Category Archives: Projects

Eating Foraged Greens

Food, Foraging, Wild herbs

Aside from knowing what is safe to forage, it’s rather important that foragers know what they are going to do with their harvest. After all, what’s the point in harvesting a heap of plant material when only a couple of leaves are needed for seasoning, or only the youngest leaves are tasty? At the end of the day, many foragers end up with a slightly smaller heap of unwanted plant material in their kitchen which ends up in the bin, or at best, on the compost heap. If you dont know which part of an edible plant to harvest or how much of it is needed to make a food item, please leave those plants where they belong.

Just because there is a wild glut of a plant, you don’t need to harvest much of it to make a great difference to your diet. This thought is central to my reasoning for foraging herbs rather than other edible plants. Generally a little goes a long way, in terms of flavour and benefits. An exception is Stinging Nettle, where I like to harvest a bowlfull of ‘tops’ at a time, many days in a row, to make tonic infusions.

Here are a few ways to use just a little foraged Spring Greens, such as Chervil, Ramsons, Geranium, Nettle or Ground Elder. These are my favorites, no measurement involved and less is more…

1. Finely chop a few leaves and add, ten minutes or so before the end of cooking, to whatever you are cooking (stews, casseroles, soups, fried chicken, baked fish, baked beans! etc). The photo above shows my pan cooked chicken with some sour cream added to the juices near the end along with a few chopped leaves of ground elder and wild garlic.

2. Add whole or chopped leaves to a pan of spinach and cook As usual for spinach.

3. Eat raw in a mixed salad (obviously the leaves or flowers need to be super clean and above suspicion for this)

4. Boil the greens in a little water for ten minutes, adding a chopped or pressed clove of garlic and a pinch of salt & pepper, near the end of cooking. This even works well for edible tree leaves such as Beech.

If you prefer a little sophistocation for your foraged fayre, there are plenty of recipes around. I like to experiment sometimes but if you want to incorporate more wild food into your diet then I suggest you keep it simple, keep it sparse and use those vitamin packed spring greens to spice up your usual meals. It’s also safer that way.

365 Frankendael day 17

365 Frankendael, Foraging, Wild herbs, ,

There’s so much green around at the moment, many of the plants seem to merge into one and it can be difficult in places to see which herbs are around. Especially along the water edge.
Here is a plant which does stand out along the waters edge – Cat’s Tail (Typha spp.). More about this one another time, buts it’s edible, delicious and very useful. However, what a shame it would be to take it from a location where so many people can enjoy its striking appearance.
This pretty yellow flowering plant is Wild Turnip (Brassica campestris). A useful way to eat more health giving members of the cabbage family perhaps?

Amstel to Frankendael Herb Walk

Foraging, Urban Herb Walks, Wild herbs, , ,

Because there’s a waiting list, for the Monday 21st May walk, I would also like to offer an extra UrbanHerb Walk the weekend after:

Sunday 27th May 2012,
Amstel to Frankendael Herb Walk,
11.00 – 12. 30,
€8 per person,
Includes comprehensive handout,
Booking essential.

You will learn about local wild herbs, along the route from Amstel Station to (and within) Park Frankendael.
You will learn:
How to identify local culinary and medicinal herbs,
How some people use them,
Related herbal folklore and
How to harvest & use them with safety and the environment in mind.

The walk will take about 90 minutes and will go ahead come rain or shine. We will look at herbs growing alongside roads, buildings, in woodland, hedgerows and parkland.

The date I have chosen is also Puur Maarkt in Frankendael, so you will be able to check out the cheap herb stall, local & organic produce and perhaps Restaurant De Kas or Restaurant Merkelbach, after the walk if you like.

Please contact me via lynn.shore@gmail.com, if you would like to book a place or would like further information.

365 Frankendael day 16

365 Frankendael, Foraging, Wild herbs, , , , , ,

It’s been a busy day as I went with my little girl to the Cryptoforest foraging expedition in Sloterdijk. We met some great people and plants there!

So today’s entry for 365 is mainly photos…

First up, Forget me not – yes it’s edible! I need to do more research but here’s a link to get your mouth watering if edible flowers interest you.

Next is highly toxic Taxus baccata, Yew tree; The plant symbol of death and yet giver of life to many with terminal cancer. Equally contradictory, it’s deadly seeds are surrounded by the most delicious fruit I have ever encountered. They are truely bewitching.

Above is Horsetail, looking great at the moment. It makes a great tonic tea for weak nails because it is high in the mineral silica.

Here’s a snail getting acquainted with a rose bush. It’s a good time to seek out your neighbour roses, ready for the flowering season.

