Day 1: There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad equipment
A new beginning is always exciting. As was the start of our exchange program in Pau, France.
Pau, has the best view on the Pyrenees, will be one of the first things you learn about this city. Expectations will be correspondingly high and will be met anyway.
On our first day we would meet in Assat, a small town close to the city of Pau, where we would get to know the Conservatoire des Légumes Anciens du Béarn (‚CLAB‘).
The bus stop was easily found, as were our exchange peers for the next days. Raúl and Maria from Sevilla and Barbara and Cecilia from Rome.
CLAB for me seemed like a botanical garden, where rare varieties of plants are cultivated but also local traditions. A place where knowledge is shared and where people meet.
At the arrival we got to know Florence, seemingly the heart and soul of the project and also its director. She gave us a short introduction on herself and the garden and then let us find our own ways through the garden and discover the different multilingual audio stations.
Wandering between different types of known and unknown plants, we discovered so many being still in bloom, even though it were the last days of August. We also found rows of different apple trees. Every single one we tasted seemed to be the most delicious apple ever.
Then rain started, but with a belly full of apples we were ready for a break anyway and so the short movie on the origin and history of the garden was more than welcome.
These were our first impressions of the CLAB when we headed back to Pau for lunch.
The rain hadn’t stopped, so after lunch we decided to visit the Pau Castle, where we would be inside and visit another garden in the later afternoon. During our guided tour of the castle we found out that Henri IV is a hero for the French, but we didn’t really find out why (maybe you need to be French to understand).
After getting to know the Invincible Henri the sun came back out and we were ready for our next garden.
The Jardin Partagé Multivert is located in a part of Pau that used to be a No-Go area, the gardeners tell us, the police would come at least once a week. It is a melting pot of many different cultures which lead to difficulties here. The garden was implemented with the specific aim to include all the diversity of its neighborhood. If new gardeners are chosen it is with the aim of enriching diversity in the community. If I remember correctly, 20 languages are spoken. The garden provoked a change in the whole neighborhood and became a meeting place where everyone is welcome.
We are also welcomed very warmly by Mohamed and Alexis (who used to live in Vienna and is happy to speak German with us). The two men are part of the garden and show us the shared and private spaces and explain how the gardeners organize themselves.
On first sight I would have called the area an allotment garden, because every gardener has his own little area, with a little garden shed and a little fence around it. Not the typical community garden. But it seems like it was just what the neighborhood needed. There is a shared space too, which they cultivate jointly and also organize events together.
Day 2: The garden marathon
Day two started, as all good days should, with an excellent cup of coffee at Mila Bonita Café.
Afterwards we were ready for our journey and the first community garden of the day: Guynemer Garden.
We were welcomed by an older lady with a very accurate haircut, who took the time to show us around her lovely community garden and explain to us how things work around here. The gardeners are organized in an association that has a contract with the city of Pau to be able to cultivate the land. The contract has to be renewed every three years, which is a subliminal stress to everybody. But since the land is no land for building, the community is positive, that they will be able to stay on the land. As in Multivert garden, the community members only pay a very small symbolic annual fee for their beds. There is a common space and also private beds but things don’t seem as strictly subdivided here. Common & private seem to emerge into each other. No fences inside. Very dominant is a big wall which marks one end of the garden. It is historic and therefore cannot be torn down.
This garden is part of the garden trail ‘Tous aux Jardins’ that connects 6 of Pau’s community gardens. A sign at the entrance informs about this project.
After getting to know Guynemer we make our way to the next garden (shortly followed by an excited Chihuahua).
Our next stop is the garden of the youth center MJC Berlioz. It is completely different again and much more than just a garden. The youth center offers many possibilities for young people of the neighborhood to get active. There are dance and acting classes, training in woodwork and metalwork, there are various kinds of events and there is a big garden.
It is quiet today. There is no one around except for the lady (forgot name and occupation in the project unfortunately) to show us around. The area is huge. We come across herbs, fruit trees and vegetable plants. What catches the eye is that the fruit is not harvested, the beds seem more or less wild. We learn that it is volunteers together with young people who take care of the garden. There were only a few volunteers here this year, which is why only the minimum could be taken care of. We nod in understanding. A garden is constant work. We all know.
We come across the most amazing tree house. It was a common project of the young people doing wood and metal work and serves now as an accommodation for the artists during the festivals.
Everything seems to work together here and to contribute to the community. I find it nice to include a garden in such a big project as one possibility for young people to get active and connect to one another.
