It is nettle time! Learn how to identify, ethically harvest, craft, eat, grow, use and generally make the most of locally growing nettles, so Stinging nettles (Urtica species) and several Deadnettles (some of the Lamiaceae family), with Livvy de Graaf, assisted by Lynn Shore. Lynn is a professional foraging teacher (member Association of Foragers) and consulting herbalist. Livvy, is Dutch-British and has been harvesting and eating wild food for longer than she can remember. She is Lynn’s daughter and certainly knows her way around the woods and foraging orchards, where this event will take place. She looks forward to sharing some of her skills with you. The walk will be primarily in English.
Location We will be working mainly in the River of Herbs foraging gardens, which Lynn has run for over 10 years, so unusually will be able to dig up some of the stinging nettle roots, to plant elsewhere or for you to cook/preserve/process at home. Meeting at main entrance of Park Frankendael, closest to Middenweg 72, Amsterdam (Restaurant Merkelbach / Huize Frankendael).
Handout Written info and recipes will be provided. You will learn about and try different preparations made from the focus plants (including a cup of tea). You will then be able to make your own potions/creations at home, using what we forage together and the handout.
Who is Stinging nettle’s sister?Yellow deadnettleStinging nettle
The plants Different “nettles” are up and forageable in Amsterdam all through the year, but at this time the Stinging nettles are growing strongly, and different Deadnettles begin to flower. This is the best time to start using them in simple remedies and to enrich food. As you learn about Stinging nettles and Deadnettles, you will also meet some other amazing wild herbs that are around at the same time. For instance, wild garlic is also in full growth at this time, so you will be able to dig some of those bulbs up, from legal places, if you want that and have uses for them.
Please bring along cup/mug paper bag (grocery small bag to take the harvest home) pen/pencil to add to the notes. hand trowel / handschep (we will have a few to share if you don’t have one).
Booking €15 per person, paid in advance Please email to reserve your place and receive the bank details for pre-payment. Your place is secured when your payment has been received.
Cancellation policy 100% refund if cancellation more than 24 hours before event start time. Cancellation after that time (so less than 24 hours before the start time) can only be refunded if we can fill your place with another person.
Extra Date: Saturday17th February, 10.00 – 11.30, Park Frankendael. Amsterdam
This is an event for wild garlic lovers!
Learn how to identify, ethically harvest, craft, eat, grow, use and generally make the most of wild garlic (Allium ursinum) or Daslook, with Livvy de Graaf, assisted by Lynn Shore, professional foraging teacher and herbalist. Livvy, is Dutch-British and has been harvesting and eating wild food for longer than she can remember. She is Lynn’s daughter and certainly knows her way around the woods of Park Frankendael, where this walk will take place. She looks forward to sharing some of her skills with you.
We will be working mainly in the River of Herbs foraging gardens, so unusually, will be able to dig up some of the fresh wild garlic bulbs, to plant elsewhere or for you to cook/preserve at home.
Handout with wild garlic info. and recipes, and a cup of herb tea will be provided. You will learn about and try different preparations from sweet, sour, savoury to medicinal. And will be able to make your own potions/creations at home, using what we forage together and the handout.
Wild garlic emerging from the early spring soil, heralds the start of the main foraging season. As you learn about wild garlic, you will also learn to recognise other amazing wild herbs which are around at the same time.
Please bring along: drinking cup Paper bag (grocery small bag to take the harvest home) pen/pencil to add to the notes. hand trowel / handschep (I will have a couple to share if you forget or don’t have one).
Cost: 15 Euro per person – Payable in advance Please email urban.herbology.lynn@gmail.com and you will receive the bank details for payment. When payment is received your place is booked.
Cancellation Policy: If canceling, for any reason, 24 hours or more before the start of the event – Full refund. If canceling after that time (so less than 24 hours before the start time of the event) you will be refunded only if we have a replacement.
Could you add more foraged food to your diet? Years ago, I set myself a challenge to find wild growing edible plants in Amsterdam, every day for a year. It was fun and it was possible, the posts are in this blog listed under 365 Frankendael. I have set myself a new challenge, to have one complete day a week, for a year, where I eat only foraged foods and drinks made from foraged finds. For the other six days a week I will eat as I usually do, some foraged food, mostly shop-bought food, but with some adjustments.