Crypto Forest Walk

Foraging, Wild herbs

Thank you to Cryptoforest for a great foraging exploration of Sloterdijk today. I really enjoyed meeting other urban foragers and learning about food plants which I don’t usually notice. The photo shows Theun and a wild carrot which was found in the central reservation of a main road!

Here’s a selection of the food species we found today. I think you’ll agree that there is more to edible Sloterdijk than meets the eye when you travel through by car or train:
Wild lettuce, Burdock, Beech, Hawthorn, Hairy bitter cress, Chickweed, Wild carrot, Plantain, Horsetail, Mugwort, Sorrel, Stinging Nettle, Dead Nettles, Rocket, Ground Elder, Elder, Comfrey, Raspberry, Hazel… There was far more, which I can’t recall right now.

I’m sure Cryptoforest will post details soon. Hopefully they will organize another Foraging expedition on the first Sunday in May 2013. It was great fun and I liked the Pac Man random sampling edge, certainly different to my usual excursions!

365 Frankendael day 15

365 Frankendael, Perennial herbs, Potions, Wild herbs, , , , , , , , ,

Today a dusk walk through the woods. The Hawthorns of Frankendael are finally opening their flowers, Lily of the Valley flower stems (poisonous look alike of Ransoms) arch elegantly above their neighbours, Moorhen chicks shelter beneath Meadowsweet and beloved Motherwort is growing bigger and bolder by the minute.

Motherwort is an extremely useful perennial herb which grows in compact clumps, rather like Mugwort but is a little more modest. Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca, NL: ). Since learning about it through Susun Weed, I always have a bottle of tinctured Motherwort close to hand. This plant is a member of the Labiate family (mints) but tastes completely different to the mint most of us are used to. It has a very strong scent when you brush your hands up through the plant, has square stems, as with all Labiates. It is extremely bitter and distasteful when taken as a tea. All parts of the plant are medicinal. It has an age old reputation for its heart strengthening abilities and for its value in calming nerves, restlessness and irritability. It is an emmenagogue so shouldn’t be taken whilst pregnant, thought it has much value to women postpartum, to mothers in general and to women with period pain. The tincture is the easiest and most palatable way to take it.

Motherwort instills a feeling of groundedness. Ten drops of tincture, in a glass of water, can bring me back down to Earth in a few minutes when I feel the world is spinning out of control. Historically, Motherwort was used as a common treatment for heart problems such as palpitations and for fevers where the body & mind needed to be kept calm. It is now almost forgotten for such purposes but, thanks to our ancestors, many garden escapes have naturalised throughout Europe. This plant in Frankendael is possibly a garden escape from the old Landhuis. I am very pleased it is there.

Surreptitious Runner Beans

Surreptitious gardening, , ,

OK, so runner beans are not herbs but this is my first real attempt at surreptitious gardening in Amsterdam. I bought a huge bag of runner beans in a country store, whilst visiting my parents. I used what was required at home and school and thought the rest would look good adorning some Amsterdam trees, hedges and wire fences. I also think there should be more food plants in cities, so this was a start.

I wanted to get them off to a good start so I sprouted them in a bowl, over a few days. They got going quickly so I appealed for help from the urbanherbology meetup.com group and twitter.

Thursday was a bit of a miserable day weatherwise so in the end it was me, my little girl, Sameena and her neighbour who did the planting. I chose Oosterpark because it’s easy to access and could use a little positive energy in parts. It’s also somehow possible to blend in with a trowel in your hand.

Oosterpark is quite a traditional old park, complete with bandstand, children’s paddling pool, some beautiful sculptures and lots of wrought iron fencing. We chose a few locations with good fencing and planted out all of the seeds. Hopefully they will grow well and even if they don’t produce a good crop of beans, perhaps they’ll provide a splash of colour against those railings.image

Many thanks to Sameena & Amber for their help. Next time, perhaps I’ll be more daring in my planting location and we’ll get a few more helpers along.

365 Frankendael day 14

365 Frankendael, Foraging, Perennial herbs, Potions, Wild herbs, , , , ,

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria, NL: Moerasspirea) is a waterloving perennial herb which contains an active ingredient called Methyl salicyclate, which when taken in combination with tannins and mucilage within the plant can bring about stomach healing. In contrast, when methyl salicyclate is used alone (Aspirin) it causes stomach bleeding.  As with most herbs, it is the natural combination of chemicals which work so well together to bring about healing.

Here’s a link to an extract from a wonderful book called Hedgerow Medicine, by Julie Bruton-Seal and Matthew Seal.  It is one of my favourite and most consulted books.  This extract explains how to make a useful and tasty, Meadowsweet glycerite.  Meadowsweet is also traditionally associated with love, peace and harmony.  There is an old custom of tossing a Meadowsweet flowerhead into water if you are seeking the identity of a thief.  If it floats the thief is a woman, if it sinks it is a man.

