Category Archives: River of Herbs

River of Herbs @ Pakhuis de Zwijger

December 14, 2013Growing herbs, River of HerbsLynn

Are you are interested in:
Growing edible & medicinal herbs in public spaces,
Encouraging pollinating insects into the city,
Increasing Urban Food Security,
Creating a community food forest,
Learning and sharing gardening skills,
Creating an edible wildlife corridor through Amsterdam, by planting tiny unused pockets of land?

Then please come along to the River of Herbs Amsterdam launch meeting at Pakhuis de Zwijger on Monday 3rd February, 7-10pm.
Free entry – All welcome.

Full details available on the River of Herbs website. If you think you will be coming along, please let me know so that we have a better idea of numbers. It’s on the events page, Facebook and my meetup site. I set up the River of Herbs project in 2012, to encourage people to grow herbs and help wildlife. That’s why I mention it here.

If you are interested but can’t come along to the launch, don’t be shy, get in touch and let me know what you are planning to do or are doing already. Whether you plant a tiny plantpot with daisies, or a geveltuin with herb seeds, or a row of tree pits with rainbow shades of herbs or whatever else – everything you do makes a difference!

Bifurcated Carrots

November 30, 2013River of Herbs, Seed savingLynn

BifurcatedCarrots.eu is all about seed saving: Why we should do it. Who is doing it already. And how we can do it. It’s run from Amsterdam by Patrick Wiebe and Steph Mandel who seem to be as passionate as me about increasing food security. They keep us up to date on the attempts of government and certain corporations to regulate the plants which we can grow and they publish a list of where interesting seeds to swap/sell are available around the world. It’s a very useful blog to follow.

You can watch Patrick, giving part of a workshop on seed saving at the Educational Gardens at Sloterdijkermeer Volkstuin complex, on this video. The River of Herbs demo plot is in the same garden and gets a nice mention.

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

River of Herbs 2014 Course

September 18, 2013River of HerbsLynn

UPDATE (19/09/2013): This course is now full. If you would like to be on the waiting list then please let me know – Lynn.

This course will cover all the material that we worked on in 2013 but will be based at set locations along the River of Herbs Amsterdam edible/wildlife corridor. Participants will help to create the corridor whilst learning green skills.

River of Herbs Amsterdam Wildlife Corridor
We are currently planning an ambitious River of Herbs corridor, running from the A10/Middenweg intersection up to De Hortus Botanicus then onward through Amsterdam Centrum and finally out to De Baarsjes in Amsterdam West. The River of Herbs corridor will be made up of tree pits, geveltuinen (pavement gardens) and small unused spaces, all planted by volunteers with edible/medicinal herbs which are useful to pollinating insects and people. The Amsterdam River of Herbs will also include the transformation of a public orchard in Park Frankendael into a community Food Forest. The River of Herbs edible/wildlife corridor is being created by the collaboration of Urban Herbology (based in Amsterdam Oost), FoAM and City Plot Amsterdam (both based in Amsterdam West). Groups of local people are being helped to plan, plant and maintain small urban herb meadows, for the benefit of people and pollinators.

Who is this course for?
Anyone who wants to learn how to grow herbs safely in disused urban spaces & how to help pollinating insects.

Dates 2014:
Four Monday afternoons 13.30 – 15.30
February 10th
March 10th
May 12th
June (day tbc)

You will learn how to:

Identify and prepare unused spaces for growing useful perennial, biennial and annual herbs.
Sow suitable seeds and plant cuttings, roots etc. in these places. Choosing for location, wildlife, food or medicine.
Tend the developing Urban Herb Meadows.
Map the locations of these Herb Meadows.
Harvest some of the herbs without compromising their usefulness to pollinators such as bees, hoverflies and butterflies.
Teach others how to grow and use these herbs.
Create and manage an urban River of Herbs.

The first group of River of Herbs volunteers completed the 2013 training course. Those who showed that they can plan, plant and maintain an urban herb meadow are now able to train other groups of volunteers, using the River of Herbs materials. You can see some of the sites that the first group worked on, using our map.