On the foraged-only days, I will drink herb teas made with plants that I have foraged, and eat only foods made from plants that I have foraged myself, or other foragers have given me. Or, the meals could include meat or fish which has lived wild and is caught or culled locally to Amsterdam or places where I travel. My foraged-only meals will not include purchased grains, seeds, powders, tubers, spices, herbs, eggs etc. If food is not foraged, I will not eat it that day and if I do not have enough foraged foods to make a hearty meal on that day, then so be it; I will have a light eating day. This is not a great problem for me as I generally overeat and I see this challenge as a way to embrace intermittent fasting more than I usually do. I love food and derive great enjoyment from creating meals from foraged finds, so If I do have enough for a hearty foraged-only day, I will be delighted!
Today’s finds in Amsterdam
Meals on the partly-foraged days will involve some foraged foods mixed with my regular foods, purchased from local shops. These purchased foods include rice, oats, meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. The dietary adjustments that I plan are firstly, adding more foraged foods daily than I usually do and secondly, to make far more effort to buy and eat seasonally appropriate foods.
The photo shows what I foraged in Amsterdam east today. This is a little more than I would usually forage weekly because an annoying edible weed (Pennsylvania pellitory) is in great shape at the moment so I took more than I ususally would. These finds will add foraged goodness to my family’s diet. This will be my main forage for this week because I have a busy schedule the coming days. Some of this plant material will be eaten this week (it keeps well in my fridge), some will be preserved (in salt, alcohol, dried in paper bags etc) which will make it available to me throughout the year. That will become especially useful during the winter/early spring “hungry gap”, where the nuts and berries have gone and wild spring greens are yet to show themselves above soil. I will keep to the ethical foraging rules which I created many years. So, no root harvesting, unless I have permission from the landowner, and of course being highly attentive to light, safe, clean and environmentally sustainable harvesting.
This feels a great time of year to start a foraging challenge, for several reasons; 1. Nuts, berries and other fruit are foragable late summer into autumn, so it is a perfect time for stocking up on those. 2. There are still plenty of leafy green vegetable type plants, growing locally as weeds. So time to make the most of them directly and presevere as much as possible before the days shorten and those plants fade underground. 3. This will give me something green, wholesome and enriching to focus on as the days become shorter. Foraging is great for mental health! 4. I am a year round forager, but tend to forage tiny amounts of wild herbs alone during the winter and I stick to my favourite others throughout the year. This challenge will encourage me to use a wider range of foraged food, especially through the winter. 5. I love mushrooms. I don’t teach others how to forage them as my expertise is in plant foraging but I safetly forage about 8 common local species myself. The main mushroom season is fast approaching.. nuff said. 6. I want to find out more about local sources of wild caught fish and locally culled meat (such as venison). I shop organically (especially for dairy, meat and fish) but I do not like the physical and psycological distance between consumer and food source (especially animals).
Inspiration for this challenge The Wilderness Cure by Mo Wilde, is an excellent book which I now highly recommend to anyone interested in foraging and food sovereignty. Mo is also a professional forager and herbalist. She lives in the Scottish countryside. Her book documents how she lived completely off wild food (foraged, caught or hunted) for a year. From the first page, it is inspiring! The book also includes lots of ideas for how to eat the diverse foraged foods which Mo found. The information is beautifully woven into diary entries. It also contains useful tables at the back, to help readers build their plant knowledge. I have been teaching people to forage in Amsterdam for well over a decade, and almost never recommend foraging books. Many regurgitate the same information, others contain quite dubious recipes and advice, but, I am thoroughly excited by Mo Wilde’s book and won’t be lending this one out to any freinds for a long time!
