prepare my 15 minute talk, I’d like to hear your thoughts about what I should say to the audience of predominantly 16-18 year olds. I am hoping that your thoughts will help calm me down and focus my thoughts to less than a million!

If you don’t know TEDx, then perhaps take a look at these videos to wet your whistle..

Vicki Robin – Relational Eating (TEDx Seattle)

Pam Wathurst – How we can eat our landscapes (TED Salon London)
http://embed.ted.com/talks/pam_warhurst_how_we_can_eat_our_landscapes.html

Early Autumn Calm

September 8, 2013Apprenticeship, ForagingLynn

It has been a busy summer full of events, group walks, a Permaculture Design Course, writing, interviews and a lovely holiday in France. Now it is time to slow down, take stock and take a closer look at some of the plants ripening for harvest around me here in Amsterdam.

Rosehips, of all shapes and sizes are redening, softening and just asking to be added to honey and pies (when the itchy seeds have been scooped out of course). These rough roses are amongst the first to ripen and amongst the most flavourful.

Wild Rocket, Ijburg pavement. This beautiful spicy specimen is currently forming hundreds of tiny seeds – just right for saving and planting closer to home in clean locations. Yesterday I filled a plant pot and sowed some of these seeds, hoping for more deep winter fresh herbal food. Rocket is often available mid winter and is packed with flavour and nutrients.

Sloes, forming on a playground Blackthorn shrub. Some of these are now infusing in a small jar of Genever, in time for some Yuletide cheer.

Packets of River of Herbs 2013 seedmix. I gave out some of these at the Children’s Pizza and Flevopark walk recently. They are full of locally harvested herb seeds. Lots of things are planned for the River of Herbs soon. Please keep in touch about your urban herb meadows and other projects.

Willow rack drying mugwort — Photo credit: Mara Pellizzari

Coming up
I have two more walks planned for this month, at the Magneet Festival. Then in October, an Exotic Herbs workshop with Suzanne of City Plot and in November a dinner talk at the Lloyd Hotel for Steinbesser experimental gastronomy. If you are interested in attending any of these then please get in touch.

Apprenticeship
A few people have asked when my next apprenticeship group will begin. The next group is planned to begin in Spring 2014. It will run on Mondays and anyone interested is very welcome to contact me from now on. Here is a link to the syllabus (it needs a little updating but it should give you the idea of what I intend to cover on the course).

Sandy Edibles at Magneet Festival

September 1, 2013Foraging, Places, Urban Herb WalksMagneet Festivaal 2013Lynn

Here is a taster of the edible and amazing plants which can be found at the sandy Magneet Festival site, in Amsterdam Oost. This is Evening Primrose (Oenothera sp.) NL: Teunisbloem, a useful and tasty plant.

I was asked to lead a foraging walk each weekend, throughout the duration of the month long festival, by the Mobiation Project. This is their home, the Mobi-01. They slowly move around vacant spaces of Amsterdam, living sustainably, in this self made residence. The Mobiators were asked to run the Green Zone of the Magneet Festival this year and have organised a great selection of workshops and events. You can learn how to make solar dryers, solar heaters and many other things from the Green Zone this year. It is really inspiring and well worth a visit. Here’s their Facebook link.

So each Sunday that the festival is on, I’m giving free guided walks at 4pm, from Mobi-01 in the Green Zone. I’m showing interested people what can be found growing in the sand. At first glance there is not much of green interest but if you look closely you will find treats such as…

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) NL: Bijvoet

Wild Rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) NL: Wilde Rucola

We found many other edible plant species growing in the sand. Burdock (Arctium lappa) NL: Grote Klit. was the biggest surprise for me, I haven’t found it in such a pure sand location previously.

Next week I’ll be taking along some local edible plant seeds and wild flower seedbombs, to plant during the walk. It would be great to see a few other plant species find their feet in this unusual site.

Rose petal and Mugwort Elixir

August 6, 2013Foraging, Lotions, Perennial herbs, PotionsLynn

This morning was an Oak Apprenticeship meeting and this afternoon, a walking-cooking magazine interview. Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) was a welcome participant at both gatherings. This common urban herb offers a plethora of uses and is currently flowering here in Amsterdam.

