Datum en tijd: Vrijdag 13 maart 2026, van 10:00 tot 13:00 uur
Omschrijving van de activiteit: Samen maken we er een gezellige en nuttige ochtend van in de Stijltuin van Park Frankendael! We gaan de tuin opfrissen voor het voorjaar: nieuwe struiken planten, licht onderhoud doen en de tuin weer mooi maken.
Kom gezellig meedoen met de vriendelijke vrijwilligersgroep van de Stijltuin. We staan altijd open voor nieuwe vrijwilligers – misschien is dit een mooie gelegenheid om te zien wat we doen en of dit iets voor jou is!
Om er een echt leuke dag van te maken zorgen we voor koffie, thee, drankjes, snacks en natuurlijk taart. Zo wordt het niet alleen werken, maar ook een klein tuinfeestje!
Gewenst resultaat: Met deze NL Doet-activiteit willen we nieuwe vrijwilligers aantrekken en de Stijltuin nog mooier maken voor het komende seizoen. Daarnaast willen we onze huidige vrijwilligers bedanken en samen een gezellige en verbindende ochtend beleven.
De Stijltuin is een plek in de buurt waar we wekelijks samenkomen om in een prettige, sociale en ontspannen sfeer in de tuin te werken. We hopen dat deze dag nieuwe mensen enthousiast maakt om zich bij onze vaste groep aan te sluiten – voor zolang als het hen uitkomt.
Join Lynn Shore for a late summer herb foraging walk around one of the tastiest parks in Amsterdam.
THURSDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER
10.00 – 11.45 – Park Frankendael
€20 per person
We will look at many different edible and medicinal plants, which grow in and around Amsterdam. Learn how to identify, ethically harvest and safely use the plants for health, connection to place and to increase urban self-reliance, whilst caring for the environment.
This small group walk will be 90+ minutes long, starting and ending at the same location, near the bike racks closest to Huize Frankendael. We will look at herbs which live in the woods and alongside local roads and water. There will be a handout to help you afterwards and we will drink herb tea from some of our finds. Bring along a small paper bag to take home some herbs to help you to connect more deeply to local nature.
This will be during the end of the main foraging season so expect to take home plenty of foraged herbs and ideas about how to use and eat them.
Lynn is an experienced herbalist and professional forager, who specialises in local herbs and connecting people to the nature which we are all part of – especially in the middle of a city. She has been teaching foraging in Amsterdam and helping city people become more sufficient for 14 years. Her special interest is improving mental health through herbs and nature. Lynn set up the beautiful community foraging gardens, over 10 years ago, in Park Frankendael. Part of this walk will be in there. In April 2025, she’ll be participating in the Wildbiome project, eating only wild food for one month, as part of a research project investigating how wild foods affect our health.
Email urban.herbology.lynn@gmail.com to book your place. When payment is received, your place will be confirmed by email. Please see the cancellation policy on the Events page.
A few photos today, to help celebrate Midsummer’s day with you. I met a group of apprentices at my volkstuin and enjoyed learning about some lovely herbs with them. Didn’t take any photos at the workshop because we were busy with the plants so here are some others from today and last week.
The fragrant rambling rose in my garden. I made a tincture from the fresh flowers today.
Lavender in full bloom outside of local shops today.
Unscented red roses from my garden. They were part of the volkstuin garden when I took it on. I can’t really see the point in roses without fragrance; aren’t they supposed to transport us somewhere magical with their scent? I think so and am sorry that I can’t make medicinal preparations with these but am happy to see the beautiful flowers, none the less!
Last week, had another treat, visiting nature reserves in the Vondel Park for the annual bee walk. Here is their sun hive which is a more apicentric way of housing honey bees. Lovely!
An update on my Japanese knotweed babies – They are doing well; growing steadily until last week when something started to eat the leaves. So the certainly is a natural predator of JKW in my street.
I’ve been growing lots of herb seeds this summer. Here are a few (so far successes): Milk thistle (Carduus marinus)
I think that this last one is Mandrake. I muddled up a few seeds in a tray. Trying to grow Belladonna, Sweet Annie, Henbane and more. It looks and smells like Mandrake so far. Let’s see!
Merry Beltane to you! I hope that you manage a dip in the spring dew or a nibble on some Hawthorn, at some point today.
Yesterday, I led a Mediamatic workshop about how to forage Japanese knotweed for food, drink and some home remedies. I would like to share my JKW shrub recipe with you here.
A shrub is an old fashioned drink, either alcoholic or not, containing some degree of vinegar. The following shrub recipe makes a refreshing non-alcoholic drink composed of a herb syrup and a herb infused vinegar, the herb being Japanese knotweed. There are endless ways to make a shrub but they should all be somewhat fruity and somewhat acidic.