As much as I would love to live off the land year-round, and probably could in the right setting, I live in Amsterdam, surrounded by built up streets and well-used public spaces. Added to this, I work most of the week and foraging is not legal in the Netherlands. So, I decided to challenge myself to a lighter version of the Wilderness Cure. Hence one foraged-only day per week and a boost to my other part-foraged days. I can manage that, and I am sure it will be fun and enriching. I hope that my doing this will encourage at least a few other people, especially those towns and citys, to get out and ethically forage in their neighbourhoods. Foraging is such a wonderful way to connect with your local envirnment and get you out in more fresh air. Maybe you don’t live in much fresh air, but I see that all the more reason to get outside and realise that change is needed. In my experience, people who live in urban environments tend to be the ones who think that foraging is impossible for them, but it is not, I really see it as a birthright. We need to forage very carefully and ethically in urban spaces, but shouldn’t everyone, wherever they go? I think that every one could include at least a touch of foraged food to their lives. And in doing so, green magic can start to evolve in their lives.
As Mo Wilde did, I will chart a few personal health markers, at the start of the challenge and periodically as I move through the year. It will be interesting to see if this diluted version of the Wilderness Cure will have much impact on my body and mind. I will share updates on this blog periodically, less on the health markers, more about the food and finds.
Something for you? If you are interesting in taking up the foraged-only challenge, and getting some moral support by sharing your successes and difficulties with me and others, please follow my blog or insta posts, reply to this post, or send me an email. I think that a foraged-only day a week, or simply challenging yourself to eat some foraged finds, can bring great rewards on many levels.
Galanthus – Snowdrops at Imbolc. Photocredit: Olivia de Graaf
What a special time of year! This, although it may not feel like it with frost on the ground, is the very beginning of spring. As you wander through city parks and green edges, at the start of February, notice just how many signs of spring there are about us. Wild garlic / Daslook is now up, standing young and proud. Cleavers has started to spread, seeking taller plants and fences to scramble up, and stinging nettles (which never really seemed to go away this winter) are looking delicious!
I enjoyed sharing some of my favourite winter urban foraging plants with you over the past few months. Those still hold true as we gently move into the spring which we will all recognise, full of flowers and fresh leaves. I will start sharing ideas for spring cleansers over the coming weeks. A lovely and helpful herbal pastime, is to eat a little herbal foraged cleanser, every day between Imbolc (start of February) and Alban Eilir (Spring Equinox). So today, I’ll be looking to add a little bit of one of those mentioned herbs, to my food or drink. And will aim to do so until the 20th March.
Celebrating the turning year I enjoy celebrating the changing seasons alone and I also greatly enjoy marking them with like-minded friends. Yesterday, a group of us shared an online celebration of Imbolc, following the basic format of druidic seasonal ceremonies – interesting via Zoom but it somehow works. I am setting up a group to keep this going, under the very helpful umbrella of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD). The group is called the Meadowseet Seed Group. The intention is for people in Amsterdam who are members of OBOD, to have the possibility to meet in person, within the city, to celebrate each of the eight seasonal festivals together.
The intention is for the seasonal celebrations will be outside in Amsterdam and for full moon meditations to be mostly at the same time each lunar cycle but conducted physically apart. At some of the celebrations, as yesterday, other folks who are not members of OBOD but are interested in the spiritual path will be welcome to take part also. If you are an OBOD member in the area and are interested in joining the group, or would like to attend some of the seasonal celebrations, please contact meadowsweet.amsterdam@gmail.com.
So we are into week 2 of my Winter Foraging Challenge. Thanks to those who tried to find the nourishing leaf buds from Tilia trees last week. Some of you sent me photos of your foraged finds. No one sent me a Lime bud photo but in hunting for them, Stinging nettles, Elder and Dandelions were found so that’s very positive! I have included Agnesa’s Elder bud photo as these are really common at the moment, they do resemble Lime buds in some ways (colour, size, position on bark and timing) but they are not edible and are useful to learn about. Elder leaves can be very helpful additions to ointments and oils so worth keeping an eye on these and returning in the spring.