You will receive:
Four 2 hour sessions of hands-on urban green training.
Course book – an updated and condensed version of the 2013 River of Herbs booklets.
Ongoing support – we have an active Facebook group and can be contacted by email or telephone.
Green skills experience and work reference – for those who complete the course and can show their skills.
The 2014 course is being run by Lynn Shore from UrbanHerbology.org.
Plants and tools are provided – you are welcome to bring along more if you like.

Cost:
Free to participants (value 250 Euro per person)
All costs will be completely covered by Groen en Doen vouchers. River of Herbs will organise this for applicants. If you want to join this course you must simply contact us and we will organise the funding. The funds generated by the vouchers will be used for the River of Herbs corridor project. Groen en Doen vouchers are offered to enable green skills training for volunteers.

Number of places:
12.
Please apply if you are seriously interested in helping us plan, plant and maintain the River of Herbs Amsterdam wildlife corridor. This is a very exciting and worthwhile project which needs a whole community effort to make it work. Be part of it!

Apply:
Please contact us directly – riverofherbs@gmail.com

UPDATE (19/09/2013): This course is now full. If you would like to be on the waiting list then please let me know – Lynn.

Embrace Your Weeds!

May 23, 2013Foraging, Growing herbs, River of Herbs, Urban Herb Walks, Wild herbsCity PlotLynn

Sunday 2nd June
3-5pm
Westerpark (Proef Restaurant to the Educational Garden)
€25 per person

There are so many incredible plants which we dismiss, dig-up or discard. We could do so much with these humble weeds, if only more people knew how!

This workshop with foraging walk will open your eyes to the wonders of the weed world! Together with Ann from City Plot Amsterdam, I will lead you from Proef restaurant in Westerpark through to the City Plot educational garden, right at the back of the park. We will wander through prime public foraging grounds on our way. When we get there, we will plant some of our weedy wonders in the River of Herbs section of the Educational Garden.

Bring (if you like):
Paper bags for foraged finds,
Flask of hot water, to make a herb tea
Hand trowel, if you have one,

I will tell you about medicinal, nourishing and historical uses of the plants and Ann will show how to make the most of them in the garden and kitchen.

You will receive a comprehensive colour handout, to help you at home and the chance to spend quality time with us and the weeds, in a small group. To book, please email me or click here.

The Educational Garden is an inspirational place: It has been divided into different mini gardens, from a Mushroom farm, Permaculture patch, Medicinals section to the River of Herbs meadow.

Proeftuin is maintained as an organic restaurant garden by City Plot.
Westerpark is big, bold and full of foraging spots!

Our walks and talks go ahead, unless there’s a hurricane overhead. So please come prepared to get stuck into our wonderful urban nature, whatever the weather.

So whether you have a garden, a plant pot or like to forage, join us to discover how to find, identify and Embrace Your Weeds!

River Of Herbs Flows On

May 20, 2013River of HerbsRiver of herbs, SpuistraatLynn

Yesterday was the fourth meeting of my first River of Herbs course.

A tidy group of us met on Spuistraat and proceeded to speak with a few locals before launching into a little tidying up of earthy spaces, some herb planting and some gardening chat! The main aims of River of Herbs are to enable as many people as possible to grow edible and medicinal herbs in disused urban spaces and for those herbs to encourage pollinating insects into our city streets.

During this meeting we also leaned about how a range of other beneficial insects (such as Lacewings, Ladybirds and Ground Belles) can be welcomed into herb gardens, to control pests and keep the plants in good condition.

You can read all about it on the River of Herbs website. And you can download the booklets which the course participants receive from this page.

The current course members have all been planning and planting small (and large) urban spots, close to their homes, which we call Urban Herb Meadows. The current group will soon be ready to go fourth and offer their own courses to other interested volunteer gardeners. The courses are free and are funded by sponsorship and gifts.

If you are interested in joining one of our courses or getting involved in other ways, then please get in touch!

Bug Hostel

April 29, 2013Growing herbs, River of HerbsLadybirds, mason bees, native bees, River of herbs, solitary beesLynn

Here’s my first attempt at a rooftop bug refuge. It’s simply a long slim plastic plant pot, stuffed full of dry hollow stems which I found in my kitchen and around the rooftop planters. The stems are from long dead Fig trees, Honeysuckle, Chamomile, Hollyhocks, Clematis, Elder, Reed fencing and a few old and snapped Bamboo canes. I packed it all into place with some dead Apple tree twigs (not hollow but sturdy and available) and also some beautiful Pine and Alder cones, which I collected around town.

