The next face-to-face apprenticeship group will start on Wednesday 23rd September 2026
Applications Open for the Linden Group

Urban Herbology Apprenticeship
This autumn I will relaunch my apprenticeship. I have offered the course in one form or another since 2012 and have been honoured to be enriched by a wide variety of lovely people who joined to learn alongside me. After offering the course online/offline for some years now, while I was finding my feet again, I have realised that those who gained the most, grew the most, and go on to do the most in various ways, where those who spent time working alongside me and their group. Hence this reshape and relaunch in autumn 2026.

What will you learn?
This one year, face-to-face apprenticeship is about how to become local, how to belong in urban spaces, how to live with the whole of the land. It is about how to see the world differently and let it nurture you, as you in turn nurture it. And how to bring change in your own way, with your unique virtues. This is not a herbalist training programme (though you will learn lots about herbs and how to use them), it is about how to live in harmony with local nature, in the heart of towns and cities. And it takes place in Amsterdam, NL. The course happens in English, although I do speak Dutch so certainly can use that where needed.

This apprenticeship is about community, network, place, love of nature, and embodied knowledge.

Two intakes per year
Starting September and March.
5 or 6 people maximum per intake.
You move through the year long course as a small group.

Ten seasonal apprentice gatherings per year
10am – 2pm on scheduled Wednesdays, Amsterdam Oost Watergraafsmeer or Schellingwoude, depending on the season. Each gathering will include sharing, practicing, experiencing, and eating simple food. All materials provided. Sometimes you will be asked to bring a few specific things along.
At each gathering, we experience together, and afterwards everything we did will be available online for you to revisit, deepen, and explore.

Resources
As well as the practical experience, you will receive the keys to my extensive online library of lessons. There is new material specific to the newly formatted apprenticeship – videos, downloads, articles, etc. And there is plenty of bonus material, from when I initially made the course online. This material will unlock progressively as the seasons turn so that you can dip in and out when you like.

The online resources are totally optional for you. I know that it really helps many apprentices to dive in and lose themselves down occasional rabbit holes, but online materials don’t suit everyone, so there is not set online reading to do, nor homework to hand in, just experiences to be had, lived and enjoyed.

Outcomes
Knowledge is here to be gained, to help you to see through the sometimes misty windows of nature, and to open up doors which you perhaps didn’t realise were there. Many have gained from this over the years. They have made changes (some subtle, some dramatic) in their lives. But there is no point in comparison. As long as I see that you turn up for most of the apprentice gatherings, and engage, you will receive your apprenticeship certificate at the last gathering as a symbol of your commitment to bettering the world and of my faith in you as custodians of urban nature, ethical urban foragers and safe hands for wild herbs.

Throughout the year, you will be helped to naturally build a Materia medica of local plants, and a journal or portfolio of recipes, resources, techniques, crafts, plans, and so on.

There is no homework and there are no exams. Instead, you’ll find simple seasonal checklists, printable guides and practical resources that help you keep track of your learning and spend more time outside with the plants, rather than behind a screen. The aim isn’t to test you, but to gently support you as you build lasting knowledge and confidence.

Content
The apprenticeship curriculum revolves around local plants and places. Urban ones. Special ones. Edible, medicinal, and otherwise useful plant species. Plants who are your neighbours. Plants to experience. Plants who are teachers and help to hold this place together. They have so much to offer and you will learn about them over the year.

Each of these local plants will be explored naturally through four lenses:
Urban Plants (ID, place in nature..)
Urban Apothecary (remedies, preparations, formulas..)
Urban Foodcraft (fermentation, seasonal eating, foraging.. The possibility to go completely wild should you like..)
Regenerative Living (sustainable city living, ecology, gardening..)

Final meal
At the end of the apprenticeship year, your group will have a shared meal, sampling and sharing some of the exciting foods and drinks that have been crafted from local plants throughout the year. And you will graduate as one of my apprentices, having moved on in many ways. I eat wild meat, so we will decide together if that is on offer. It doesn’t have to be at all.

Dates
The ten closed gatherings, all on Wednesdays, for the Linden group, starting in autumn 2026 are as follows. Location will be near Park Frankendael, Amsterdam or Paterslaan, Schellingwoude, Amsterdam (depending on the season and weather conditions).
23rd September 2026
21st October 2026
18th November 2026
20th January 2027
17th February 2027
17th March 2027
21st April 2027
19th May 2027
23rd June 2027
25th August 2027

Cost
The price of the apprenticeship remains at €1000 including BTW for the one year course, payable in advance.
If you prefer to pay in 4 monthly instalments of €300 incl. BTW, this can be selected.

One community place is offered per cohort. This is for someone on low income who needs this but can’t afford it. Contact Lynn if you would like to apply for that place.

Existing online only apprentices may upgrade to the current apprenticeship by paying the difference between the amount paid to date and the current full apprenticeship fee. Please contact Lynn if considering that.

Would you like to know more?
Feel free to email me if you have any questions or would like to be considered to the join the group starting in autumn 2026. Please let me know a little about your motivation.

Urban Herbology Education is a registered training provider with the Complementary Medical Association

If you have questions, please contact Lynn by email, fill in the contact form below, or come along to a Monday or Saturday morning gardening session in Park Frankendael for a chat if that is better for you (do check that I will be there first).