Elder leaf buds emerging from the Elder bark (Photo credit: Agnesa)
This week’s plant is the Common mallow (Malva sylvestris). I’ve found quite a lot of healthy looking plants around town lately so I hope you get lucky with them too. Here is a single leaf. Notice that pinky-purple colouration at the centre of the leaf? That’s really characteristic and helps with ID. Breaking the leaf or stem also gives another ID clue – transparent mucilage! It oozes from the broken plant cells.
Malva sylvestris – Amsterdam, late November
I harvest just a couple of leaves (along with the long leaf stalks) from large clumps of this herbaceous plant, wash well, chop finely and add to my smoothies. They contain plenty of mucilage and although they look world’s apart, Common mallow actually belongs to the same plant family as last week’s Lime tree (Tilia spp.).
Patch of Malva sylvestris, growing with Yarrow
If you find any, I’d love to see a photo or two!
At this time of year, flowers on Malva are few and far between but you may find one and if so, it will look something like this one. Does it remind you of hibiscus? That’s because the plants are closely related. Hollyhocks too. I am a big fan of this plant family and will be foraging it occasionally, throughout the winter.
I have started a map to help my students and others to find herb gardens, foraging spots, community gardening projects and other interesting herbal places. I live in Amsterdam Oost so to start with, most of the map points are clustered there but I hope that it will steadily grow as more people add interesting medicinal and edible herbs to the map. I also want to map more places where Urban Herbologists can learn about plants and nature in general. Hopefully we can build it up for other cities and parts of the world. Let’s see where it goes.
If you would like to add points to the map, which show finds outside of private gardens, either send details and a photo to: urban.herbology.lynn@gmail.com or ask me to have editing rights, so that you can post your own favourites. I want each point to have the Scientific plant name, local name and English.
Please remember that this is for educational purposes and that no responsibility is taken for incorrect points on the map. The aim is purely for people interested in Urban Herbology to find more interesting plants and places close to where they live.
At present the map layers are:
General (useful herbs, edibles, medicinals in open ground) Trees (with edible / medicinal uses in open space) Private Collections (museum gardens, botanical gardens etc) Community Gardens (where you could get involved with some local schemes)
I hope you find it interesting and useful. Let me know any feedback.
For English click here Excuses, ik heb je enigszins misleid. Dit bericht gaat eigenlijk over het maken van Lilac Mead en Lilac Honey, in plaats van Lilac Wine.
De reden voor mijn bedrog is dat ik elke keer dat ik langs een lila boom kom, denk aan mijn moeder, onze oude tuin, haar beste vriendin Francis en Jeff Buckley. En lieve Jeff Buckley zong adembenemend goed Lilac Wine, dus als ik over Sering schrijf, kan ik dat alleen maar bedenken en vandaar de misleidende titel.
Het horen van het lied brengt me terug naar een tijd dat ik de hele dag naar hem zou luisteren en elke pauze zou vasthouden. Als je ook een beetje romantisch bent, raad ik aan om de track te spelen terwijl je mijn instructies voor het maken van mede leest. Ik kan niet goed ademen terwijl ik naar Mr Buckley luister (ik schijn met hem mee te ademen) dus vergeef me alsjeblieft als ik zo nu en dan mijn draad verlies …
Laten we eerst wat lila honing opzetten
Ja, de bloemen van de Sering struik (Syringa vulgaris) zijn eetbaar. Deze plant komt uit de Olijffamilie (Oleaceae) en je merkt misschien dat de bloemen lijken op die van Liguster (Ligustrum vulgare).
Sering is gemakkelijk te herkennen aan de grote trossen van vierbladige bloemen, elk met een kleine buis, die het verbindt met de bloemclusterstelen en de nectar bevat. Sering bloemtrossen hebben een sterke geur en zijn over het algemeen ongeveer 15-20 cm lang. Volwassen Sering bladeren zijn hartvormig en ongeveer 10 cm lang, terwijl Liguster kleinere bladeren heeft, een kleinere gestalte in het algemeen en veel kleinere witte bloemtrossen.
Liguster wordt vaak wild gevonden en wordt geplant om een dichte haag te maken. Sering wordt soms buiten tuinen gevonden, maar wordt vooral gekweekt vanwege de ongelooflijke bloemen en de aantrekkelijke dikke stelen. Ik klauterde altijd rond en picknickte met slakken in onze oude Lila struik, als kind.
