3. The Grand Roux
Dominique Marchais
Filmmaker, he designed and sponsored this garden with the collaboration of Vincent Pozzer, Jon Harlouchet and Arto Gorria.
“The corn kernel is not necessarily yellow, it can be black, orange, white, green… and this on the same ear. One of the beauties of these local corns, still called “population corns”, is to present such a variety between individuals within the same species. It is also this very wide genetic basis that allows them to adapt to the territories and evolve with them, particularly in the face of climate change. The Arto Gorria (Grand Roux from the Basque Country) sown here, consumes less water than the “modern” corns which replaced this variety in the field during the 20th century. This corn is cultivated today by farmers from the Basque Country without irrigation and in organic agriculture. Its crop is dedicated to human nutrition and not animal nutrition. This “population corn”, selected in the field, multiplied and conserved by farmers, exchanged for free with each other, reminds us that seeds, basis of agriculture and thus of our nutrition, are a common good.” Dominique Marchais
The Grand Roux - quai des sports, July 2021 © madd-bordeaux
A meadow flowered with wild species naturally growing in the region is blooming around these corns, sowed by the department of greenspaces of Bordeaux. Their life cycle is linked to the one of the local insects. A few tens of meters away, nine hotels for wild bees have been set up at the Conservatoire, in collaboration with the LPO Aquitaine. This way, these threatened pollinating insects benefit from the proximity of this spontaneous flora.
July 2021 © madd-bordeaux
June 2021 © madd-bordeaux
This garden is maintained by the association Insert'Net.
The association Insert'Net, structure of integration through economic activity, aims at, under Article L. 322-4-16 of the French Labour Code, “allowing people unemployed, facing particular social and professional difficulties, to benefit from employment contracts in order to facilitate their social and professional integration.”
https://www.insert-nettoyage-bordeaux.fr/
The tags of the planters were made by primary schools children of Bordeaux.
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