Tag Archives: River of herbs

Proposed dates for 2013 River of Herbs course

Growing herbs, River of Herbs,

Some time ago, 24 people signed up for my River Of Herbs training course, which will take place during 2013. There are no more spaces available at this time. The course is being completely funded by a Dutch government initiative to help the volunteer greeners of this country, obtain training.

I’d like to set the dates for the meetings now. If you are one of the 24, please could you take a look at the dates listed below and let me know if you are able to make them. Either reply to this post in the comments box or email me at Lynn.Shore@gmail.com.

Clearly, I’d like the dates to work for as many of people as possible so please feel free to suggest alternatives. Timings to be 10.30 – 12.30 for all the meetings and the venues will alternate between Oost / Oost Watergraafsmeer (near Park Frankendael, Oosterpark or Linneausstraat along tram 9 route) and Spuistraat (Centrum).

Thank you!

(NB: These dates are not yet fixed)
Sunday 10th February (Oost)
Sunday 17th March (Oost)
Sunday 28th April (Mercatoplein, West)
Sunday 19th May (TBA)
Sunday 30th June (TBA)

Funded River of Herbs Course!

Growing herbs, River of Herbs, , , ,

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation is currently offering a limited number of grants (vouchers) to environmental volunteers who want to follow workshops/trainings in the area of nature and landscape management. If you want to learn how to participate in the River of Herbs project then this could be you!

River of Herbs is an innovative urban green initiative which aims to:

Increase the amount of edible and medicinal herbs growing in urban spaces.
Fill dull spaces with beautiful flowering herbs
Help urban wildlife
Increase food security
Encourage community participation in the care of urban spaces.

I have put together a River of Herbs training course, which you can sign up for and if you apply quickly the package will be totally covered by the available grants. My training course (worth 125Euro per person) falls way below the 1000 Euro maximum voucher request per applicant. I want this project to make a positive impact on the city so I’d love as many people as possible to get involved.

The deadline for applications to the Ministry is November 9th. But if you are interested in this you should contact me immediately so I can group you with others and make the application.

River of Herbs Training Package:
5 practical meetings (each 2 hours and on Sundays, in Amsterdam) covering the following topics, each time we meet. This training will give you the skills you need to confidently set up Urban Herb Meadows, keep them going, use them safely and involve others in the project too.

1. Ethical Urban Seed Collection and Storage
2. Identifying Spaces (tiny and large) for Urban Herb Meadows
3. Preparing, Planting & Caring for Urban Herb Meadows
4. Community Involvement with River of Herbs (sharing, helping, sharing)
5. Harvesting and Safely Using Plant Material from Urban Herb Meadows
6. Internet Mapping of Urban herb Meadow Locations and Blogging
7. Being run by Lynn Shore, each session will also include:
– an Urban Herb Walk
– printed info about the medicinal and edible properties of suitable herbs for the project
– the opportunity to stay in touch via my Urban Herbology Facebook group – a slice of cake now and then!

Please let me know straight away if this is interesting to you. lynn.shore@gmail.com

Dates for the training to be fixed in the next few days but all will be on Sundays, starting in January, to give more people the chance to participate and get this project really flowing through the city!!

Hollyhock Seeds & Fraunhofferstraat

River of Herbs, Seed saving,

Here are some Hollyhock seed heads from the plant which found its way to my geveltuin last year. I harvested one really dry, ripe seed head today and collected the seeds from within. They are beautifully arranged in a wheel-like pattern and are big enough for kids to deal with.

Hollyhock is a biennial, is quite beautiful and can be used to soothe inflammation for such things as cystitis and sore throats and offers a remedy for several chest complaints such as persistent coughs and bronchitis. It is a close relative of Marsh Mallow. Obviously Hollyhocks won’t make a suitable remedy for everyone with a bad chest but it’s a good enough reason for me to want to proliferate them in the city.

I’ll be sewing some of these seeds in nearby tree pits this week and saving others to plant later, just I case the first batch fail.