Syringa vulgaris
Ja, alle kleuren van Sering bloemen werken hiervoor. De geur is het belangrijkste eigenschap, een beetje kleur is een bonus. Het is het beste om de witte, lila of paarse bloemen te oogsten terwijl ze in topconditie zijn, maar zoals je kunt zien op de afbeeldingen hieronder, gingen sommige van de bloemen die ik vandaag heb geplukt gedeeltelijk over. Maakt niet uit – het is gemakkelijk om de beste onderdelen van de rest te scheiden.
Ik weet niet hoe het met jou zit, maar mijn materialen voor het maken van mede zijn momenteel niet steriel en mijn beperkte kastruimte in het appartement zit boordevol ingeblikt voedsel en gedroogde bonen. Dus terwijl de lila bloemen een week of twee in honing trekken, kan ik een kleine gistingsfles en waterslot vinden en steriliseren en ruimte maken om de fermenterende mede te bewaren. Ik woon in een appartement in Amsterdam, dus er is weinig ruimte en ik brouw in kleine hoeveelheden.
Oogst voorzichtig en legaal 1 of 2 volle sering bloemhoofdjes. Met legaal bedoel ik, gebruik een schaar of snoeischaar en vraag toestemming. Neem maar een beetje. De drie koppen die ik vandaag heb geoogst waren van drie zeer grote sering struiken.
Leg de bloemen, bij voorkeur op een lichtgekleurd oppervlak, tien minuten uit om eventuele insecten aan een plakkerige dood te laten ontsnappen. Scheid vervolgens alle dode of onbetrouwbaar ogende bloemen van de trossen.
De paarse bloemen ruiken nog steeds geweldig, maar sommige bloemen in de tros zijn voorbij hun beste
Kies elke kleine bloem uit de trosstelen. Zorg ervoor dat je de nectary niet op de stelen laat staan, die moet in de honing gaan. De nectary bevindt zich aan het begin van de bloembuis, net waar deze het groen raakt. Knabbelen en je proeft de zoetheid op dat punt van de tube.
De geur die vrijkomt tijdens deze verwerkingsfase is geweldig – als je van de geur van sering houdt.
Plaats de afzonderlijk geplukte bloemen in een schone glazen weckpot of jampot. Ik heb vandaag een pot van 2 liter gebruikt en je kunt zien dat er nog veel ruimte over is, wat handig zal zijn als ik over een week of zo water toevoeg.
5. Giet nu voorzichtig ongeveer 500 ml / 2 kopjes vloeibare honing (bij voorkeur lokale honing) over de kleine bloemen en zorg ervoor dat ze volledig bedekt zijn. Zachtjes maar grondig zachtjes om ze in de honing gedrenkt te krijgen. Je hebt zoveel mogelijk contact nodig tussen de honing en de bloemen.
6. Gebruik een schoon, slank, puntig voorwerp, zoals een stok of breinaald, om rond te prikken en eventuele opgesloten luchtbellen uit de mix te verwijderen.
De bloemen zullen naar de top van de honing stijgen als er luchtbellen ontsnappen. Dat is prima. Zorg er gewoon voor dat die bloemen in honing zwemmen en dat je controleert of alle luchtbellen zijn ontsnapt.
Bloemen stijgen op met de kleine luchtbelletjes
Laat het mengsel intrekken zolang je het kunt verdragen om te wachten. Het basisproces duurt niet lang (een dag), maar naarmate je langer wacht met deze stap, krijg je een veel interessantere mede. Ik vind dat een paar weken voldoende is om een aangename complexiteit van smaak te ontwikkelen in de honinginfusie. Houd gedurende deze tijd, indien mogelijk, dagelijks de infuserende honing in de gaten. Controleer of de bloemen helemaal met honing doordrenkt zijn, vooral tijdens de eerste dagen, anders kun je bruin wordende bloemen vinden – een zeker teken dat zuurstof de bloemen bereikt en rotten mogelijk maakt. Sommige mensen houden ervan om de verzegelde pot een week lang elke dag ondersteboven te houden om het probleem te voorkomen. Ik ben er meer ontspannen over, maar ik zorg er dubbel voor dat er de eerste paar dagen geen lucht in het mengsel achterblijft en dat de bloemen doordrenkt zijn met honing.
