Les bonnes feuilles de la rentrée…

Pas mal d’articles et de contributions médiatiques que nous n’avons pas partagé au printemps et cet été, on se rattrape…

Une belle rencontre avec TAZ, quotidien allemand (le “Libé” germanique nous dit Sabine la journaliste), et un chouette article à découvrir ici!

Puis au tour de L’Obs, qui a un peu tout mélangé entre le Bureau des guides et Hôtel du Nord… Mais on s’en moque un peu car l’article est généreux et nos communautés de voisinages sont c’est vrai un peu organiques vues de Paris! Pour lire…

Et enfin pour ceux et celles qui n’aurait pas vu ce bon documentaire de l’audiovisuel public, plein d’archives rares, Julie y apparait très rapidement, perchée sur le terril des boues rouges devant le ruisseau des Aygalades… Il était une fois Marseille!

SAUVONS MIRAMAR: Carnet de bord(s) Janvier/Février

QUELQUES FRAGMENTS DE MIRAMAR – Janvier/Février 2022
[8 janvier- 14h]

Nous sommes le 8 janvier, premier samedi de « travaux collectifs ». On a encore en tête ce moment de rituel collectif que certain.es d’entre nous ont partagé à minuit le 31 décembre: on pensait faire un chant qui rejoindrait le cri des sirènes, mais bizarrement les paquebots ce soir là se sont tus, il n’y avait que nos voix.On ne sait pas trop comment ça va se passer, mais on est un petit groupe à avoir respecté l’horaire pour tenter la « sieste philosophique » proposée par Michel. Il nous lit un fragment de Tobie Nathan, psychologue pionnier de ce qu’on appelle l’ethnopsychiatrie, une manière plus collective et interculturelle de dialoguer avec nos fragilités. Le texte nous propose de réfléchir à la place que nous donnons à nos rêves et à comment nous les partageons.

[8 janvier- 15h15]

Nous sommes quelques unes à avoir plongé directement dans les échanges après la lecture. Nous discutons sur les lectures qui inspirent chacun.e en lien avec notre mobilisation (voir la liste à la fin), la relation à « nature” et la recherche de nouvelles formes d’organisation. Nous sommes rejointes par Souad, et nous constatons comme c’est à la fois rare et précieux de pouvoir s’offrir des temps où l’on peut échanger de manière apaisé sur nos lectures et aussi nos émotions. Le groupe des Baguettes magiques de la Castellane dans lequel Souad est très impliqué en témoigne particulièrement bien. On en revient ainsi aux rêves et au sens que ça peut avoir de parfois les partager.

[8 janvier- en même temps]

Agnès a un nez de sourciere. Elle flaire l’eau debout, couchée, la tête à l’envers, le cerveau à l’endroit.Et ça marche. Entre quête du tuyau et observation du ruisseau, la piste de l’eau peu à peu s’éclaircit.

[8 janvier- peu après]

Juliette et Anne-Marie nous ont rejoint. Juliette enseigne à l’école de l’Estaque Gare, Anne-Marie porte avec elle l’expérience de divers collectifs et elle trouve immédiatement sa place dans cette conversation… Juliette découvrait le lieu et voyait la possibilité de le partager avec ses élèves. Alors que cette école est depuis longtemps très ouverte sur l’extérieur, les deux ans de consignes sanitaires commencent à peser. On se dit que des endroits de grande proximité comme Miramar prennent vraiment tout leur sens dans leurs usages pédagogiques. Marine explique alors son projet d’ateliers en direction des enfants et ses idées pour amener les habitants du quartier à venir découvrir. On commence à imaginer comment faire ça ensemble, comment croiser les contraintes et les désirs, se relier avec aussi les enfants.


[[8 janvier- en même temps]

La bande des chercheurs d’eau s’organise, plusieurs hypothèses subsistent sur sa provenance mais elle est bien là.

[15 janvier- après midi]

Première marche de la Castellane à Miramar, motivée par Souad et Fadila qui veulent montrer le lieu aux autres femmes de la Baguette Magique.On constate à la fois la proximité et le mauvais état de la voirie. On se dit que le cheminement pourrait être un projet commun, à la fois concret et poétique car il pourrait aussi permettre d’inventer des formes de signalétiques atypiques. A suivre…

[21 janvier – 17h]

La coordination planche sur l’organisation de la saison #2. Comment ne pas faire une usine à gaz, laissez place à l’improvisation et aux implications spontanées tout en fabriquant peu à peu une culture collective, des manières de décider en commun, quand c’est bien le lieu comme « commun” qui est en jeu.On cause, on cause, et Mathilde dessine.