Japanese knotweed (JKW) is not a fruit, it is a remarkable invasive medicinal and edible perennial weed which looks a little like bamboo and belongs to the Buckwheat plant family. Being a close relative of rhubarb it can be used in foods with that flavour in mind.
Infuse the vinegar: Infuse a jar full of clean chopped JKW leaves and stems in apple cider vinegar for a couple of weeks. Strain and bottle.
Make the syrup: Simmer a cup of sugar, a cup of water and a couple of cups of clean chopped knotweed leaves and stems for about 20 minutes. Cool, strain, bottle.
Make the shrub: The exact ratio will depend upon the sweetness of your syrup and the sourness of your vinegar but as a rough guide try 3 parts JKW syrup to 1 part JKW vinegar. Add a splash of water. Too sweet, add a dash more vinegar. Too sour, add a dash more syrup.
I will not get into the details of JKW foraging today. Suffice to say, I enjoy carefully foraging it and I love making food, drink and medicine from it. Japanese knotweed is an incredible immigrant which has so much to offer.
Do let me know if you try it and of other things that you like to make with Japanese knotweed.
Health Insurance Update Since I last posted here, I have been working hard to become fully registered with BATC, a Dutch association for nature based complementary therapists. All has gone smoothly so I am happy to report that full or partial costs of my private natural healthcare consultations (not my walks, workshops and talks) are now covered by health insurance (aanvullende zorgverzekering) for many people here in The Netherlands. Details on my other website – Mugwort and Marigold
Walks and Apprenticeship My next public herb foraging walks are advertised on the events page and meetup.
The latest apprenticeship group begins today so the next opportunity for people to join my Urban Herbology apprenticeship course will be 21st June 2023. A small group will be able to join at that time. If you would like to apply to join please see this page for information.
Just want to reblog this – I first wrote about Magnolia in 2012 and updated the post in 2019 with the video and some extra info. A lot of people are reaching out to me about the tree this year. I am worried it is being over harvested! Please read about how little you need, to make really great foraged treats from this tree. It is so sad when I see photos of people encouraging whole flowers to be picked – there is no need. Anyway, enjoy the post (click at the end, ther’s a lot hidden including the recipes) and let me know your thoughts…
Magnolia is a tree which I fall in love with again, every year. Everything about it enthralls me. From the graceful angles of the branches, the bark, exotic blooms to the glossy evergreen leaves. A huge magnolia in bloom is a show stopper. One such tree arches quietly over the terrace behind Huize Frankendael, in Amsterdam east. Hundreds of visitors must walk beneath it without giving the tree much thought, until in March or April it explodes into bloom. There is no other tree that I would rather sit beneath and gaze up through than that magnificent magnolia in spring!
Edible and Medicinal Magnolia Petals The flowers of Magnolia trees are edible and medicinal. In traditional chinese medicine, Magnolia flowers are known as Xin yi hua and are associated with the lung and stomach meridians. I enjoy eating them fresh plucked each year and happily report that they taste fragrant and spicy…
It’s a great time to try out my Urban Herbology Apprenticeship course! Try out the open units when you take a look inside. If you are looking to be empowered with safe herbal knowledge, increase your self-sufficiency and want to dive in and join, the programme is very flexible and there is no fixed obligation. This is a real course run by a real person with lots of experience and passion for getting you living in harmony with nature, wherever you live.
The course covers:
herbal crafting ethical foraging herb gardening wise woman healing wheel of the year food and ferments herbal remedies
There’s a lot in there! When the 4 core modules (first 4 listed above) are completed, a certificate of completion is awarded stating the skills gained in the course. We have a FB group, Zoom chats fortnightly, face-to-face workshops and walks in and around Amsterdam.
I haven’t posted anything for a while although have been out in the plants a surprising amount, especially considering I’m now classroom bound five days a week. Yesterday was midsummer so I held a small gathering in Park Frankendael. I felt so honoured to be surrounded by such lovely people and freely the urge to share a free photos and words about it.
We gathered early, soon after 5pm under the grandest Lime trees in the park. I laid down an old, well loved and patched gold-threaded Indian quilt on the grass and we spread out the food. By Lime trees, I mean Tilia, linden. Amazing trees, here’s a post I wrote 8 years ago about them if you’d like to explore some of their numerous gifts and folklore.
Sameena came prepared as ever for some ceremony. This time with a sweet ripe melon, orange and apricots. She scooped out enough of the melon and Livvy poured in sunshine coloured fruit juice. This sat in the centre of the quilt, we sat circled around it age then Sameena added a slice of dripping orange and an apricot for each of the group.
We joined hands and shared thoughts about the sun at midsummer. One by one the group swelled in number so extra slices of orange and more sharing of thoughts.
After, we supped from the melon bowl and ate the orange and other foods. Such a simple, homespun and effective ceremony.
