De France jusqu’en Mongolie à vélo, à la rencontre de personnes inspirantes qui pensent et façonnent le monde différemment.
From France to Mongolia by bike, meeting inspiring individuals who think and shape the world differently.
SITE WEB : www.projetvirgule.com
INSTAGRAM : projet_virgule
Soutenez le projet / Support the project on Tipeee
https://fr.tipeee.com/projet-virgule
CREDIT :
Compagnie Fractal : https://www.facebook.com/people/Compagnie-Fractale/100063493283968/
Turkey Sisters : https://turkeysisters.wixsite.com/2023
Armutan : https://www.armutan.com/
Brothers from other fathers : https://brothersfromotherfathers.bandcamp.com/album/the-lost-siblings
Luca Trevisan : https://lucatrevisan.bandcamp.com/album/no-more-soundless
You have to always be drunk, it’s all there, that’s the only question. To not feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your shoulders and bends you towards the earth. you must get drunk without respite. But of what ? Wine, poetry or virtues as you wish, but get drunk!
From France to Mongolia by bike. This idea has been brewing in me for a long time. Over the past ten years, I have had numerous volunteering experiences around the world. Cook in an eco-village, on a private island in Cambodia.
Make bamboo bungalows and participate in the rice harvest, in a Karen village, in the north of Thailand. Helping to restore a hotel devastated by the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. Living in the mountains of Chichibu in Japan with a kimono restorer. Working in a sled dog kennel in northern Quebec, Canada.
Or learn the basics of carpentry in the Yukon, near the border with Alaska. I am intrigued by travel, meetings and new experiences. Through this documentary, I want to share with you this new adventure which is beginning for me. The goal is to stop working on the road in many countries as a volunteer.
Mainly in what we call eco-places. Show you all these beautiful alternative projects for the most part, based on mutual aid and which tend towards self-sufficiency. But also all the inspiring encounters I would have on the road. People who put meaning into what they do. whether they are artists, farmers, restaurateurs, travelers or nun.
As long as there is a flame in their eyes that arouses my curiosity and challenges what I think I know about the world. Despite the ambient gloom of our times, initiatives are flourishing all around our beautiful planet. Let’s discover them together, slowly but surely.
After a last coffee surrounded by the people I love. The time to leave has come. I follow the Ille et Rance canal towards Rennes, from where I will join the Nantes to Brest canal towards Nantes. My first big stop will be the Bordeaux region in Gironde.
From there, the talented Chloé Spick will come pick me up and I will take the bike again from Toulouse. These first 600 km will serve as a break-in for me. The first test with the loaded bike was done yesterday at 10 p.m. and we can’t really say that it was conclusive.
One of my saddlebag clips has already broken under the weight. I take on board a total of not far from 45 kg. I already know that I’m going to have to lighten up on the way. To arrive in Gironde, I will cross part of Île-et-vilaine, Loire Atlantique, Vendée and Charente Maritime.
Short morning break after 25 km. Make yourself a little tea, relax. After a few days and after a first puncture, my front derailleur cable broke. I am near the town of Luçon in Vendée. I call a repairer who is in the village. He agrees to take a look during his lunch break.
He also gives me valuable advice and makes some modifications to the bike. Thanks to Philippe. First guardian angel of travel. He refuses to let me pay him, it’s his way of encouraging me and supporting my project. I alternate between bivouacs and cycle touring sites in municipal campsites.
With the crazy heat that’s happening right now, I’m taking advantage of it. In a few months I will no longer be able to rely on campsite showers to wash myself. The days go by and a new routine sets in.
Riding, cooking, planning my routes, reading, listening to music and trying to familiarize myself with my video equipment. Back to simple things. We always have something to cheer us up. A little local wine, organic of course, and a little meal coming up. There you go, life is that simple.
The land has been particularly flat since I left. This allows my body to gradually get used to this new effort. The heat is stifling but the movement of the air generated by the bike refreshes me. Some days I can drink up to 5 liters of water.
I come across quite a few cyclists on the roads I take. It’s not uncommon to drive for several kilometers side by side, chatting about everything and nothing. Cycling brings people together and makes it easy to get in touch with people. One day a cyclist in his sixties gets down to my level,
He begins a long monologue which he finishes after 5 minutes. He looks at me, he greets me and he disappears. Very entertaining… I can’t count all the encouragement I receive day after day. Sometimes people shout messages of support to me, without even knowing where I come from or where I’m going.