[24 janvier – soirée]

Bien qu’il soit déjà réalisé depuis quelques semaines, c’est ce soir que se décident plusieurs d’entre nous à écouter le documentaire de Coline réalisé à partir de la rencontre de bilan du 20 novembre avec aussi les élu.es. Et on le trouve vraiment très bien…!http://www.radiogrenouille.com/actualites-2/sujets/a-lhorizon/


[31 janvier – Soirée]

Il souffle un vent violent. Un container de chez TCSI s’effondre sur le chemin de Bizet, manquant de peu d’écraser une voiture.La vie à Miramar est décidément trépidante…

[4 février – 18h]

La coordo coordonne. On est de plus en plus nombreux, c’est bien. On est maintenant d’accord sur la ré-organisation: des outils d’information et pas que sur internet (vive les panneaux avec des infos stables et d’autres en mouvement), des temps collectifs bien repérés (les premiers samedis du mois, les fêtes de saison, la réunion de coordination), des groupes autonomes (et des initiatives individuelles), et une charte pour faire socle commun pour tout le monde.

[5 février- 14h30]

Premier samedi du mois, ça y est l’habitude est prise pour les travaux collectifs. Les enfants ont deviné notre envie de partager avec eux, Melina, Kais, les deux Ambrine et Kilian nous devancent et lancent par eux.elles mêmes la chasse aux tuiles. L’enquête portera ses fruits, 5 tuileries repérées grâce aux estampilles et 4 quartiers ainsi cartographiés en observant bien les tessons. Grâce à Charlie qui avoue son passé d’archéologue, on passe des tessons à l’archéologie expérimentale avec le projet de redessiner le château disparu. Et en attendant le petit club d’archéologues en herbe dégage une colonne dont on se plait à imaginer qu’elle pourrait témoigner de Jules Cantini…

[5 février- Pendant ce temps]

Les chercheurs d’eau ont repris les pelles et les pioches mais cette fois aussi les tuyaux. A la fin de la journée ils auront trouvé comment remplir une « citerne » par gravitation. Grande joie!

[5 février- Encore à ce moment là]

Le groupe qui planche sur les activités commence à y voir clair : des ateliers de voisinage et en direction des enfants en priorité, la poursuite des enquêtes qui peuvent notamment nourrir les balades, avec une urgence partagée de se constituer une vraie connaissance du Grand Port Maritime, l’envie de l’argile et du four qui peut occasionner d’aller rencontrer les voisins de Foresta et les savoir-faire de la terre qui existent dans nos quartiers. On se lit aussi le texte de Fadila qu’elle vient de finir pour la prochaine Baguette magique.

[12 février- 10h]

On est à la Castellane pour accueillir avec nos amies de 3.2.1 et Monkim les enfants et les parents qui viennent partager un Voyage à Miramar. Sur le chemin on expérimente des signalétiques et on se raconte les histoires du quartier. Nous serons une soixantaine à cheminer jusqu’à Miramar. On chante, on fait des cabanes, on regarde un extrait du spectacle de Chloé et Ana, de nouveau la chasse aux tuiles et les instruments en canne. Quelle belle journée.

[14 février-12h]

Marie propose une séance de chant méditatif à Miramar, pour Miramar, dans le cadre de la « Journée mondiale de guérison par le son ». Ce jour là des milliers de personnes ont créé des sons de guérison sur la planète. Encore une manière de se relier à des échelles bien plus vastes…

Pour écrire la suite ensemble, RDV samedi 5 mars…

Liste de livres qui ont inspiré notre échange du 8 janvier:

–                Manières d’être vivant : Enquêtes sur la vie à travers nous, de Baptiste Morizot (2020)

–                Nous ne sommes pas seuls : Politique des soulèvements terrestres, de Lena Balaud et Antoine Chopot (2021)

–                Par-delà Nature et Culture, de Philippe Descola (2005)

–                La Nouvelle Interprétation des rêves et Ethno-roman, de Tobie Nathan (2011 et 2012)

–                Erasme : Grandeur et décadence d’une idée, de Stefan Zweig (1935)

–                Ce que les peuples racines ont à nous dire : De la santé des hommes et de la santé du monde, de Frederika Van Ingen (2020)