Mugwort has a strong aromatic taste and is not the easiest herb to eat raw. The leaves are full of a strong fibre which is almost impossible to chew through when eaten raw. These fibres are used to prepare the Moxa of Chinese Traditional Medicine. In summary Mugwort is a warming herb, a women’s ally, encouraging menstruation, may ease period pains and is a warm soother or muscle tension and pain. It makes a simple and useful infused muscle rub oil and even simpler, a foot soak, when infused in water. The tea is unusual to some but is tasty and not unpalatable. It can be used to deter insects. A protective herb. This is the abundant urban herb of dreams, scrying and prophecy. Seek it out in flower, to enjoy the peak of it’s spiritual powers. In bud and in flower, it is also easier to prepare for cooking (although this is not the best time to harvest for cooking). You can simply push the little flowers from the stems and sprinkle them into cooking.

Mugwort is in the Asteraceae family. It is sister to Wormwood (Artemisia absinthum), Southernwood (Artemisia abrotanum) and Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) to name but a few. Mugwort is thought to unsafe during pregnancy and should only be used in small culinary quantities, watching for sensitivities, by others. Here’s a link regarding some known side effects and drug interactions.

Today I harvested plenty flowering tops of Mugwort and used them to make tea and a simple savoury dish. I then hung some on my willow rack to dry for out of season use and made the rest into this delicious elixir…

Mugwort and Rose petal Elixir
1. Harvest a few flowering tops of Mugwort, gather about the same amount of clean, unsprayed Rose petals (I used dried purple petals today, from Jacob Hooy). Lay out any fresh herbs for a while to allow resident bugs to crawl safely away.
2. Chop the Mugwort and if necessary, separate the rose petals from their flowers (if using fresh roses).
3. Place the prepared herbs in a suitable clean glass jar, where they will take up approximately half the space.
4. Cover the herbs with runny honey.
5. Use a chopstick to distribute the honey more evenly over the herbs.
6. Now fill the remainder of the jar with Brandy (or another strong spirit of your choice).
7. Cover the jar with a well-fitting lid, label and leave the contents to infuse for four to six weeks or more.
8. Strain, bottle and label the resulting Elixir.
9. Use in very small quantities, as an occasional alcoholic, heart and spirit warming elixir.

You will have a chance to taste this Elixir at the second of my Friday Nights at the Van Gogh Museum, on 30th August. The honey for making the preparations at these events, was generously donated by deTraay and the dried herbs by Jacob Hooy. If you have Facebook or not, check out this link to see Van Gogh Museum photos from the event on Friday 2nd August – it was a lot of fun! More information about the plants and where they will go here.

Van Gogh’s Herbs

July 9, 2013Alchemy, ForagingEdible flowers of Van Gogh, Mind altering plants of Van Gogh, Urban herbology, Van Gogh MuseumLynn

Please join me on the evenings of Fridays 2nd and 30th August at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Learn about the herbs of Van Gogh, which can be found, foraged and used today.

I am delighted to have been asked to teach visitors to the Museum’s Friday Nights programme, about edible urban herbs, on these two dates in August. Throughout each evening, I’ll be giving a couple of talks about plants which were important to Van Gogh and helped change the world of art. Many of his favourite plants may be found and eaten in Amsterdam today. You’ll learn where to find them and how to use them and grow them.

There will also be some urban herbal treats to sample, plants to examine close up, recipes to take home, a plant photo exhibition and opportunities to chat and learn more about urban herbology. In other parts of the museum there will be a jazz band and other interesting events.

My scheduled presentations will be about:
Edible Flowers of Van Gogh
Mind Altering Plants of Van Gogh
(Both presentations on each night).

So why not come along, have a chat and find out more!

Friday 2nd August and Friday 30th August

6.00 – 10.00pm
Van Gogh Museum,
Museumplein
Amsterdam

Entrance is free to Museumjaarkaart holders.
Usual entrance fee to others.

I hope to see you there!