Since I wrote about the untended tree pits close to my home, on Fraunhofferstraat, they have magically been tidied up! I don’t know when it happened or who did it but every single tree pit now looks really tidy, seems to have been hoed and is ready for seeding or planting! Thank you whoever it was!! I began with sewing some poppy seeds at the weekend and will move a few useful pretty herbs in there, which I find in pavement cracks etc.

Fraunhofferstraat Needs Urban Herb Meadows!

365 Frankendael, Growing herbs

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This street is adjacent to mine and it contains lots of neglected but fertile treepits. Several of them are next to a children’s playground so no one claims them or takes an interest in them. I think these pits could be great as a starter project for the River of Herbs.

They need clearing of the weeds, some edible which have now set seed. Then I’m thinking of sowing some herb seed and planting some small evergreen and perennial herbs that I have surplus on my roof.

When planted I’ll stick a label in there, saying in some way that the tree pits are part of the River of Herbs and the plant species are edible or medicinal but are also for bees and other insect pollinators. That part needs some planning but I hope you get the idea.

So, what do you think? Would you like to help? Do you have other ideas or know of other possible Urban Herb Meadow locations?

Seed Saving for River of Herbs

Growing herbs, River of Herbs, Seed saving, , , , , ,

This morning we were able to eat breakfast on the roof because the weather was so beautiful. After quite a while, when the morning dew had thoroughly dried off the plants, I set about some herb seed collecting with my toddler daughter. Here she is doing a very good job of rubbing dry Chive heads, to release the tiny black seeds into a paper bag. She loved it and we collected lots of seeds in a very short time.

Seeds are usually the cheapest way to make new plants and we will need lots of seeds to make a River of Herbs in and around Amsterdam. So if you are interested in; building up your own herb seed supply, adding more herbs to urban spaces or simply to eat some edible herb seeds – now is a good time to start collecting! I intend to make up little mixed herb seed packets, to sprinkle in prepared Urban Herb Meadow locations.

Different plants flower and seed at different times so keep your eyes open for maturing seed heads on plants you know and keep a clean paper bag or two in your pocket/ bag when you are out and about. You never know when a perfectly ripe Hollyhock seedhead may surprise you!

Today we collected seeds from:
Chives
Borage
Welsh Onion
Calendula
Valerian

I’m off to the park now and hope to find some Garlic mustard seed to save in labelled paper bags. I love eating the leaves of the plant and would like to see it growing in some Urban Herb Meadows in town.

If you decide to collect seed, make sure you only collect when they are bone dry. They will mould and be useless if they are at all damp. With some seeds it’s easiest to shake the seed head into your bag, allowing the ripe dry seeds to fall into the bag. With others, it’s best to snip off part or all of the seed head with scissors, before sorting it out. Generally if it needs snipping off the plant, its not thoroughly dried out but use your judgement. Get them home in a paper bag and then take osome time to pick through and separate out the seeds from debris. Label the seed bags, seal them up and set aside in a p,ace where they will remain fairly cool and very dry until the planting season.

If you want to help with the River of Herbs then also consider the suitability of what you are saving from the project. Plants need to be non invasive (e.g. Mint wouldn’t be such a good idea unless in a hole-free container where it can’t easily escape, Japanese knotweed is clearly a no no as it comketely takes over/ obliterates wherever it grows) and not poisonous. The plants also need to be insect pollinated as one of the main points of the project is to provide insect friendly corridors in and around the city.

I think it unlikely that on your seed saving missions you’d remove all the seed from a plant but just in case it needs mentioning – remember the foraging rules, take only what you need, leave lots and lots! Also, please don’t harvest seed from annuals and biennials growing wild as they rely on them to regenerate next year. The Garlic mustard I am about to collect is a biennial but I’ll take it from locations where it will be completely strimmed away very soon – such as lamp post bases in concrete.

Good places to collect herb seed, from plants you have already identified are:
Your own pots, tubs and garden,
Untended geveltuinen (pavement gardens),
Public places where the council are sure to mow or strim

Good luck with your seed collecting and do let me know how you get on.