–                Adaptation radicale : Effondrement : comprendre, ressentir, agir, de Jem Bendell (2020)

–                L’entraide : l’autre loi de la jungle, de Pablo Servigne et Gauthier Chapelle (2017)

–                Une autre fin du monde est possible : Vivre l’effondrement (et pas seulement y survivre) de Pablo Servigne, Raphaël Stevens et Gauthier Chapelle (2018)

–                L’espérance en mouvement : Comment faire face au triste état du monde sans devenir fous, de Joanna Macy et Chris Johnstone (2018)

–  Les journaux de la Baguette Magique, par les femmes de la Castellane, 2015/2022 

LE SENS DE LA PENTE, récit #1

Dimanche 13 octobre après-midi, soleil, peu de vent.

Comme souvent au démarrage d’une création de balade collective il y a une sorte d’hésitation et de trouble. Nous ne nous connaissons pas tous, nous ne sommes pas sûrs d’avoir bien compris ce qu’on va faire et pourquoi on va le faire…, mais nous sommes là. 

Le LÀ de ce dimanche après-midi s’appelle Thalassanté, un hameau de conteneurs qui tient plus de l’art de vivre au cabanon que de la mondialisation du transport maritime. Une histoire commencée il y a une vingtaine d’années autour de la mer et réinventée en outil commun très polymorphe par des plus jeunes depuis 4 ans.
Dans le NOUS il y a ceux qui s’activent à donner cette nouvelle vie à cet endroit, ceux qui habitent pas loin depuis longtemps, ceux qui résident depuis plus récemment au travers de l’implantation d’une aventure artistique joliment nommée la Déviation, ceux qui viennent d’un peu plus loin et qui ont pris goût à explorer avec leurs pieds le quartier d’à côté…
On en vient alors au QUOI FAIRE? Si tout le monde est d’accord sur cette idée simple de marcher ensemble en version « exploration », on commence par mettre chacun sur la table ce qui nous plaît, nous parle, quelle est notre relation à ce fragment de l’Estaque.


D’habitude l’un de nous prend des photos, ou dessine pendant nos rencontres. Mais ce dimanche après-midi réunis autour d’une table, personne n’y pense. Alors un petit remix temporel image les propos glanés avec des photos de Dominique, prises lors de nos précédentes balades.


L’histoire de Vincent est celle d’un habitant qui découvre il y a une vingtaine d’années par un discours assez musclé du directeur de l’école élémentaire qu’il vit dans une zone Seveso et que la colline sauvage où il aime se promener est toujours une colline industrielle, même si les usines ont cessé leur activité. De cette prise de conscience émergera une série d’actions avec d’autres autour des déchets, jusqu’au réaménagement de la petite zone de pique-nique juste avant La Galline qui n’était à l’époque qu’une décharge ravinée. Vincent a revisité ces histoires en les mêlant à la plus contemporaine aventure de la « dépollution » des sites de l’industrie chimique, dans un “toxic tour » portant le nom d’une plante aux grandes capacités d’adaptation aux terrains dégradés: l’Asphodèle.

François, voisin de table aujourd’hui et voisin de vie à l’Estaque, a réalisé pas mal d’entretiens sonores lors de cette construction de balade, qui racontent les enjeux urbains ou écologiques du massif de la Nerthe dans cette période de transition, mais aussi témoignent de la vie de ceux qui ont travaillé non pas dans les usines chimiques mais dans leurs cousines du BTP.


L’histoire du ciment c’est celle dans laquelle la Déviation s’est installée. Adrien nous raconte l’intérêt de ses jeunes habitants artistes à mieux connaître cette trame qui traverse toute la pente, de Lafarge tout en haut, au port où nous sommes tout en bas. L’axe de La Coloniale, la première cimenterie. Louise et Juliette, artistes installées à la Déviation ont d’ailleurs déjà bien démarré l’exploration en s’intéressant aux voitures carbonisées et aux matériaux résiduels de ces paysages marqués par la production chimique. Elles en travaillent des formes, notamment en les cuisant comme des céramiques.

Angélique habite quant à elle l’une des anciennes courées des usines Kuhlmann. Elle aime les sociabilités qui accompagnent cette organisation de l’habitat, a connu quelques anciens des usines et a très envie d’en savoir plus, d’autant plus que l’école Fenouil où elle enseigne a déjà accumulé beaucoup de matériaux sur « Le temps des usines » (nom du journal réalisé par les enfants sur ce thème).