The children look at me with amazed eyes and wonder what a guy is doing on a bike with so much weight. Sometimes I wonder that too, but it doesn’t last long. It is under a blazing sun but with a very refreshing light breeze that I arrive in La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast.
I am happy to finally see the sea, to hear the sound of the waves, to smell the iodine. I thought I could do around a hundred kilometers a day but I realize that it’s going to be very complicated with my lack of training and the weight I’m carrying around,
I don’t want to hurt myself from the start. I take advantage of a friend stopping by to see me on the way to take off a little weight. My hammock, my Italian coffee maker, straps, two books and two or three other trinkets that I should be able to do without.
Knowing what to take with you when traveling is always an interesting exercise, you quickly realize that what you thought was the bare minimum is already too much. For the moment I haven’t yet decided to get rid of my chair and my folding table. But I know it will happen.
A gentle transition in redefining my comfort. Well, too hot to ride… One of the negative points when traveling alone by bike is that it is not easy to go sightseeing. I always have to have an eye on my two-wheeled house and all my belongings. So I generally restock in the villages.
There is less risk in leaving the bike for 10 minutes in front of a supermarket than in front of a large supermarket in a shopping area. This ultra-vigilance is not always pleasant to experience. traveling by bike a great feeling of freedom, but can be limiting in certain aspects.
But hey, no freedom without constraint. 34 degrees in the shade, a little difficult to take off there. Small bivouac to celebrate “one week” of the adventure. At the seaside with a small bottle of Médoc, all baby ooh And off we go again for the adventure!
After this superb night facing the island of Oléron, direction Meschers-sur-Gironde to the south of Royan. The landscapes of Charente Maritime are magnificent. Tomorrow I will close the first stage of the trip. I would have covered around 600 km in 9 days.
The bike clearly needs some small adjustments and I need to buy some saddlebags. This will teach me to buy poor quality used equipment. A little pang in the heart, it had been painted by the artist Breton Héol just before my departure.
Good when you wake up and your tarpaulin is a little bit wet. But fortunately you had the good idea to put the battery to recharge under the tarpaulin, and yes you never know eh… I welcome the first rains of the trip with joy, this will surely be less the case this winter.
Here I am in Gironde, only about thirty kilometers left before being picked up by Chloé and taking the road to Lavaur near Toulouse. I met Chloé a few months ago, she is a great source of inspiration for me, a strong woman with a multitude of talents and passionate about what she does.
I like the way she talks about her job and the way she looks at life. I’m Chloé, I’m an actress, singer, stilt walker and lots of other things. I live in the southwest of France, I am 35 years old and I am also a mother.
I would say that I am a curious, thirsty, greedy, and that I see the world a little bit like a treasure map, like a big playground and I tell myself that I will never have enough of a lifetime to do, learn and discover everything that this world can offer us ,
But I still try a little and without getting too frustrated. I navigate more in art, in live performance. But I’m also really interested in cooking, in the garden, in traveling, and the arts in general, music, dance, theater, visual arts.
I also really like hiking and animals, even if my job doesn’t allow me to have this aspect in my daily life. I also really like spending time with the children. My job is art, it’s theater, it’s music, it’s the relationship with the body, dance.
I’ve been doing this for 15 years, I’ve always done this, I don’t have the impression of having chosen too much, rather of throwing myself into it because he had no choice and if I have to position myself a little in the
Entertainment professions, I would say that I am more in the artisan side; the little ones, the needy ones. I don’t need Zenith or large gauges, what interests me is simple, direct, true, sincere contact with people and whatever the artistic form that is emitted,
It is the link that interests me, vibration. If we want to use bad words. There you go, the show, for me, is a place where I feel alive, vibrant, and there is a kind of sacred element, for me, in that, because it is a moment of communion in fact, it’s a moment when
We emit something that carries us, that we like, we vibrate with colleagues and we vibrate with the people opposite (when it goes well because it also has failures) It’s a mediums that make me vibrate in fact there is no other thing to say about it.