NB: Als je alleen de geïnfuseerde honing wilt, zeef dan de bloemen van de honing op dit punt in het proces. Giet het mengsel door een kaasdoek / mousseline. Bewaar de doordrenkte honing in een schone pot en gebruik de gebruikte bloemen in desserts of voeg een theelepel toe per kopje gekookt water voor thee. Anders composteer je ze. Ik bewaar graag wat doordrenkte honing en gebruik de rest voor het volgende mede-recept.
Nu voor het gist!
Voeg na voldoende infusietijd gekookt en vervolgens afgekoeld (tot kamertemperatuur) water toe aan de honingbloemeninfusie. Verschillende culturen staan bekend om het maken van mede van verschillende honing: waterverhoudingen. Hoe hoger de honingconcentratie, hoe hoger het uiteindelijke alcoholgehalte. Ik heb liever een milde mede
Voor deze voeg ik 3x het volume honing toe, in water. Omdat ik ongeveer 500 ml honing heb gebruikt, zal ik ongeveer 1500 ml water toevoegen. Dat zou de pot vullen, dus ik zal er waarschijnlijk iets minder aan toevoegen. Mogelijk hebt u op dit punt een grotere weckpot nodig. Ik hou van de 2-liter exemplaren, omdat ze een behoorlijke hoeveelheid brouwsel kunnen zetten zonder al te veel opslagruimte in beslag te nemen.
Roer nu alles goed door en blaas lucht en natuurlijke gisten de jonge mede in. Gebruik hiervoor een schone lepel. Er zullen natuurlijke gisten zijn over je Sering bloemen, maar deze stap moedigt meer aan en het stimuleert een beter brouwsel.
Bedek de pot met een doek, bijvoorbeeld een schone mousseline en houd deze op zijn plaats met een elastische band rond de rand van de container. Dek het deksel niet volledig af. Het idee is om te voorkomen dat vliegen binnendringen en gisten in de lucht bij het brouwsel te laten komen.
NB: Als de lokale moerasspirea rond deze tijd in bloei komt, voeg ik een bloemhoofdje van twee toe aan de mix. Moerasspirea bloemen zijn bedekt met lokale gisten en helpen echt bij het fermentatieproces.
Witte schuimende moerasspirea bloemen, van de kruiden van een vorige brouwsel
Gedroogde moerasspirea zal het doen, maar ik hoop dat je het ermee eens bent, het is veel minder Jeff Buckley dan ronddwalen naar een lokale beekrand en een sterk geurende bloei plukken die bekend is bij de druïden en sluwe mensen van weleer en bij sommigen nog steeds bekend om hun plaats in bruidsboeketten en midzomerkronen. Verder gaan…
Ga door met stap 10 totdat u tevreden bent dat er een goede hoeveelheid actie in uw mengsel zit. Als je helemaal geen schuim hebt, bovenop de vloeistof, heb je niet veel gist en krijg je niet veel van een mede. Geef het dus meer tijd.
Als er genoeg opwinding is in uw met stof bedekte weckpot, haalt u de bloemen eraf (en composteert u ze alstublieft). De vloeistof is je onvolgroeide mede. Behandel het vriendelijk. Het heeft nu een gistingsfles nodig met een luchtslot en dat moet een mooi geschrobde en steriele gistingsfles zijn.
Ik gebruik gistingsflessen met een inhoud van 2 liter van de Brouwnarkt.nl. Ze zijn geweldig voor mijn behoeften omdat ze klein genoeg zijn voor mijn appartement en het groen getinte glas voorkomt dat het meeste zonlicht binnenkomt en mijn gisting doodt. Hierdoor kan ik ze op hun beurt uit de kostbare kastruimte houden en op een plank waar ik ze kan volgen (ook bekend als ze elke keer als ik langskom en Lilac wijn voor mezelf zing).