Et il y a Agnès, l’habitante toujours motivée à relier, qui rêve d’atteindre la limite nord qu’est l’ancienne colonie Cossimont en venant… à cheval à partir de Martigues! Et les souvenirs de Georges d’une vieille danseuse de cabaret qui vivait au Vallon des Abandonnés. Et le désir de Nathalie que ces temps partagés à fouiller ensemble nous permettent de mieux nous saisir des enjeux actuels quant à l’accès à la mer, et de comprendre ce rapport toujours un peu mystérieux au Grand Port. 


On se dit qu’il y a tous ces sujets et ces lieux qui nous attirent, mais qu’il y a aussi les manières de regarder qui dans notre groupe très diversifié donnent envie de jouer ensemble.
Et puis à la fin, on constate le plaisir qu’on ressent de ne pas savoir où tout cela peut nous conduire, à quels parcours, quelles formes, quelles interventions. 


Nous savons en revanche que ce mélange de structures artistiques, de lieux, d’habitants va forcément nous conduire cette année à apprendre, faire des rencontres, mais aussi tester et inventer des manières de se relier pour vivre un peu plus ensemble dans la pente, jusqu’à la mer…

Alors rendez-vous est pris pour une première balade d’exploration. Nous partirons de l’ancienne colonie Cossimont pour aller… on verra bien où…

ForestA botanical exploration-story # 1, the oak forest

marcescing leaves of white oak

Begun in 2016, the botanical explorations are walks that invite to make together the inventory of the flora of ForestA, vast space around the great letters of Marseille. The botanical explorations are a proposal of the collective Safi and Espigaou within the framework of ForestA, a project carried by Yes we camp in collaboration with Hotel du Nord.

The small forest that has resisted the Foresta has been of interest to us for a long time…

A FORESTA, AN AMAZING FOREST

Climbing a little in the Hill, under the Pink House, a forest of pubescent Oaks hides among the pines of Aleppo. They are perhaps fifty years old or more, they are relatively rare trees in Marseille, because the pubescent oak usually develops on rich, deep and fresh soils, which is not really the case of this former quarry of clay that is ForestA.

So how did these trees get there? What are they telling us? What flora do they host? Is the forest evolving, stable or declining? This is the subject of this exploration on February 9, 2019, the first of the year.

the ancient forest of ForestA

A RELIC OF THE OLD CASTLE ESTATE

ForestA has been modelled by the activities that have crossed him: State forest, clay quarry of the Tuileries, area of embankment of Grand Littoral… Despite all these transformations, the oak forest is visible on all the archival images of GeoPortal since the ciqnant years. A persistence may be due to his situation.

Little accessible and difficult to see from the road, it is located at the level of a huge Boulder and stretches along a steep slope. It thus collects rainwater and may benefit from the groundwater of ForestA. This is certainly what has favoured the installation of these Oaks which, although Mediterranean, like freshness.

A TREE ADAPTED TO WARM AND COLD

Quercus pubescens means oak with short and soft hairs, in reference to the inner face of leaves and young twigs. These hairs trap the dew and maintain a humid environment. Its range is quite extensive. Moving north, it can be subjected to negative temperatures that would freeze the water of its cells, also this oak also has a strategy to adapt to the cold: in autumn, its leaves dry on the tree, and will fall to the ground only to regrowth of the following, they say they are marcescing.

However, losing its leaves is not a common strategy in the Mediterranean. Think of the pine, the olive tree, the green oak, its neighbors here, who keep their leaves all winter. As winter temperatures are not very intense, they do not freeze. For these trees, it is therefore preferable to keep their leaves protected with hairs or a layer of wax, rather than to incur an energy expenditure in the spring to make new ones.

Narrow-leaved wire

A WELCOMING AND SOCIAL FOREST

The carpet of leaves at our feet is home to many insects and fungi mycelia. They participate in transforming this litter into rich and fertile humus. A handful of land taken from the road is without a call on the work done by these organisms. taken from the slopes, the Earth is red ochre when the one at the foot of the Oaks is dark brown.

Acorns, pubescent oak fruits, attract and feed many animals including the oak Jays, which by their hoarding behavior contribute very actively to the spread of acorns.

In our forest, the pubescent Oaks are associated with Green Oaks. When they are together, these two trees indicate the meso-Mediterranean climatic stage (neither too hot nor too cold) which welcomes, thanks to the disappearance of the leaves of the pubescent oak which lets penetrate the light in the undergrowth, a procession of plants associated characteristics.

