NEW- Café associative and Thursday lunches at Agrocité!
Agrocité has started a café associative with coffee available every Monday to Saturday, and meals available every thursday!
COFFEE
Fairtrade coffee is available from 12h – 18h Monday-Saturday at 80 cents a cup. We are currently using Feral Trade Coffee, sourced from Mexico and brought to Agrocité through social networks, outside of commercial systems by Kate Rich, an artist and ethical trader aiming to make transparent the transactions and costs involved in the trade process. Check out the label on the back of the packet to learn about the different hands your coffee has gone through!
(http://www.feraltrade.org/cgi-bin/courier/courier.pl)
Other beverages are also on offer for 80 cents, such as our refreshing Agrocité-made elderflower syrup which perfect to relax in the garden with on a hot summer day! Locally made cakes and treats depend on availability.
MEALS
Each Thursday from 12h-14.30h, a unique, healthy meal will be made using vegetables of the garden. One plate costs 5 euros and numbers are limited so it is important to get there early. While you eat you can read about how the meal is benefitting your body and learn some helpful food facts to improve your health and nutrition, or if reading is not what your after at a lunchtime, you can sit under the pagola in the garden and embrace the serenity of nature. We also have an option of take away for those with limited time, especially if you bring your own tupperware!
The premier lunch was a hit with great reviews from customers. We made Chard and Chickpea curry, served with rice, a cucumber, mint and yoghurt raita and the option of a fresh and flavourful salad. In the images below you can see diners enjoying their meal, the nutritional information tablet provided, and two lunches packaged to go.
beekeeping ateliers at Agrocité
From June 4 to 7, the beekeeping season officially began at Agrocité, with initiation workshops into the arts and lives of bees! Workshops were run by Alain, a local beekeeper who has developed a small apiary, allowing interested inhabitants to learn and practice with him.
Workers, the queen, drone, swarming, queen cells, nectar, pollen, honey, propolis are all a part of what keeps bees busy and what nourishes our planet… It is in a spirit of respect for the bee and their needs that is crucial to beekeeping, as Alain has instilled in us. We thank him and invite interested parties to make themselves known because the magic of beekeeping has only just begun!
Beekeeping workshop at Agrocité – 4-7 June 2014
Come all to learn the ABC of bee keeping!!! We have bee hives at Agrocité where you can apply your new knowledge and skills!!
From June 4 – 7 2014, Mr. Camizuli, a local bee keeper in Colombes has proposed to give us a lesson in the sweet arts of bee keeping at Agrocité!
The programme consists of two parts;
– One part theory; where we learn the history of beekeeping, the life of bees, the life of their hives, the work of the bee keeper, the complex and mutually beneficial relationship between plants and bees, and the products of the hive.
– One part practical; where you get a chance to visit the bee hive and discover the tools of the bee keeper!
The workshop runs for one and a half hours, including time for questions and answers at the end.
The course will cost 5€ – to register write to us to indicate which session you are interested in:
– Wednesday 4 June at 11am – 12.30pm
– Wednesday 4 June at 3pm – 4.30pm
– Thursday 5 June at 11am – 12.30pm
– Saturday 7 June at 11am – 12.30pm
We look forward to seeing you there!
Meet our chickens for the ‘Rendez-vous aux Jardins’
On Saturday 31 of May, during the scheduled ‘Rendez-vous aux Jardins’, come and visit the small urban farm at Agrocité between 3pm and 5pm with your children and toddlers!
At 4pm, come to a meeting held by two chicken hobbyists and enthusiasts, to learn about the life and diet of chickens. Our special teachers are there to answer all of our questions about our new feathered friends!
Entry is free and open to all!
Eco-Commun#9 – The Potato Perspective- Asa Sonjasdotter
On the 17 of May 2014 at 6pm, Agrocité is hosting a presentation by the artist Asa Sonjasdotter as part of a collective action tracing the history and progresion of potatoes in urban and peri-urban agriculture during the French Revolution period. Through her work, Asa is reintroducing potato varieties that are forbidden from being cultivated and circulated freely today!
Come and support their work!
Workshop : Discover essential oils and vegetable oils!
New Residents at agrocité : birds and bees
Agrocité has become new home to a collection of beautiful chickens and busy bees!
Eight chickens have recently inhabited the coop located towards the back of Agrocité. As you can see from the pictures below, these chickens are no ordinary chickens! They come in different shapes and sizes, colours and textures- some feathered and some fluffy, some with hair like mohawks while others with hair on feet!
The three hens pictured below arrived on the 12th of May and have already began laying beautiful eggs (which are for sale at agrocité’s non-consumerist shop selling delicious local produce)!
The other five chickens (pictured below) arrived a week later and are younger in age, meaning they havent began laying and are still a bit shy in their new home. These chickens were given to us by a local chicken appreciation society who will soon hold an educational workshop to teach us about our new feathery friends, including how to take care of them, their different personalities (what they like and dont like), the different breeds of chickens as well as answer any questions you might have!
Keep an eye and ear out for the chicken workshop- date is soon to be announced!
The other, less cuddly but nonetheless important, residents of Agrocité are the bees! Given to us by Alan the local beekeeper, this swarm of bees have been busy settling into their new surroundings, tasting the springtime flowers and making delicious honey! More hives are to arrive in the coming weeks.
We have built an area so you can come and watch the bees do what they do from a safe enclosure, while you are free to enter the chicken coop and say hi to our new feathered friends!
See you soon!
Agrocité the greenhouse
Agrocité is coming to life! We are finally using the building for one of its original purposes: as a greenhouse!
Currently growing is a selection of squash, zucchini, tomatoes, cabbage and lettuce! With new seeds sprouting each day, you can really watch life unfurl before your eyes..
Tajine workshop
On Saturday April 12th, local residents Abdel and Benôit held a tajine making workshop at Agrocité!
The day begun at 10am with headchefs teaching us the chopping, ordering and flavouring of tajine construction. At around 11.30am we prepared a barbeque of sorts, from reclaimed materials, and set them cooking until 2pm while we all sat around and watched, chatted and played in the garden.
Six tajines were made and shared between over 20 people. It was a beautiful spring saturday full of sunshine and happy bellies.
Ingredients and method:
In a large bowl mix together chicken wings (around 5 wings per tajine), a long drizzle of olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, fresh coriander, ground coriander, cumin, paprika and salt. Mix it with your hands until the chicken is well covered in spices.
Arrange the chicken in tajine base in a circular pattern, fanning outwards.
Chop into long shards potato, carrot, green and red capsicum. Arrange on the chicken fanning in a similar fashion (see pictures). Follow with the tomato.
Sprinkle a couple of handfuls of raisins, a handful of olives, fresh coriander, some of the spice mix and four prunes on top.
Put the lid on the tajine and cook until juicy and tender, check to be sure the chicken is cooked.
Enjoy!