Annual coexistence party

Educational garden/community citizen garden

Introduction

The Clab organises an annual party to raise awareness of its educational project, which also serves as a link between the local community, creating a network that sustains the project and its philosophy. It is also a very participative activity that makes the community feel that the project is theirs.

Activity Topic

Environmental education/social cohesion

Organisation

CLAB – Conservatoire des Légumes Anciens du Béarn (Conservatory of Ancient Vegetables of Béarn)

Legal Status

Non-profit association

Year of Establishment

2013

Location

3 bis route du bois, Assat, Aquitaine, France 64510

The project began in 2013 with the aim of supporting the training of adults in the process of reintegration who saw organic farming as a job opportunity. At the end of 2014, based on the work carried out, the association decided to transform the garden into an educational space for schools and society in general. In 2019, CLAB focused its objectives on environmental awareness and education. These objectives were achieved through playful socio-educational activities that emphasised the importance of protecting plant diversity.

The project has grown exponentially from five people at the beginning to 386 active members and volunteers over the years. It currently has 30 volunteers.

The association regularly organises various events and training courses on site and is part of other projects, such as the international Gardeniser project, funded by Erasmus+.

It is also a point of sale for products that are produced on the spot: apples, vegetables from the orchard… or that are made on the spot: compotes, juices, as well as the sale of seedlings and seeds.

Activity Description

Aims and Outcomes

The aim of the annual festival is clear, and that is to make the project visible and to get people to join it. In addition, during this party they raise an important part of the budget to maintain the project for the rest of the year.

The result is undoubtedly successful as it is an event that has been going on for years and it works.

It is a collaborative event from the moment it is organised. Members and volunteers meet to define the programme, set the date and distribute tasks. Once the tasks have been defined, everyone takes action and takes responsibility for their tasks, which is a good exercise in empowerment and makes each person or group of people feel responsible and at the same time part of this project.

The same goes for volunteers and the people who participate with their stalls there.

In addition, they not only offer a party, but they also offer that the people who arrive there feel like one more person and also get to know the space and feel invited to join in.

In addition, the educational garden is a space that plays an important role in raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity, seasonality, local varieties, etc. It is also an accessible space for people with reduced mobility, hearing or sight difficulties. In addition, it is a space adapted to several languages, which makes it even more inclusive.

Implementation Steps

Initial meeting between the driving team.
Meeting with members and volunteers.
Distribution of tasks and organisation of work teams.
Design and dissemination of the communication campaign: posters, dissemination in RRSS, dissemination in the local community.
Procurement of materials for the event: chairs, tables, marquees…
Adequacy of common areas: clearing, cleaning.
Adequacy of the orchard: tree signs, revision of other signs.
Setting up tables, chairs and kitchen space.
Harvesting garden produce for food
Purchase of products that are not available in the garden but are needed.
Preparation of the menu and organisation of the kitchen for cooking.
Cooking of the menu.
Harvesting of apples for juice production. Cleaning and cutting.
Cleaning of the press and juice cans.
Implementation of the juice-making workshop.
Organisation of the talks
Preparing the room for the talk.
Ticket sales
Contact with assistants
Cleanliness of the kitchen and common areas
Collection of all material.

Advantages and Benefits

Among the advantages are the visibility of the project and the possibility of having a significant income to maintain the project thanks to the sale of the meal tickets and the sale of the products from there. In addition, it is a unique opportunity in that the people attending the event can taste the products there.

Another advantage is to be connected to Eramus+ projects that allow the mobility of people from other countries who have experience in other gardens and in the organisation of coexistence days that can be an extra hand in events that are so multitudinous and that need many people to be successful.

Required Competences and Skills

The party is the cherry on top of the project, but it is clear that it is necessary to have the garden ready, so to carry out the garden activity, the people involved need experience in sustainable gardening, as well as experience in the use of tools. They have the support of an external company that occasionally works in the space for clearing and pruning. It is clear that an educational garden needs people with communication skills to convey the message and mission of the project. In addition, it is interesting that they have language skills for the visits that day and others, as it is an area that is visited by people from other countries (in Pau we coincided with many people doing tourism). Organisational skills are also essential for coordinating logistics, managing volunteers and above all for the organisation of the annual festival.

Evaluation

The success was measured by quantifying the number of people attending and through the sale of tickets for the food prepared by the association. Within an hour of serving food there were things that were sold out, such as the vegetarian menu or the cheese sandwich, as an example. In an “informal” way, the organisation spent the whole day measuring satisfaction in a subjective way, getting closer to participants, volunteers and attendees, which makes the event even closer to them. More formally, producers who participated in the market were asked about their satisfaction with the day’s sales.

Conclusions

The party achieved the objective of making the project visible, fostering a sense of community and promoting environmental awareness. It is important to dedicate space to celebrate, because it creates a network and creates links that otherwise would not be possible, and this is a fundamental pillar for the continuity of the projects. It is not usual to celebrate, participation in collectives is usually focused on decision making or conflict resolution, both of which are important but are usually spaces in which there is more chance of confrontation than of rapprochement, which is why I think it is a fantastic idea to dedicate a space for celebration and congratulations for work well done and to show it and share it with pride with other people in the community or those interested in the subject.

Advice / Recommendation

It is difficult for me to think of recommendations because they certainly don’t miss a detail and everything has been thought out and taken care of down to the last millimetre.

In order to make a contribution, I could focus on the importance of doing a good job of communication, both physically with posters and on social networks. It is an ageing group and in a few years it will need a generational renewal. They will achieve this if they approach younger audiences who are interested in the subject matter, but to reach younger people they have to adapt the message and the communication channels to that audience. Have a more updated Instagram profile with publications that have a greater reach.

It would also be interesting if the website could be updated with a more modern design.

A good idea could be to have some kind of photo contest about the party or invite the attendees to upload a photo during the event using some kind of hashtag related to the project (e.g. #agroecology).

Project Number: 2023-1-FR01-KA220-ADU-000153638

The objective of the Gardeniser Academy project is to support the development of community gardens in Europe by offering online training contents tailored to the needs and expectations of gardeners all over Europe.

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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

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