Pas de luchtslot aan zodra de onvolgroeide mede in de gistingsfles zit. Deze moeten meestal voor de helft met water worden gevuld. De rol van de luchtslot is om frisse lucht en insecten buiten de fermentatie te houden en tegelijkertijd bellen van CO2 te laten ontsnappen.
Laat het zo zitten, zonder ermee te roeren of ermee te rommelen, tot het een heldere week niet meer borrelt. Dit kan een paar weken zijn, het kan een paar maanden zijn. Wees geduldig. Goede dingen komen aan degenen die wachten.
Een lange periode van niet-borrelen geeft aan dat de fermentatie is gestopt. Dit kan echter tijdelijk zijn, bijvoorbeeld bij lage temperaturen. Pas dus op dat je niet te opgewonden raakt en te vroeg flesjes maakt, want je zult merken dat hogere temperaturen later in het jaar ervoor zorgen dat het proces opnieuw start. Als dat in uw afgedekte flessen gebeurt, krijgt u waarschijnlijk een puinhoop van lekkende mede en mogelijk enkele exploderende flessen.
Ik heb de neiging om de luchtslot op mijn voltooide mede maandenlang te laten staan. Zolang het luchtslot voor de helft gevuld is met water, kan er niet veel misgaan. Hierdoor kan de mede rijpen.
Ten slotte wordt het afgewerkte deel in flessen gesifoneerd, zoals een sterke glazen Grolsch-fles met drukdop. Hiervoor bewaar ik een meter schone aquariumslang.
zijn ene smaakte erg goed – zelfs na 7 jaar wachten. Elke fles is een verrassing!
Drink onmiddellijk of bewaar om de mede te laten rijpen.
Ik denk dat mede geweldige dingen zijn en ik hoop dat jij het ook leuk vindt. Laat me weten hoe je verder gaat met het recept als je het probeert. En als je van de lila tonen van meneer Buckley houdt, luister dan opnieuw. Misschien is er een lied dat Lilac mede heet? Laat het me weten!
Ik bied een kruidencursus voor diegenen die geïnteresseerd zijn in het gebruik van lokale kruiden en in harmonie met de natuur leven, terwijl ze in de stad zijn. Voor meer informatie, stuur een e-mail of bekijk de informatie hier. De cursus wordt online gehouden met wekelijkse zoombijeenkomsten, 1:1 wandelingen en workshops die opnieuw starten wanneer de corona situatie verbetert. De cursus is beschikbaar in het Nederlands en Engels.
Lately, a few friends and family have nudged me about this botanical street chalking that’s going on in Europe right now.
Ann from City Plot gave me a nudge last night which has proved the final straw – it’s clearly time that we start to join in the fun!
Anyone in?
Here are a couple that we did today across town…
Green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens)
Nothing like a name tag to help people realise what’s growing under their noses as they walk around the streets.
Smalle weegree (Plantago lanceolata) Ribwort
Many of us know the value of the plants which most people call weeds. We are passionate about people realising what can be done with plants growing around them and looking after the plants which naturally grow in forgotten spaces.
Grote weegree (Plantago major) Plantain
Mostly, we won’t want to harvest or forage from pavements but those urban herbs and veggies can be a source of free seed, cuttings, starter plants and teaching plants.
Lindenboom (Tilia sp.) Lime tree
Here’s a Greater celandine which I pulled from a pavement crack last week and now grows on my roof for a home remedy and teaching plant. The yellow sap inside has several uses.
It you’re not sure of the name of the plant, feel free to send me a clear photo by What’s app or email and I’ll send you the plant name. 06 275 969 30 urban.herbology.lynn@gmail.com
I’d love to see your labelled plants too and will happily post some photos here, and on the Urban Herbology FaceBook page.