Afterwards, in concrete terms, I’ve been part of a trio for 8 years now called the “Turkey Sisters” That doesn’t mean the Turkish sisters, brush up on your English and come see us on the web, or in real life! It’s an a cappella polyphony trio so we sing without instruments and in three
Different voices and all three of us are also actresses and we have several repertoires and our niche is a little bit like the Martines. You see Martine at the beach Martine at the farm. We make somewhat cliché repertoires: Christmas carols or
Love songs and we are going to divert that as much in the musical style as in what we do with it in what we tell and we go a little through all colors all states. We will go from laughter to tears,
From sensitive things to very funny things. From classical repertoires to much more rock and roll things. And it’s a project that I love and which is in my little heart and it’s been going on for a long time and it’s pretty.
Then I have a storytelling and Qi Gong project with a colleague where we take people into nature for half a day, we will tell them tales from the world, about trees, ancient wisdom like that which really resonates. on our condition
As human beings and our relationship to nature, to our nature with these strong roots. And then we’re going to put them again with Qi Gong, so this traditional Chinese medicine, This gentle gymnastics which will integrate a little bit of everything we’ve seen in the tales and moreover
We also tell a little bit about the trees, their functioning and we’re exploring that a bit so it’s a bit of a weird hybrid project but we believe in it and it’s going to be very nice. And I also have a trio
There which is on track which will be released in spring 2024, which is called la vagabonde. The wanderer will be profane or sacred prayers of the world. We have around ten languages and we will say prayers to the Virgin as well as to the storm, to love, to courage. There are
Several things like that which are songs of celebration and wishes which bring love, gentleness and virtue. There you go, it can sound a little serious but actually no, the three of us also laugh a lot. Looking forward to meeting, meeting you and exchanging a little more.
On the way on the Canal du Midi, finally along the Canal du Midi because on the Canal du Midi, by bike it’s a bit of a hassle… These few days with Chloé, we recharged my batteries. Beautiful visits to the region, good meals and exciting exchanges. the Canal du Midi offers magnificent landscapes.
Despite the numerous barges and boats, a great calm reigns there. I come across a few walkers and cyclists but fewer than I expected. It’s okay with me. I feel that my body is already getting used to cycling, I’m enjoying it more than at the beginning.
Heading towards Carcassonne where I booked a night with a local. Alex welcomes me warmly at the end of the day. His house overlooks the medieval city. During a discussion, he explained to me that he was scammed out of more than €30,000 during a gold sale transaction between individuals that apparently went wrong.
An incredible story that was quite hard to believe until he showed me his complaint and the various documents that support his story. I’m heading towards Montpellier, Pérols exactly, with the wind in my face for 2 days. I return to my routine as a solitary traveler. Bike, hot meals, sleep. All naked!
I want to stop by a couple of friends who are dear to me: Flora and Ezequiel I met Flora 7 years ago, on “Nomad’s Land”, an eco-village on a private island in Cambodia, in the Gulf from Thailand. We volunteered as cook/pastry chef.
A year later, we found ourselves living together on the beautiful island of Waiheke Island in New Zealand. Working in an Italian bakery that supplied bread and pastries for the island’s wineries and restaurants. We met Ezéquiel, originally from Argentina, during a small concert in a bar where we were accustomed.
Today they are married and it is always a pleasure to see them again. Also happy to see the Mediterranean. After two nights with my couple of friends I hit the road again through the Camargue and the Alpilles.
Since the beginning, I have been devoured by mosquitoes but now it takes on a new dimension. I even get stung in the middle of the day on the bike when I’m stationary. there are many ponds and marshes in the Camargue, with the high temperatures it is an explosive cocktail for mosquitoes.
Global warming would also amplify the phenomenon. When you live outside it quickly becomes hell, I wanted to do without repellent but now it becomes essential if I want to keep my spirits up. In the Alpilles, I pass through Fontvieille, discover the mills of Alphonse Daudet and the castle of Montauban.
Symbol of the writer and his work. I spend two days there to rest and head towards the Luberon. I’m really excited to get to this area. No more flat roads, hello hilly terrain. While I had reserved a pitch for my tent at the Luberon campsite in Apt,
The manager wanted to offer me two nights in a wooden bungalow on the heights of the campsite, with a private jacuzzi on the terrace. She likes my project and wants to give me a little comfort. Another guardian angel, the Luberon is home to real little treasures.
