Nature lovers who venture into the greenery around the city in search of edible plants. Wild picking is on the rise. Wild picking is the collection of mushrooms or plant parts such as berries, nuts and flowers in nature and Anke Wijnja gives courses for this.
In Noord, near the Noorder IJ-Plas, a group of students is ready for a new round through the greenery. “One of the reasons I give it is because I notice that many people actually know very little about the nature around them,” says Wijnja. “People in the city in particular sometimes have the feeling that there is very little nature, but the moment you take a closer look at what is growing around you, you see how much there is.”
Buttercup
But, appearances are deceiving. Not all beautiful things are actually edible, as student Els Wermenbol now knows. “When you see a buttercup here,” she points out, “nicely shiny outside, you think ‘oh, delicious’. They look nice in lettuce or on a knob of butter, but they are very poisonous.”
Course leader Anke Wijnja provides a group of students with all the necessary knowledge and skills about what can be found in nature around us. She has been picking for almost 30 years and she now shares that experience with others. It is important that she states that picking in nature is officially prohibited, but it is tolerated. That is why the pickers work in a specific way. “Where do you pick and what do you pick? Don’t pick everything in one place, is one of the first things you learn. You leave rare things behind or if there is very little of something. When you pick, you pick a bit like a deer eats, so a little from here, a little from there.”
Not for sale
The students enjoy the surprising flavors that they discover in urban nature and they therefore prefer to go into nature with their basket and ignore the shops. “You cannot buy this in the supermarket, because what we eat here is not for sale,” said student Wermenbol. “The taste sensation is different and purer than the ruined herbs from the supermarket.”
Everything is also becoming more expensive in the store, but Anke Wijnja is not afraid that everyone will flock to nature to do their shopping there. “I don’t think it is a means to combat poverty,” she says. “No, because then you really have to get your food out of it, but I do think it can enrich you without costing you money.”