These are a few of the herbs I found today in and near Oosterpark, whilst I had a look around in preparation for Sunday’s River of Herbs meeting which will begin there.
Greater celandine – useful but not edible. The orange sap is toxic to skin or internally.
Mostly forgotten, the mundane evergreen Daisy. Here looking well-trampled in the park but very alive and useful as a wound herb.
Lastly, Witch hazel, with those unique flowers, a very useful astringent herb, mainly (safely)
A lovely little Sedum of some succulent sort, in a geveltuin. Not many Sedum species are tasty but most are edible.
These plants can grow in three thinnest of soils and make an obvious choice for green roofs.
Also today lots of developing Hollyhock plants. This one has found the pefect niche in pavement alongside a drainpipe.
The dried material coming up from the plant us last season’s flower stalk.
Today some chickweed growing in a geveltuin,
And some very unusual Ivy…
Today I took a few photos of useful herbs in the old centre of Amsterdam. Here is Heather, (Calluna vulgaris),
Ground ivy, (Glechoma hederaceae),
Lavender
Oh I’m so excited! In the park today…
Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum) Ramsons. It’s up! It smells great. I love it!
Please be aware that anyone who takes up a wild garlic plant, bulb and all, is acting illegally. Anyone ripping handfuls of the leaves or harvesting when the plants are too young to recover, is acting unethically. I shall continue to carefully harvest one or two individual leaf blades as and when I know I will use them directly. I only harvest from huge swathes of the plant and I suggest that others who like the plant do the same too. Most of the plants are too small to harvest from today but some are fine and their potency (as for regular Garlic but it’s less irritating to the tissues) is greatest before the plant flowers. So from now on, until the flowers come on the plants, I consider it Ramsons season. I walked through all the Ramson areas of park Frankendael today and some are completely without signs of life, so we are really fit at the binning of their time above ground. Keep your eyes open for them and be very attentive to their state of health, vigor and whether or not they are big enough to disturb by plucking a leaf. Flevopark has masses of Ramsons and I am sure the other big parks also. I’ll stick with my most local plants and plan to make some wild garlic ghee from a few leaves, for the apprentices next week. Here’s an interesting blog post about Ramsons in Amsterdam and some comments about the ethics of eating some.
Also today:
Lesser celandine. A sign of early spring, not for eating, not for picking but with historical uses.
And lastly another beauty not to pick because of it’s rarity – Primrose. Very tasty and very very useful!
Today simply Rosehips and Ivy (Hedera helix), with lots of Hydrangea in the middle. I’ve never considered Hydrangea to be a useful herb before but apparently it also has quite a few medicinal uses – well historically at least.
(26/2/13) Please note that this course is now full. Please contact me if you’d like to join the waiting list.
Last year I advertised my first apprenticeship course and was quite overwhelmed by the amount of interest. The first group has been up and running since September and I feel it’s now time to open up a second group. This second group of eight apprentices, will start in March 2013. The group will meet once a month on a Saturday afternoon.
Here is some detail about the course:
12 or 18 month apprenticeship with Lynn Shore in Amsterdam Oost. Open to anyone who has a heartfelt desire to learn ways to live in harmony with nature, whilst residing in a town or city. The focus will be on competently using urban herbs and engaging in nature based spirtuality.
8 places are available for this practical course. Those wishing to apply must have walked with me or attended one of my workshops or have a close connection already. I ask this so that you have some idea of how I work.
To apply (for the March 2013 start group) , please email me with a brief outline of why you would like to take part in this course and tell me which areas of the following syllabus you have experience of or particular interest in. Please also mention which walk or workshop you attended and something you remember from it.
The apprenticeship will be about 80% practical experience and 20% theory. There will be no examination and a certificate will be issued on completion of the 18 month course. The last 6 months will consolidate and add depth to learnings from the first year. The optional final 6 months can be chosen at the end of the first year.
The group will meet once a month for a few hours, working outside and indoors. Between meetings we will be connected by a private online group (one group per course) and by individual email contact, as and when required. There will be practical homework assignments each month, which will take as much time as you wish to give to them. The homework is to help you to assimilate knew knowledge and practice new skills.
APPRENTICESHIP SYLLABUS
Consists of two main themes:
A. URBAN HERBOLOGY
Understanding how to work safely with herbs, particularly in urban spaces.
B. NATURE BASED SPIRITUALITY
Ways to connect sensitively with Nature, throughout the year.
The full syllabus and my teaching biography is available to view here.
COST
€ 60 per two months, payable in advance
(Total is €360 for 1st year, €180 for optional final 6 months. Payable in bi-monthly instalments).
DATES
The new group will meet one Saturday per month,
1pm – 4pm.
Here are the dates so far set, for that group:
9th March 2013
20th April
25th May
22 June
13 July
August tbc
14th Sept
Other dates to be arranged.
VENUE
Oost Watergraafsmeer
Amsterdam
(tram 9, bus 65)
To apply or for further information please email me at Lynn.Shore@gmail.com or call 0627596930
Today a flower bud developing on a healthy Hollyhock (Alcea rosea).
It seems that there is hardly any time of the year when it’s not possible to gather useful medicinal material from this plant in Amsterdam.
I’ve been planning for the February River of Herbs course today and it made me notice this tree pit as I walked to the shops. It’s on my street and someone has put useful effort into edging it with old granite cobbles, I guess to deter stray feet and paws. It seems that no one really claims it anymore and each recent year it’s looked like this: fairly barren and hosting just some self seeded Wormwood (from my geveltuin) and a couple of other plants. Perhaps I’ll start tending it myself when I find surplus plants in the neighbourhood.
Today feels like spring has ready arrived. It’s been about 14°C, odd considering we’ve had -5°C and heaps of snow just a couple of days ago. How many plants will react to these yo-yo temperatures is anyone’s guess.
How tasty, vitamin and mineral rich Chickweed reacts is more predicable. Here is a little patch of Stellaria media in an otherwise barren looking tree pit. It looks pretty perky to me and quite unperturbed by the weather.
And here’s a miniature Dandelion plant in a crack between a building and pavement.
Urban Herbology 