Meadowsweet will flower later in the year, from around midsummer.  The flowers produce a scent which is one of my favourites, a strong and heady sweet almondy aroma which really pleases my spirits.  As you can see in the photo. Meadowsweet can be found in the watery regions of Frankendael park.  It’s spikey leaves are difficult to miss as you walk across the modern wooden bridge, in the woodland area.

365 Frankendael day 13

365 Frankendael, Foraging, , , , , , , , ,

Today two beautiful climbers, one deadly the other delicious.

Here is a photo of Hops (Humulus lupulus) scrambling over an information plate in the woodland section of Frankendael. Several Hops plants are becoming obvious at the moment. They begin the season by growing tall thin stems which arch high above other plants, reaching out for a suitable structure to climb. Then their leaves broaden and identification becomes easier.

Hops has been a popular plant for centuries, since it was discovered that it added a delicious flavor to beer. Medicinally, hops is useful as a relaxant and sleep inducer. It is found in many herbal sleep blends. If you have access to enough, it is very simple to stuff a pillow with dried hops, which is then slept on to bring about restful sleep.


Now to the poisonous climber: White Bryony (Bryonia dioica) has some ancient medicinal and several magical uses but all parts of this plant are highly toxic. Even small ingested quantities can be lethal. It’s a member of the Cucumber family. I’ve been watching the plant in this photo grow for a few weeks, admiring it’s resemblance to squash plants but until today, not knowing it’s true nature. It really blends into its surroundings today but up close it has rather an out of place appearance. As if someone had planted melon seeds in the woodland. However this is a native plant, often found in woodlands and hedgerows.

Bryony has several colloquial names which suggest historical uses and appearance; English Mandrake, Wood Vine & Mad Root being my favourites. It was traditionally used in image, money and protection magic. The roots of this perennial were particularly significant. Here is a clearer photograph of Bryony, taken today in Oosterpark. An enchanting and deadly specimen.

365 Frankendael day 12

365 Frankendael, Growing herbs, Indoor herbs, Lotions, Perennial herbs, Wild herbs, , , , , ,

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale, Symphytum uplandicum) is just coming into flower here in Amsterdam. It’s easy to identify now due to it’s broad, furry, fast growing leaves, it’s dropping purple or white flowers and it’s standout appearance as it towers over many neighbouring wild plants.

If you keep any plants, outside or in, I urge you to learn how to make the easiest liquid feed from nourishing Comfrey. If you don’t know about it’s deep and rapid healing effects on the body, I urge you to learn about them too and to keep some form of this plant in your herbal first aid kit.

Most of the Comfrey found wild and is gardens, descends from garden escapes of purple flowering, Russian Comfrey (S. uplandicum). It works just as well externally and as plant feed and its leaves don’t contain the toxins found in the roots and all parts of cream flowering, Wild Comfrey (S. officinale). The toxins are harmful when ingested. Because it’s hard to tell the two plants apart when they are not in flower, I suggest you always air on the side of caution and don’t use it internally. Today I photographed a white flowered Comfrey, the colour suggests it is Wild Comfrey but most plants in the park are purple flowering and the two are very interbred, so this may be a white flowering mutation of S. uplandicum. Either way, it is beautiful, useful and I will only use it externally or for my plants.

Comfrey can be applied directly as a poultice (for sprains for instance) made into a heat infused or a cold infused herbal oil which can be used for massage or blended with beeswax to make a healing salve. Worth mentioning, is that sometimes Comfrey may speed healing faster than you’d like, such as when infection is present in a wound. Ensure wounds are clean and healthy looking, not infected, when you begin using this herb. This will help to ensure the wound heals cleanly, a well as quickly. Comfrey also has a reputation as the herb to prevent or remove scars, both internally and externally by please remember my warning about internal use.

To make a superb and cheap liquid plant feed, simply immerse a couple of Comfrey leaves in water, in a bucket or similar. Leave it to ferment for a few weeks. You should see that the water becomes a dark and rich brew. Store this “Comfrey tea”in a suitable container and dilute well before feeding to your plants. A plastic bottle cap full, in a home watering can of water, should suffice. Use regularly, throughout the growing period, for pleasing results.

Here’s a link to an online Permaculture Magazine video article, about why we should all have a Comfrey plant on our patch. Be prepared, the video is ten minutes long and contain lots of info for people with vegetable gardens – If only! I don’t have space for one at home but I know where plenty grow! I hope you’ll have a look around and find some near your home also.

Comfrey is an essential herb to become well acquainted with, your plants will thank you and so will your body, when it needs to heal quickly.