Hi everyone,
I also live in Amsterdam; in noord, right next to Noorderpark. I love this park; it’s full of lots of different plants; hazel, nettles, walnut, willow, roses, chestnuts are ones I recognise. Some great oaks, lots of berries. It’s relatively quiet, popular with dog walkers, and intersected by a busy highway and metro station; I often wander what the air pollution is like around the busy road and on the metro platform. There’s a swimming pool at one end also, and a fair amount of litter (grrr).
I have a friend who’s into foraging here in NL – he also replants elders – but I don’t know otherwise. I met a child collecting chestnuts by the park.
I once collected wild garlic with two friends in Amsterdam bos (forest) and we were shouted at by a park attendant to stop. It really annoyed me; we were being very careful, taking leaves from different plants in huge patches.
A few months ago I did a little research on herbalism here in NL and it sounds like a lost art – but perhaps I wasn’t searching properly! I found this short paper, if anyone’s interested: http://www.ethnobotany.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/EB-Ass-Traditional-and-modern-herbalism-2001-allpict.pdf They claim that the lack of folk herbalism historically is partially down to NL’s rationalist and scientific history, and knowledge being lost and not replaced, although many books have been published in recent years (around 2001) about the uses of herbs.
I could easily imagine that we’re in a period of revival…