I had a pavement garden put in by the city council, beneath our Amsterdam apartment, soon after we moved here 13 years ago. Such pavement gardens are narrow strips, right up against the buildings, were the pavers get lifted and removed, making the sand beneath available as a planting area for residents. You need to draw up a plan and get written permission from your neighbours, when you request a new one – It was quite exciting I can tell you. Well, my neighbours approved my idea and after the council workers set it up for me, I poured in a couple of bags of compost and planted it up with Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Purple Sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’), Rue (Ruta graveolens)and Lavender (Lavendula augustifolia). Everything in there grew really well, even though the little plot faces full south, is under a bay window and gets little rain. It was a lovely, simple Mediterranean herb garden. The herbs were resplendent and many neighbours would snip off a little Rosemary through the growing season, to add to their cooking. That shrub was enormous and very healthy.
Then last year, things started to go rather pear-shaped in the geveltuin. The mature Rosemary had some damage. More than a little damage, in fact it looked decidedly nibbled all over. Only a few flowers pushed through and the plant looked increasingly bedraggled. We also noticed very pretty, metallic striped beetles on the Rosemary sometimes. Often, when we brushed against the shrub, some of them would shoot off and bounce off the pavings making a characteristic crackling sound. We didn’t realize back then but our Mediterranean herb garden was under attack by the Rosemary Beetle (Chrysolina americana).
This week, enough was enough. The Rosemary looked barely alive and as neighbourhood Rosemary bushes were starting to really bush out with lush deep green new shoots, our looked downright grey. To make matters worse, the Purple Sage was almost gone, the Rue totally desiccated and the Lavender was a shadow of its former self. The beetles were more plentiful than before and my herb garden was no more.
Know your enemy I read up on the Rosemary beetle and planned my counter attack; Hard pruning, taking a few insurance cuttings, enriching the soil and removing the thick blanket of dead leaves (which I was building up beneath the shrubs, out of laziness really). Finally a good drenching with water.
Part way through the pruning operation
Operation Revamp As you can see in the video, I shook out the shrubs onto a bright blanket, placing tumbling beetles and larvae in a glass jar which became enormously interesting to local kids. We had about 30 bugs in there by the end. The leaf layer was totally cleared and I hard pruned all of the shrubs. The Rue had to go, sadly as I loved it and few people seem to grow it these days. However, I was delighted to find that it had spawned a few babies, growing between paving slabs so I hope they will make it in the newly prepared plot. My daughter and I scoured the geveltuin and surrounding area for more beetles and larvae before giving the remaining plants a really good watering and then enriching the soil slightly with a bucketful of spent compost (which I collect from my old rooftop pots). Later, I added a couple of lupin seedlings which I had on the roof, a few radish and beetroot seeds, some potted tulips from the kitchen balcony and some self-seeded Lemon balm, which was growing across the street in the gutter. A cheap and cheerful geveltuin makeover! The project took a few hours and I am satisfied with the result.
Prevention It took me a couple of years to give in to the fact that these pin-stripe armored beetles were beautifully munching through my herb garden and that I was providing them with perfect overwintering conditions. From now on, I intend to keep the plot more open and airy, more species rich and attractive to predatory and pollinating bugs and I will water the plants regularly, especially when they appear to be under pressure. I also plan to place a bird nesting box on the street tree across the pavement and will feed the plants with comfrey & nettle tea, when the mood strikes me.
In the hope that I can help others to spot Rosemary beetle and deal with it more quickly, I made a short video, which you can see here. My daughter and I had fun editing this one so we hope that you find it useful.
Squish or Release? So what happened to the collected beetles and larvae in the glass jar? Well, I did squish one on the pavement in frustration, the day before the clean up operation and I felt really bad about it. Killing them didn’t feel right at all and I knew well that these bugs were here for a while and I had allowed them to get out of control. I needed to help nature to restore beetle balance. After a chat with a gardening friend, I decided that the best solution was release these little beasts into a more bio-diverse area, away from aromatic herbs and where natural predators could feast on them or they had a chance to escape and live among other species of insects. This morning, we took them to a grassy area, close to water and let them go.
Have you got a beetle problem? If so, how are you dealing with it? What would you have done with the captured beetles? Do you have other herby-pesty problems and can you think of better ways for people to keep their herbs healthy? Do let me know as I would love to hear!
Urban Herbology 