Category Archives: Projects

365 Frankendael day 269

January 14, 2013365 Frankendael, ApprenticeshipLynn

What a beautiful winter’s day again today! I met with the apprentices again this morning and we took a fresh walk through a section of Park Frankendael before testing our marshmallow milk decoction back at home.

We found this stunning Witch hazel (NL: Tover hazelaar) in flower still, Ground ivy, plenty of woodland Geraniums still in good (if frozen) shape. We noticed that almost every Rosehip has been stripped from the bigger wild roses and that catkins are already fluttering in the wind from many trees. We harvested Willow withies from a huge pile laid down by the council gardeners, just enough to make a few drying racks. We found Yarrow, wilted Comfrey, lots of toxic Fools Parsley and still, not a single Sweet Cicely plant has emerged where we looked. Winter Jasmine is looking stunning against many homes and the flowers are edible it seems, if a little dull to taste. The evergreen herbs are looking striking, such as Yew (highly poisonous) and Juniper. The dried, frozen seed heads of perennial herbs such as Motherwort, stand proud and give away the locations where they should be found come late spring. Chickweed abounds still, as does Hairy Bittercress.

Later in the day I walked again with my little girl and we found this lovely Japonica, just coming into flower. Chaenomeles Japonica flowers are edible but they are such a welcome sight on winter days that I think it would be a pity to pick any. The full common name of this plant is Japanese Quince. Quinces are useful for jelly making and are certainly edible. This quince has tiny fruit but they are useful and should not be overlooked by the urban forager. Also this afternoon, a nice bank of geranium looking perky.

There are many herbs available at this time of year. Obviously only a small fraction of the bounty we should see come late spring and summer but nonetheless a useful set of herbs. It’s not a time to harvest in quantity, it’s a time to know what’s out there and to know how to utilize it in case you really have a need.

365 Frankendael day 268

January 13, 2013365 Frankendaelhairy bittercress, willow, YarrowLynn

I harvested a nice handful of flowering Hairy Bittercress today, from a fairly high plant put on a neighbouring street. It smells great and as ever reminds me of growing cress on cotton well as a child. I look forward to adding it to the apprentices pumpkin soup tomorrow morning before the meeting.

Tomorrow well take a look at this plant – Yarrow. Very useful and quite tasty in moderation.

I took my daughter for a beautiful walk in the park this morning. The sun was perfect, the ground was hard and crunchy from the first proper frost of this winter. The Beech leaves still cling on to the trees and bushes but are brittle and crackle in the wind. Out us good to see that the plants which should be gone by now are now under proper pressure – finally Comfrey melts into the ground and we can see what should be around.

The Willows of Park Frankendael have been coppiced and the withies laid down to full gaps near the lake. I took home a bunch of them and made them into a drying rack for herbs, our vegetables. It reminded me of weaving my garden fence in Somerset years ago and it felt good.

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January 12, 2013365 FrankendaelLynn

Today a garden on Linneausstraat with Ground elder (Aegopodium podigrarium)

And the continuing leaves of Hollyhock on the Middenweg. Will they be there for a full year? If so I’m very excited as it’s relative Marshmallow, has completely died back in the park.

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January 11, 2013365 FrankendaelCelery, Greater CelandineLynn

Thanks fellow Urban Herbie Elodie, for this lovely photo of a Celery plant growing near her Amsterdam home!

And here is a wonderful (though very toxic internally) Greater celandine, useful for removing warts and similar skin growths and anomalies, on Tolstraat. That street is full of the plant.

365 Frankendael day 265

January 10, 2013365 FrankendaelLynn

There are still lots of edible plants around in Amsterdam. Here are just a few…

Yarrow.

Hairy bittercress.

Medicinal, astringent, bruise evaporating Witch hazel is now in full bloom. I usually buy distilled witch hazel but may try tincturing some this winter. This is my favourite sign of early spring. Such fascinating flowers!

Pain controlling Willow. Heaps of the just cut withies are lying around at the moment. If they are still I’m the park on Monday I’d like to make herb drying trays from some, with my apprentice group.