A few hundred meters further down the road are a few more smaller gardens which were developed as part of the development of this neighborhood together with it’s inhabitants and Berlioz. We see familiar looking wood and metal work. These too were built together with the youth training. Decisions in the garden, like what and where to plant, are made together, we learn.
I see the focus here in engaging people with their environment and to motivate them to take action in designing their own surroundings and thus shaping their city.
We come across laminated pictures of insects and a short information on them. It was a lady living nearby who installed it, I hear and find it utterly lovely.
After our lunch break we walk back to the castle, that we have already visited and a little further down to the river to explore the last garden of the day: Marsan Garden.
It is located right next to the river where you can also find a popular hiking trail. As we approach the garden, we see small beds with herbs and some fruit trees standing freely next to the pathway. On the ground rabbits are hopping around – pure paradise it seems. Also a number of strangely shaped high beds that look abandoned catch our attention. Many questions for our next hosts as we enter the fenced part of the community garden.
As always we are welcomed warmly with hot coffee and three motivated gardeners. We learn that the garden exists for four years only. What looked like paradise in the beginning turns out to be a plague – the rabbits are a big issue for the garden. It is the first time that I hear real frustration when I ask my standard question: do you have a lot of issues with people stealing from the beds? It is a very common problem for gardens in public places and I am always interested in how other communities deal with it.
As the pathway is beautifully located next to the river it is highly frequented and a lot of people that come along help themselves to the vegetables, we are told. Even if they are not ripe yet. The frustration level is so high that the gardeners already abandoned the beds outside the fence and want to move the fruit trees inside. We also learn, that they takes a very close look at the people they let into their community & garden, as they have had bad experiences in the past. The strangely shaped beds outside are strangely shaped because they are accessible for wheelchairs. They were part of a project to include disabled people in gardening. Now they are abandoned. I hear more frustration. It seems to be a good example for a well intended idea that would have needed further support after the implementation. It takes more than beds to create a community garden.
This garden seems to me more like a private garden in the backyard, a rather closed community who has made some bad experiences in the past.
Day 3 & 4: Party at the CLAB
Saturday and Sunday were the days of the big annual celebration of the CLAB. Everyone was very excited and tense because rain was forecast.
When we arrived in the garden it was raining indeed and the last preparations were taken. Florence told us we ere guests today (except for the Spanish who were supposed to help) so we were standing around a bit lost until the program started.
It began with a very interesting lecture on apple trees and how to cultivate them, by Jean-Baptiste. Who seemed to be talking about family members, when talking about apple trees. After his talk inside the house, Jean-Baptiste lead us around the garden to demonstrate us his knowledge in action.
Because of the bad wetaher there were only a few visitors and so the lunch was mainly for the team. Which made it no less enjoyable.
In the afternoon the sun came back out and more guests appeared. We were able to watch the apples being pressed and taste ultimately fresh apple juice. We got to know Monika from Germany who is the chief of the kitchen, where there is always work to do and so the day ended with me making crepes for everybody.
The next day the sun was greeting us promisingly. A wild ride in Nicolas car took us to the CLAB. Today the program was a bit different: in the courtyard there were many different stands where people offered information on their projects or homemade goods and vegetables.
Together with Nicolas we put up the stand on the EU and were able to pass on some useful information on exchange possibilities through EU projects. Since I discovered the day before that there was always help needed in the kitchen, I offered my services and was promptly accepted. So I cut melons until my hands were blistered and it was time to give the presentations on our gardens. One of the program points of today, or the highlight I would say, was us exchange gardeners presenting our home gardens.
Since by that time the weather was great, no one really felt like going inside and so we were mainly by ourselves and only two or three brave outsiders. Still I was enjoying very much hearing about everyone’s projects and telling about mine in my best French. I had brought a photo album I had made after the first year of our garden in Vienna. After the presentation I was told that our garden project was a great inspiration, which warmed my heart.
After lunch there was a talk on the cultivation of wheat and it’s production today in France, followed by the garden-presentations of the Italian and Spanish.
We got a private tour through the garden by Christine and had some time to visit the different stands before it was time to go home and say the first goodbyes.
Day 5: Panta rhei: Everything flows
The last day of our exchange program started, as all days should start, you know by now, with good coffee. It was the day of the debriefing and feedback. To share our impressions and look back on the last four days.
Nicolas spend the morning with us to show us some places where to get nice presents for our loved ones back home. In the afternoon we had time to enjoy Pau for the last time. Unfortunately most shops were closed. We had a good time anyway exploring the hiking trail next to the river we had discovered on our second day.
Then it was time to say our final goodbyes. For now.