Like the ocher trail, a path laid out in old quarries with their blood and gold cliffs. Or the Colorado Provençal, also old open-air ocher mines. The next big stop is the Mercantour, to see Laurent, a long-time friend, with a truly inspiring life story. Some problems arrive on the way, I missed it…
Hello my darling, how are you? Shit !!! So what is chef Laurent cooking? carrots with Garrigue thyme, which we picked from the ground. Small bivouac and Lolo sleeping like a commando, impeccable. Are we not okay with that? Laurent joined me on the road to camp with me for several evenings.
During the day I ride and in the evening we meet up. We remake the world, we cook good meals and we open good bottles. I cross the town of Les Mées and these large cliffs of more than 100 meters. A geological curiosity which overlooks the village for more than 2 km.
The Alpes-de-Haute-Provence offer incredible landscapes. Small bivouac spot for this evening. Here we are going to settle down quietly but it’s not bad! Last bivouac in Barcelonette in the Hubaye valley.
Tomorrow we will load the bike into the car to go up to the Col de la Bonette at an altitude of 2800 m, the highest asphalt road in Europe. It is always difficult for pride to have to load the bike into the car.
But you have to be realistic, I can’t climb as high as I am loaded down. And I still need my knees all the way to Mongolia. the Mercantour offers lunar panoramas, I am in love with this region. From the Col de la Bonnette you can see Tinée, Mont Pelat and even Italy.
We take the road again to do the last 15 kilometers to arrive at Laurent’s house. Hello, so I’m Laurent. Laurent Le Quemener, I am almost 42 years old. As my name suggests, I am of Breton origin and therefore a native of Rennes,
And I quickly left the Rennes suburbs at the age of 18, I enlisted, I was a soldier for 10 years in the infantry of marine in the Chad Marching Regiment. I grew up in a family of cooks.
Cooking has always followed me because of the friends I have had. Just after the army I resettled in Reunion and there, with the person I was with at the time, I rediscovered this taste, this motivation in fact and this pleasure of cooking, so simply in fact , I think that
The basis of cooking and the profession, of craftsmanship, is to do things for yourself and to succeed in having fun. The job isn’t easy, it’s not a job where I said to myself, hey, I’m still going to stay there for a long time even though I was very happy with it,
And in the end, no, I went back to training. I, who spent 10 years in the marines, traveled often, I had this chance and then on my own I settled in Reunion. As I said before, we came here for a business and on top of that we gained a crazy living environment.
Being myself: shorts, palm tree, coconut tree, well it’s still crazy here. So the mountain here has a real side and this intensity, these large spaces which at the same time are confined by the foothills of the surrounding mountains. Then this simplicity in the end. We have to admit, we have complications everywhere,
In big cities, in small villages, there is always a balance in fact. Isolation, in fact, I have already experienced it in different conditions, in the context of my former job precisely where I spent a month in the equatorial forest in Guyana,
Not far from the village of Kayodé. For me, this positioning is that it’s a great pleasure, It’s a great pleasure. Here, we often say, tourists are the ones who make us live, we are happy that they are here. 99% of the people who come here are very well behaved.
And it’s like everything in life, it only takes a small percent for it to go bad and we generally only remember them. But whatever happens, we live with tourists but we love the end of the season, for our holidays, but also for the calm found, this tranquility.
Right there, I’m sitting on a bench, there’s not a person dressed in fluorescent who’s going to pass by with their poles and then they have the right, I mean, if they pass, it’s with pleasure, but it’s It’s true that maybe, like that, I’m a bit of a bear.
Maybe it’s my bear side that likes it here. So the concept of the restaurant is not complicated. Propose an offer that will logically please as many people as possible. And it’s actually a restaurant. except that it’s a bit forgotten.