I’m dramatically reducing my stocks of herbal concoctions at home right down; pairing it right down to nothing more than I need for one season. My library is also being shared so more people can benefit from it and my energy has more space to expand – More on that from this lovely new post by apprentice and illustrator Hannah McDonald.
I’ve been holding onto some magical homemade mead for quite a long time so last night was the perfect opportunity to crack them open and enjoy. I believe that there’s little happier in the glass kingdom than a bottle of home crafted ferment, being steadily shared between freinds. First to be sampled was a very low alcohol but high energy Elderflower mead. The colour was just right for the bright early evening sun. Later, as the strength of the sun waned, a deep red heady and potent concoction was downed, sip by sip.
Photo credit: Sameena. Midsummer 2019 – Livvy, roly-polys and daisies.
After some wonderful tree song singing courtesy of Grace, lime leaf munching, pistache shell ephemeral creating, catching up on thoughts, roly-polys and eating, we packed up camp and took a stroll through the River of Herbs orchards, just in time for the sun to set over the Limes. How wonderful the herb gardens look too! Full of frogs, scents, flowers and energy. The River of Herbs Monday morning team are doing such an amazing job of caring for them. More help is always welcome to get in touch if you’d like to be involved. I look forward to joining them more during my summer holiday.
We explored the newly crafted fairy homes, harvested a little Motherwort and Bay and observed the Lotus blossoms in the small pond, close up over the time that we were there.
All in all, a beautiful evening with beautiful souls. We’re hoping to meet again for Lughnasa. If you’d like to join, keep an eye on the Meetup group or get on touch.
Monday 22nd April (Bank Holiday)
Amstel Station to Park Frankendael Walk 14.00 – 16.00
This Easter Monday walk will take you on a free-food journey from Amstel Station through delicious residential streets to the foraging gardens (that I run) in Park Frankendael. Learn how to ethically forage the delicious treats which grow around us in Amsterdam!
If you would like to join this walk, please sign up via the MeetUp.com listing.
Here are a few images from the recent 7 Day UH Foraging Challenge and also taken on the walks I’ve led this month. March has been beautiful and fresh plants are everywhere! If you would like to challenge me to a few days – a week – a month – whatever – of finding tasty urban plants to forage in the town or city where you live, let me know! I did this for 365 days, several years ago. There is always something to forage in cities, why not give it a try! Let me know through the comments / contact form if you would like to. Instagram was a good place to hold and #urbanherbology #7daychallenge the photos. So if you use Instagram it’s even easier.
Edible Ribes bush, alongside my daughter’s Athletic club. I don’t wait for the berries, the leaves taste great and make a delicious nutritious tea (and remedy).
Wild garlic at the back (Allium ursinum) with a poisonous bulb flower at the front.
A copse of Magnolia trees in Park Frankendael, Amsterdam. Love these trees!
Gallium odoratum – Lady’s bedsraw – Ooh, I hope it’s in flower to make Maybowl this year!
Herbs growing beneath an orchard, part of Fruit 4 Sport project in a sports fields of Watergraafsmeer. Purple deadnettle, stinging nettle, daisy.
I was so happy to find two huge plants of Miner’s lettuce / Spring beauty / Winter purslane (Claytonia perfoliata), close to my school. I plucked them from a council flower border and we ate them over the week. Delicious!!!
Here she is – Certainly worthy of the name Spring Beauty (Claytonia perfoliata).
Wild garlic, Daslook (Allium ursinum), has been creeping into flower here for a couple of weeks. The most sought after foraging herb around at this time of year. As I type this, I’m off to dig up some bulbs from a path in one of the River of Herbs orchards, to give to children on my Foraging & Fermentation course at school. They are big fans of Allium ursinum and want to grow it.
Forthythia – The flowers are edible but they open when not many flowers are available to wildlife. They taste good though and this is mine and my daughter’s birthday flower 🙂 It is generally looking amazing for the Spring Equinox.
This is a Euphorbia species. A striking plant, growing outside of the law courts close to my work. This whole species is poisonous. It bleeds a white latex sap when the stems or leaves are damaged. Foragers should know the poisonous plants as well as they know the edible plants.
I went to the orchards today to dig some of the wild garlic out of the paths. It is so successful in this area that it clogs some sections of the wood chip path. These are going to shady tree pits and to my school foraging group.
The River of Herbs orchards gardening group meets every Monday morning, behind Huize Frankendael, address: Middenweg 72, Amsterdam 1097 BS. Do join them any time, especially if you’d like to get involved and help out.
In this short video, I’m plucking out flower buds on their stems, from the path edging wild garlic. This prevents it getting out of control next season.
And in this one, outs just to show the difference a bit of wild garlic recall can make to the paths. There should be a clear path right up the the gauze leaf bin…
I want to share this post from the River of Herbs with you today. The team of volunteer gardeners needs enriching! Please share with green fingered friends or come along yourself 🙂
Monday 22nd April (Bank Holiday)
Urban Herbology 