R-Urban English

[April 2019]

The series of visits continues! On Thursday 11th of April, we had the pleasure to welcom ea class of geography students from Lancaster University (UK) which were on a study trip to Paris, focussed on the theme of food.  We were honoured to have been chosen to illustrate the alternative practices of urban agriculture. Their teacher and guide, Dr. Benjamin Neimark, had already visited the Agrocité of Colombes with one of his classes in 2016 and we were happy he wanted to came back to see the relocation of this project in Gennevilliers !

[April 2019]

This Wednesday 3rd of April, we had the pleasure to welcome at the Agrocité of Gennevilliers a dozen architecture students from Columbia University (New York). After a presentation of the R-Urban resilience strategy, they have visited the building and the ecological devices that go with it, then we exchanged around composting and the role of chicken farming in ecological strategies.

A great moment of suspense Wednesday, August 1 during the ultimate test: the removal of the soil that held until then the vault of the bread and pizza oven! The month of participatory construction has proved itself: the dome of the oven is absolutely solid!

Le Tour Alternatiba stopped at the Agrocité of Bagneux on Friday 08 June! Inhabitants, associations, elected officials and cyclists were present to celebrate this event. On the program: associative stands on ecological and social initiatives, projection and debates, bicycle repair workshop, concert and multiple exchanges on common themes!

A big thank you to CRAC, Bagneux Environnement, Mairie de Bagneux et Alternatives ValléedelaBièvre for their participation and help!

RECYCLAB will be having an open door event on Friday and Saturday the 4-5 July at Colombes, boulevard d’Achères.
This Eco- Solidarity Platform introduces new strategies for the revitalisation of urban waste through ecological and socially responsible production. It is a space of co-production and work sharing between ‘makers’ of any kind (designers, architects, tinkerers, students, technologists) and a network of local actors. The space is equipped with power tools, a fablab, kitchen, offices and a large terrace under the canopy of a row of trees.

AGROCITE  will also host open door events on the 5-6 July, 4-12 Rue Jules Michelet.
Come to see the garden, participate in guided walks, ateliers, discussions and score yourself a bargain in the grand trash and treasure market where nothing is lost, all is transformed! In this marketplace the currency is ‘trash’ and one person’s trash is another’s treasure! Bring along an object, whether it be a special recipe, crafts, clothes, furniture or something you’ve baked, and exchange it for another.

Last week, Agrocité was host to a cooking atelier ran by Chef Jean Jacques. He taught us how to cook with a whole chicken, leaving none to waste! He also taught us how to use over-ripe and old lettuce in tasty new ways and the arts of food decoration! Many thanks to the chef!

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!

Many things happened during this month of August!
Already initiated by the workshops at the beginning of the summer, the Michelet garden layout went into high gear with the start of construction in the street front. For now, this is still a wide gap, but in early 2013, three small buildings connected by a greenhouse will be ready to host activities related to urban agriculture and local culture.
Many transformations deserved a little explanation! This Saturday, so we met to discuss the second season of the Michelet garden. Sara began by presenting the project, its operation and the new steps to be adopted during the construction period. Indeed, it is necessary for the good of all gardeners as well as construction workers, to respect the limits of the construction site, defined by the red ribbon. We were able to maintain restricted access to the garden during the work, but it is provided that each meets this safety rule. It was also an opportunity to explain the functioning of toilets, set up a micro-economy from the Agrolab (crops are weighed, labeled, and sold at a low price to the people).
We ended the day with delicious potatoes cooked on the barbecue in the garden.

Another week full of changes! Taking after the collective Etc. , the network Eco-Nomadic School has had its turn of work for the Michelet garden.

Eco-Nomadic School is a class project for nomadic and temporary mutual learning and teaching practices of eco-citizens in various parts of Europe. The network, formed by four European partners, meets regularly for workshops in different countries. So it was the turn of AAA to receive the nomadic school.
They found themselves for the week:
– 4 people from FCDL of Brezoi , Romania: this structure is a foundation that promotes local development in rural areas in the Carpathian mountains.
– 4 people Myvillages , Germany, England, the Netherlands: an international network of artists, which focuses on the rural as a space and cultural production.
– 4 people of Agency , Sheffield – United Kingdom: This research center affiliated with the University of Sheffield centers its work on education as a cultural practice.
Also present were, of course, members of the AAA team, organizer of the workshop. This group of people belonging to the European network, joined a dozen volunteers, eager to learn this week, exchange practices and knowledge. We thank them for their invaluable help throughout the week.

All these people come from different backgrounds, and have shared their knowledge and skills: about gardening, carpentry, crafts, earth moving, but also other even more amazing environmental practices. How, for example, keep food fresh on site that does not have a refrigerator? We have dug a hole using the cool soil to keep the costs. Some of us have taught carpentry techniques, while others have taught us to make soup with the “weed” from the garden.

The project took over the one of the Collective Etc and we have not built new facilities, but rather filled, detailed, and completed skeletons built the previous week. There were many small sites: building the inside of dry toilets; determine the solid portions and open portions of structures, then do the cladding; strike the ground and make a ramp of drying planks for the conviviality space; do the roof of the two facilities taking into account the recovery of rainwater, build sunshades to shade on the terrace. Many small sites that allowed the completion of the modules initiated a week before.
But there was also a major initiative, a sort of thread of the week: storage site in anticipation of the construction site of the building facing the street that will begin this summer. The collected materials were sorted, prepared, then stored in the storage space at the end of the plot. The large garden plots were weeded and work has been started on the front slope.

The work of two weeks has transformed the shape of the site, and we are very happy to see the Agrocité gradually emerge on what was still a wasteland a year ago.