We have people who tell us: wow that was good! It was good ! However, it’s something great… we didn’t go to many restaurants when I was young with my parents, but we made good ones. My father being a cook and my mother who cooked like crazy,
There were very good meals at home. But whatever happens, there are different approaches in catering, like workers’ catering, where people go there because it’s a break from work, but the workers who operate, the workers’ restaurants which operate are restaurants which generally offer
Honest, home cooking. And that’s a term: honest cooking in fact. It won’t be more expensive. Obviously, we’re not here to provide free services, we have to make a living from that, but people have to feel wronged, not robbed. And I think that our concept,
Without even having chosen it, what perhaps differentiates us from certain people on the right or left, is that we do everything to be honest, we do everything to be honest. We question ourselves at every moment, we review our prices if we consider them too high, for example.
We review our quantities and then we come and inquire directly with our customers to find out how things are going. Apparently we have a good thing that works well. Four starters, four main courses and four desserts. For my part, I take care of the starters, knowing that I am a cook.
I make the starters and dishes, I send them etc… Estelle, my partner, is in the dining room, she welcomes the customers etc… She also makes the pastries. She is the one who produces the pastries from A to Z
And sends them. I want to clarify because the lady will surely see the report so if I don’t explain that, I’ll get yelled at. So there you have it, starters generally, we try to add a little fish. Which may be surprising in the mountains, but we actually have quite a few
Local people who come and who also don’t have the comfort of going down to Nice several times a month to eat fish. So we do it. We raise fish, people are super happy, and even most tourists, or people passing through, also like to have scallops when it’s in season. Salmon fillet when available
Or trout. We still manage to have fairly decent products. Please note that we don’t really make luxury products. That’s not what we do. We try to have a price range that is not too excessive. Although at the moment it is becoming more and more
Complicated. Then there you have it, you have to manage to make a living from it etc… There is still working time and a lot of things. You have to try to find a balance.
In my starters I have a lot of fun in the dishes we have a lot of fun too but afterwards it’s much more restrained. For our four courses, we always have steak and fries, which here we call Tagliata. It’s not really a word but an expression which means to cut
Into strips. That’s when talking with my neighbors and other people it still came back quite a bit. I said to myself, well, as long as you make a steak and fries, it still farts! So generally we take rump steak heart, we take appellation meats.
So this meat, cooked in pieces, left to rest a little. Re-snack in large slices and then re-mark on each side for the desired doneness. Served on a small bed of arugula with homemade balsamic vinegar. Besides, I make raspberry balsamic, it’s not bad, it balances. And here are little candied tomatoes,
We put some good peppers, some small fried onions. And on the side I make homemade ketchup and fries. Nice quantity of home fries too. So it’s still cool, it remains a simple product but made with honesty. We don’t release hits all over the place, things
We haven’t tasted. What are we trying to do well? No one refuses the “homemade” approach. On the contrary, many are surprised. Sometimes some people don’t want ketchup and then during a meal, because they have tasted their neighbor’s ketchup, they will ask me for some. Because in
Fact, well, my ketchup isn’t ketchup but hey, it’s ketchup all the same… And at the end afterwards we always have a gratin, so at the moment it’s true that it’s very much duck “parmentier hash”. I can assure you that even at 35° under a parasol at midday we have customers who enjoy a
Very hot “shepherd’s pie”. And that’s it, and then we’re going to make two more elaborate dishes. Meat dishes as a priority, we do vegetarian but not too much. Generally when we are asked for vegetarian,
We make it with the vegetables we have and starchy foods. Please note that I generally have 5 to 6 different vegetables set up. So then we add a little more, we mesh, we always try to please. But here are these two dishes prepared, we will say that summer is
Mainly meat and fish. Winter it depends. And then we start with dishes that are a little simple but always with a little something that changes and I like making sauces. We focus a lot on the protein and the sauce, then what goes with it are vegetables. So vegetables, when they are simple, they
Always go well. And the sauces, afterwards, we can make a coffee sauce or a coconut milk sauce for example. Coconut milk, curry, lime with a little sea bream, even with trout goes really well. It’s not necessarily what I discovered while traveling that I put in my kitchen.
What I discovered in my travels I put into myself. Limit when I make a Rougail, I think of myself as a Creole. When I eat chili… I make the stuff my own, then yes, it inevitably ends up in what I do. We take inspiration from everyone.
And everyone has their own life. Everyone has their journeys, everyone has their own thing, and when you’re lucky enough to come across a real cook, a dish made by a cook, there’s always something. So the three marmots well because there are three of us. Estelle Arthur and myself.