I’m looking everywhere for Sweet Cicely at the moment. It’s usually the first carrot family member to flower in the New Year and I never usually have trouble funding it in Amsterdam. I found lots of toxic Hedge Parsley today – again! A few plants are in flower, a few were quite red stemmed, maybe baby Hemlock. None smelted safely of aniseed our had the characteristic leaf. Where are you Sweet Cicely?

The above photo shows Hedge parsley and an Elder with plenty of young leaves. Our cold weather is yet to come.

Inedible but a pretty symbol of early spring – my first Snowdrops of 2013, in Park Frankendael today.

And this crazy sort of Cabbage looking perennial plant, making a.breakthrough from the soil. They grow where the Fuki relatives (a type of Butterburr) grow in the park. I’ll keep a close eye on them. Last year fellow Urban Herbie, Youko and I missed our chance to properly identify them, because they flower so early. All members of that family contain some toxins but highly regarded Fuki is harvested really young in Japan, cooked in a specific way and I feel for myself at least, that a small amount of toxin intake is worth it for the taste – but only if it’s really Fuki! Time, a magnifying lens and several guided books, will tell.

Loads of other herbs are around in Amsterdam but I was too busy to photograph more of them today. Look out for Comfrey, Ground ivy and Chickweed in particular.

365 Frankendael day 264

January 9, 2013365 FrankendaelDandelion, hedge mustard, White mustardLynn

Slightly sunnier photos today, of a mini Dandelion in the crack between a house and pavement…

And this deep green plant, which looks like Hairy bittercress at first glance but is most likely to be White Mustard (Sinapis alba) or Hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale). I think it’s most likely the first mustard but it will be easier to tell of it gets a chance to flower.

365 Frankendael day 263

January 8, 2013365 FrankendaelChickweedLynn

Not much chance for herb hunting today but I did see lots of Chickweed (Stellaria media) looking very tasty in various dog-free locations. Chickweed is a great wild winter food and a useful medicinal herb. It helps combat itches, skin heat conditions, winter nutrient deficiency and much more. Look up Susun Weed’s commentaries on this wonderful plant for further information.
Here’s one patch, a little too dark for seeing details but yummy none the less…

365 Frankendael day 262

January 7, 2013365 FrankendaelWinter JasmineLynn

I’ve been nibbling on yellow Winter Jasmine flowers this afternoon. They don’t have much of a taste to shot about but they are palatable, very mildly astringent and could liven up a winter salad. Winter Jasmine seems to do well in Amsterdam geveltuinen (pavement gardens) and certainly looks attractive (if you like yellow). The flowers are easy to identify and easy to pluck.

365 Frankendael day 261

January 6, 2013365 Frankendaelcalendula, mallow, speedwellLynn

I thought that this is Malva sylvestris, Common Mallow though it more likely could be a stunted Lavatera arborea (must look at it again this week), growing in one of my neighbour’s roadside planters. This plant seems to offer flowers all year long! The whole plant is edible and soothingly medicinal – if it’s Malva. If it’s a Lavatera then the leaves and flowers are also edible though the medicinal qualities are far less than Mallow.

I believe that this is Slender Speedwell (Veronica filiformis). Its a pretty little plant with forget-me-not style flowers, which is edible and medicinal. The ladybirds were having a field day on it, munching through aphids, not yet killed off by cold weather. Here’s a useful and inspiring blog post about Speedwells, which may be of interest.

And here is one of the easiest and most useful herbs to grow in Amsterdam. Calendula officinalis. You can save the seeds and they’ll reward you handsomely next season, add the flowers to cooking pots (it’s called a pot herb for this reason) for colour and bitterness, make healing oils, ointments, lotions, lip balms, dyes, soaks etc from the leaves and flowers. It’s a magical plant. Here it is still flowering along my street, in another neighbour’s pavement garden pot. If you’d like something very simple to grow and safe (well, within reason of course) then I’d go for Calendula.