Initiative #1 : Cap Heol and its Garden-Forest (France)
- thesuncyclingodyss
- Mar 17, 2022
- 2 min read
On this first day of adventure, my path stopped in Esperaza for the evening, where I had planned a meeting with the Cap Heol association.
An association originating from Brittany
Created in Lorient, Brittany, in 2005, Cap Heol worked for 8 years on ecovillage projects, but the last one did not happen. Other activities were organized around global health and well-being. In 2014, Céline and Olivier, who were already managing the association at the time, came to live in the Upper Aude Valley after the last ecovillage project was abandoned. They transferred the association there in 2017.
The projects
Today, although the association organizes different types of workshops around wellness and bread making, their main project is a Nourishing Garden-Forest in Montazels, which we went to visit.
A space for experimenting with vegan permaculture, without animal inputs
It all started with the purchase of a 4 ha plot of land. Some neighboring plots could be acquired to enlarge and diversify the space to be managed. This project has two goals - experimental and educational - and is carried out according to the ethics and principles of vegan permaculture. The Forest-Garden represents the completed stage of an edible permaculture ecosystem. More than 600 trees and 300 aromatic and medicinal plants have been planted there since 2018. The plot presents several ecosystems (dry or swampy areas, forest, ruins...) which ensures a great diversity of plant species.
Different cultivation methods are used, such as straw cultivation.
The principle is the following: held by poles with wires to make the plants rise, the bales are watered with nitrogenous fertilizer during several weeks to launch the fermentation, then the cultures are planted. At the end of the season, the bales have decomposed and settled, and are then used as compost for the vegetable garden or mound crops. On these mounds are favored perennial crops requiring very little maintenance. The interest is to raise the soil and to bring good ground, because the soil is very poor.
Laureates of participatory budgets
The Garden-Forest has received several grants thanks to participatory budgets of the department of Aude and the region ("my solution for the climate"). These grants have allowed to cover investment expenses - such as the creation of water retention basins - but also operating expenses and thus to hire Olivier part-time to take care of the Forest-Garden.
Eating plants and planting trees
At the Forest-Garden, everything is an experiment! We are testing different crops or plantations, including trees that usually grow further south, to adapt to climate change. The association wishes to reforest the plot, if possible in a nourishing way. The first trees were planted in 2018 and are still quite young, so they give little fruit for now. Several tree or hedge planting assignments have been carried out in partnership with associations ("Arbres et Paysage 11", a program to rehabilitate biodiversity corridors) or schools, and it is also possible to sponsor a tree.
An evening under the theme of plants
After this great visit, a meal 100% vegetal was organized in the premises of the Cooperative of Ecological Transition, followed by a moment of exchange and sharing with the people who came to discover my project. A big thank you to them for these beautiful moments together :)
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