And then marmot because there aren’t too many dolphins in the area, nor giraffes. The choice was made quite quickly. I’m really happy and moved to be interviewed, behind you I don’t know you, sorry but maybe we’ll get to know each other one day, with pleasure,
But here it is, to be interviewed by Théo. Theo is a friend. A real friend in fact, and that’s why, it’s because he’s real that he’s a real friend, not a facade friend. A friend in time. We don’t see each other much but when we see each other it’s good.
And there you have it, as we already talked about, in all friendship, I love you. my friend’s words warm my heart, that’s good I need it this evening, we’re having a last bivouac together on the Col de la Lombarde at an altitude of over 2000 meters.
Temperatures are starting to cool down. This superb week spent with Laurent and his partner Estelle is a turning point in my trip. Small bivouac place for this evening. Col de la Lombarde with a small campfire coming up and there you go. Never again !
I cross my first border and I go back down the Alps to Italy. It’s sunny and finally it’s cold. I needed it. I have two days to drive before arriving at “Casa Rotta”, the first eco-place in which I will work as a volunteer. It’s located in Piedmont, a small village
Called San Bartolomeo. On the road to get there, I met several Italians who asked me to tell about my journey and took the opportunity to take a few selfies alongside me. The Casa Rotta and Nuevo Rotte project was born about ten years ago.
We started by renovating a house which was really broken, which was destroyed, which had a hole in the roof, had no electricity, no toilets only the walls which were really old From the 17th century. The idea was to create a social place where we could live together and above all work
On the renovation of a building using waste, materials that normally had to be thrown away. We wanted to create a sort of model. To think that it is possible to renovate a house with all the materials that people throw away like doors, windows
But also furniture, a lot of wood. Lots of materials that are normally waste. The idea of circularity, therefore of the circular economy but also, after the meeting with Stefano and Ivana we also wanted to add the agricultural part. Firstly, we created small vegetable gardens for our own consumption.
So vegetables and fruits for us. Then we also decided to create a biodynamic farm to continue the work that Stefano had started on biodiversity, on the diversity of vegetables and fruits. Working on the fertility of the soil and also by creating what he calls the agricultural organism, that is to say an organism
Which does not need external inputs but which is safeguarded thanks to the fact that it is in good condition. That is to say that the fertility of the soil helps a lot in not having too many attacks of parasites, diseases etc… And then there are agroforestry areas
Which also help. For example the use of hedges for birds, for all the allies of good agriculture which help not to have a sick system but a healthy system which is self-protecting. The idea was also a social idea. That is to say, working together on small events
To also tell and broadcast this type of life. That it’s not about being hippies or people who are outside the world to make choices and so we have told this way of life over the years. Even if we have children. We are families
And even if we also have outside jobs, we have not left everything to lead this type of life. We continue our own professions but we also work and live together. We do agriculture, we create small events to tell people that this type of model is possible and
Also to tell people about other life choices that are a little different and also to do cultural actions. Courses on how to, for example, cultivate, for example make bread with sourdough. So a little holistic let’s say, not just on a theme but on what interests us. Afterwards we always try to spread it
With small events. Together the farm, the association and the families we are also part of other associations, thanks to which we also have collaborations and we also draw inspiration from them. For example the national network of Eco-villages which is called “rive”. You will find more
Information on “ecovillage.it” if you are interested. And “workaway” and also Italian woofing. But also other networks, for example we are next to the headquarters of “Slow Food” so we sometimes collaborate with the University of Gastronomic Sciences or with Slow Food. There are also other more local networks with which we collaborate, so
The theme of the network is very important because it allows us to always be in contact with other people who are going in the same direction and with whom We sometimes also try to fight or do actions that would not be easy if we were alone.
We have also done quite a few actions, for example, to save the rivers here, because there are two rivers which are a bit abandoned from an environmental point of view, so we have carried out actions with this entire network. there to try to have more attention on this
Type of environment which is a little abandoned, we find a lot of waste unfortunately. But also other activities or other actions such as for example when there were a lot of immigrants who were in the territory, we tried together to collect
Clothes and bicycles, we also helped them by creating events to ensure that local people get to know them and have human exchanges with these people. We also welcomed them into our home because they had problems finding accommodation. There are lots of things that we have done for years according to the
Needs of the territory. Now there are around twenty people in the project, more or less. There are 6 children, and the rest are adults. Afterwards there are always volunteers, here in the collective house or on the farm. And so there are quite a few people coming and going.