Once assembled I wedged it between the roof fence and a Goosberry bush pot. It faces roughly south and is less exposed than most other parts of the roof terrace.

I’m more used to making big wildlife piles in quiet corners of land so I’m sure that I’ll need to improve on this a lot. But for now it offers a place for native bees, ladybirds and other useful wildlife to lay eggs and find refuge.

Making Bug Hotels was one topic at this weekend’s River of Herbs meeting. If you’d like the booklet then let me know. For more information about what we did, some useful links and details of how to make well designed bug and bee hotels, see this post on the RiverofHerbs.org website. Encouraging bees and bugs into your herb garden is something not to be overlooked. They help to pollinate your plants, keep aphids in check and generally keep your plot (however small) healthy.

365 Frankendael day 331- River of Herbs

March 17, 2013365 Frankendael, River of HerbsGarlic mustard, lavender, Molehills, Wild Garlic, yellow archangelLynn

It was the second River of Herbs meeting today and we took a stroll through part of park Frankendael, hunting for Molehills.

I used a few hills to build a lovely aerated soil mound around my geveltuin Lavender shrub. Molehills generally contain lovely rich soil – just the thing to encourage the Lavender to set down roots along it’s aging branches, for new plants to form.

We removed a few wild garlic plants from a path in the park, where they never reach maturity due to foot traffic and gardening. These babies will have new homes with Urban Herbies in shady balconies and pavement gardens.

There is plenty of Yellow Archangel to be seen (or eaten) at the moment.

And this looks like Garlic mustard early leaves to me… I can’t wait (but must) for these plants to bolt upward and produce absolutely delicious leaves!

Here’s a photo of one of our first River of Herbs projects… Edible and medicinal Violas and Primroses. Not obtained from the wild, cultivated varieties.

Thanks everyone who came for your help and inspiring ideas and enthusiasm!

UPDATE: Next Meeting – Starting at Mercatoplein
Please see this event link to River of Herbs website.

River of Herbs meeting – 17th March

March 5, 2013River of HerbsLynn

I had planned for Spuistraat to be the base for the second RoH session but I want to wait for advice on how to make our efforts stick before starting anything there. It would be such a pity to start on Spuistraat, knowing that out efforts were almost bound to flounder. Let’s get going with easier sites first.

So the Session Two start point, on Sunday 17th March (10.30 start) will be the children’s playground in Fraunhofferstraat, in Oost Watergraafsmeer. That whole street has treepits which could easily benefit from some herbs, it’s very close to my home (and geveltuin) so I’ll be able to keep an eye on things and it’s a neighborhood where the treepits get relatively low traffic and abuse. There is also an interesting stretch of bare, soil-rich treepits close by, on the Middenweg, which we can check out and Frankendael park is a block away for some inspiration.

We’ll look at:
Your herb meadow plans,
Ways to multiply your herb plants,
Seed sowing tips,
How to help young seedlings and
Some interesting ways to use street herbs.

Feel free to bring along:
A small gardening tool if you have one (trowel, hand fork etc),
Your session one booklet/ herb meadow plans,
Spare herb seeds and baby plants to use or share with the group.

How to find Fraunhofferstraat:
It is a side street off the Middenweg.
Tram 9 (halte Hugo de Vrieslaan) , bus 65 (halte Middenweg).
If you’re not sure of the best route, try checking the journey planner, 9292ov.nl

The River of Herbs website is being revised and rehosted this week so apologies for broken links etc whilst the glitches are sorted out. It’s probably best to look here for up to date information about meetings, at present.

New Events

February 26, 2013Foraging, Growing herbs, River of Herbs, Urban Herb WalksApprenticeship course, embrace your weeds, River of herbs, Street herb walksLynn

Please check out the a Urban Herbology events page for details of my forthcoming herbal forays in Amsterdam.

Love Your Elders (Sunday 7th April)

365 Frankendael Urban Herb Walk (End April/Start May)

Embrace Your Weeds (June)

As well as details of the new Apprenticeship group and River of Herbs.

I’m also planning a spring picnic in the park for people who have helped me during the 365 Frankendael project and a street herb walk in Bristol, later in the year.