It also allows you to always be dynamic. You have to be flexible because it’s not always simple, it’s not always easy to welcome people into your home. It’s always very stimulating but on the other hand, sometimes we also recognize that we need a little
Calmer moments, to also reflect on the project and on ourselves. We used straw to make some of the walls of the house. The straw which was grown using wheat from the farm so the cycle is always circular economy. In addition, we also used
Clay that comes from the rivers in the area. We also built a bread and pizza oven with these clay bricks. We reused a lot of furniture, a lot of doors and salvaged windows. Lots of things. People told us: “but you’re crazy!” Because this house was really very old and in poor condition.
The masons we met told us that we had to destroy then rebuild. That it was not possible to renovate. That it cost too much. But we did the work ourselves, it’s called “economic renovation”. It exists in Italian law, but people
Are not aware of it. This allowed us to do the work little by little and use all these materials that should have been thrown away. Regarding the responsibilities of people in the community but also the activities, it is not easy to manage. That is to say, we decided
To have those responsible. For example, Claudio is responsible for house renovation and practical activities. I am responsible for communication with volunteers and also for communication on social networks. Stefano and Ivana are the leaders of the agricultural project. And then we tried to
Create groups to collaborate together. There is the group that takes care of the events. There is the group that takes care of the administrative part because there is also that. There is also the group that takes care of new arrivals, that is to say people who want to come forward to stay here
For a long time, not just as short-term volunteers but for the long term. Who would want to settle here? there are also people who are part of the agricultural group who help as volunteers on the farm. So we decided to make these groups because several of us also have
Children who are very young. They can’t always help on the project so we created groups like that we can take over because we shouldn’t focus too much on the fact that each person must give the same time and the same commitment as the others .
Because if you think like that it’s too difficult to manage. People have different types of life, we still keep our professions outside so the time when we are free is not necessarily the same time when others also have their free time. The project
Must not be a problem, that is to say it must be something extra which gives us satisfaction and which also gives us new ideas but which must not become a prison in my opinion. So you also have to be careful about that because the
Risk is to be really too busy and then it’s too much, so you really have to be well balanced in this type of project. At the beginning even the neighbors were a little shocked by us, because they thought we were hippies, people who didn’t want to do anything… blablabla
So we had a lot of problems but now things have changed and we also collaborates with other associations located here and with the village elders. We also do events together, we try to improve the small village where we are, so in the territory now the situation has improved. As far as
Society is concerned, generally speaking, I believe that this type of model could be the answer for the future. That is to say that there is really the possibility of giving feasible examples, not utopian but feasible, for people to live together, to bring together skills,
Put together the forces to change our ways of living which do not work either for us or for the planet. There is really the possibility, even in small things, of making a small vegetable garden, of paying attention to what we eat,
Of recovering waste and using it as a resource. Because there is energy that was used to create objects which are then thrown away like that. And also to live in happy decline. But happy really. We are not going to limit ourselves because of a philosophy. No. It’s just about doing things in a
Different way and also changing perspective, changing paradigm. Maybe it won’t be, from an aesthetic point of view, it won’t be perfect, but we also have to give up a little on this perfection that we always seek. If you seek perfection you will never do anything
And so you have to make changes little by little. And then you will find yourself in a change that you made if you look back. And this is also very important to teach children. Because in a world that is full of plastic, in a food system that
No longer works, in climate change, in wars. The engine of a world that is destroying itself, so we must do something, even small, even little by little, but we must do it on our territory. I previously worked a lot in Africa. I was going to Africa to do projects, develop
Community projects on local African products, African gastronomy, sustainable agriculture etc… But I asked myself what am I doing ? for my territory and my community? So that’s why I started this project. There were a lot of volunteers who came here, between 800 and 1000 I believe, and many
Of them created other communities or went to live in other communities. Or there are people who went, for example, to work in small schools in the countryside or also bought houses in the countryside, in the mountains, abandoning the city, like Milan for example. There are others who continue to travel to discover
The world of communities because there truly is a world that is there to be discovered. There are others who have decided to create somewhat special schools, for example schools on sustainable agriculture or on the arts, such as ceramics for example. So there are
Lots of stories of people who continue to believe in this world and who also created their own situation like little seeds which were thrown into the ground and which are growing and also d ‘inspire other people I believe. I am now going to the Nuevo Rotte farm to meet Stefano
Hi everyone, my name is Stefano, We are at the Nuevo Rotte agricultural organization, an agricultural project which is part of a larger eco- project. village, Casa Rotta, What are we doing here? Well we have been here since 2015 on the agricultural part with Ivana, Elia and Mirai, our children
And we are lucky to always have many volunteer friends who come to help us. The idea is to create an agricultural organism, that is to say an ecological system, to create ecological niches , our work therefore consists of working on the landscape with the aim of producing food
While inserting itself into a wild or let’s say environmental context. Our job therefore consists of constantly observing the responses of nature to our stimulations, that is to say to our cultures, and to adjust ourselves accordingly. We took the old Piedmontese farm as a starting model,
And so we built a vegetable garden, fruit and vegetables part and a cereal part, mainly ancient cereals, as well as a small vineyard. We also have animals, sheep and chickens, which act a bit like connectors between the different organs of the body. In summary, the idea is to create healthy food
And mainly good biodiversity which creates an ecological system in itself, i.e. a closed cycle. We have noticed over time that by placing trees, hedges and working on soil fertility we have improved the natural resistance of the agricultural organism to antagonists, pests and problems that plants may encounter.
It is therefore a system which requires a lot of observational work, the study of nature, and in the long term, it gives good results. How did we draw inspiration from the Vieille Ferme model? As for our inspiration as a model, we started primarily with the concept of biodynamic farming
And permaculture. Let’s call them techniques or rather approaches. These two broad approaches provide us with guidelines on how to proceed. Of course, over time, over years and observations, everyone develops their own technique, if we want to call it a technique, which is actually a relationship personal.
Because we have found that the more in tune you are with the place, The technique then becomes less important, Certainly it is useful to have basic knowledge, but in the end you must be able to adapt it to the man, in my opinion. This is a bit of our experience so far
Stefano shows me some products that they sell in the markets or directly on the farm. Flours, cereals, muesli, pasta, wine, bread Michela teaches French in an alternative school in Cherasco. She asked me to accompany her to talk to the students about my project
And participate in a question and answer session, in French of course. …he crossed France and arrived here with us. In Türkiye, he will stay two months. Why you think ? Because there is winter. You see they study more than the others! How many steps are you going to take?
Where do you sleep during your trip? So sometimes I sleep in a bivouac, outside in nature. Or otherwise I stop at locals or eco-places like Michela’s. How long will you stay in each country?
So it depends, there are countries where I just cross and so it can be very quick like a week for example. And there are countries which take a very long time to cross and in which I want to work so it can last like in Turkey I will stay 2 months.
What language will you speak when you arrive in Mongolia? So with young people I would speak English, and with older people it will be with signs, by drawing, we will have to find a common language. A beautiful moment shared with the children, which marks the end of the stay at Casa Rotta.
I will keep indelible memories of these two weeks spent here. Italians share the same love as us for tableware and the good things in life. These evenings cooking together and having fascinating discussions on a lot of subjects. I felt at home from the start.
I spent a good part of my days working with Michela’s husband Claudio, a geologist by trade, I will not soon forget his smile and his kindness. But also, Luca: DJ Oliver: videographer Gianluca: philosophy professor All these beautiful people who bring this unique place to life.
Now I have to get back on the road and if sometimes on the steps of a palace on the green grass of a ditch in the dreary solitude of your room you wake up, the intoxication already diminished or gone, ask the wind, the wave, to the star, to the bird to the clock,
To everything that flees to everything that moans to everything that rolls to everyone who sings to everyone who speaks asking what time it is and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock will answer you it is time to get drunk so as not to be the martyred slaves of time
Get drunk get drunk incessantly With wine, with poetry or virtues as you wish
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Congratulations pour le premier épisode 👏