When plants generate favourable reception conditions for other plants (availability of light, soil structure…), it is referred to as vegetal sociability.

Viburnum Tin or Laurier Tin-Tinus

MEDITERRANEAN UNDERGROWTH PLANTS

Viorne-Tin Viburnum Tinus, nerprun alaternus Rhamnus alaternus, narrow-leaved corded Phillyrea angustifolia, European salsaparilla smilax ASPERA and Aleppo Pine Pinus halepensis… Plants that we found in the forest inventory (see map site) which have joined more thermophilic plants, which love the heat.

We observed in the heart of the forest, young Oaks mixed with older trees, their number from the Center to the periphery.  When the oak loories, the Aleppo Pine appears. 

These two trees are easily cohabiting, because their demographic strategies are very different and complete: the oak has a slow growth, it blooms around 20 years and a life of 500 years and more. The pine, has a fast growth and lives about 100 years.  In the vicinity of the forest, a burned-out area reveals a car carcass and skeletons of calcined trees. One question then arises to us, the pine Halep, very flammable, can it endanger the forest?

ceterach compendial scales

A FERN WITH SCALES

Naturalised IRIS, from the Immortelle of Italy… populate the rock. And even a very beautiful fern, the ceterach compendial (Asplenium ceterach), whose underside is covered with silver scales that participate in a thorough adaptation to drought. In dry weather its leaves curl to present only the scales that are barrier to evapotranspiration.

ForestA cave, at the top of the forest

We also discovered a small cave at the top of the site, a nice surprise for the little explorers botanists…

ForestA's Botanical explorations continue: https://www.hoteldunord.coop/balades-prog/and http://parcforesta.org

ForestA botanical exploration-story # 1, the oak forest

marcescing leaves of white oak

Begun in 2016, the botanical explorations are walks that invite to make together the inventory of the flora of ForestA, vast space around the great letters of Marseille. The botanical explorations are a proposal of the collective Safi and Espigaou within the framework of ForestA, a project carried by Yes we camp in collaboration with Hotel du Nord.

The small forest that has resisted the Foresta has been of interest to us for a long time…

A FORESTA, AN AMAZING FOREST

Climbing a little in the Hill, under the Pink House, a forest of pubescent Oaks hides among the pines of Aleppo. They are perhaps fifty years old or more, they are relatively rare trees in Marseille, because the pubescent oak usually develops on rich, deep and fresh soils, which is not really the case of this former quarry of clay that is ForestA.

So how did these trees get there? What are they telling us? What flora do they host? Is the forest evolving, stable or declining? This is the subject of this exploration on February 9, 2019, the first of the year.

the ancient forest of ForestA

A RELIC OF THE OLD CASTLE ESTATE

ForestA has been modelled by the activities that have crossed him: State forest, clay quarry of the Tuileries, area of embankment of Grand Littoral… Despite all these transformations, the oak forest is visible on all the archival images of GeoPortal since the ciqnant years. A persistence may be due to his situation.

Little accessible and difficult to see from the road, it is located at the level of a huge Boulder and stretches along a steep slope. It thus collects rainwater and may benefit from the groundwater of ForestA. This is certainly what has favoured the installation of these Oaks which, although Mediterranean, like freshness.

A TREE ADAPTED TO WARM AND COLD

Quercus pubescens means oak with short and soft hairs, in reference to the inner face of leaves and young twigs. These hairs trap the dew and maintain a humid environment. Its range is quite extensive. Moving north, it can be subjected to negative temperatures that would freeze the water of its cells, also this oak also has a strategy to adapt to the cold: in autumn, its leaves dry on the tree, and will fall to the ground only to regrowth of the following, they say they are marcescing.

However, losing its leaves is not a common strategy in the Mediterranean. Think of the pine, the olive tree, the green oak, its neighbors here, who keep their leaves all winter. As winter temperatures are not very intense, they do not freeze. For these trees, it is therefore preferable to keep their leaves protected with hairs or a layer of wax, rather than to incur an energy expenditure in the spring to make new ones.

Narrow-leaved wire

A WELCOMING AND SOCIAL FOREST

The carpet of leaves at our feet is home to many insects and fungi mycelia. They participate in transforming this litter into rich and fertile humus. A handful of land taken from the road is without a call on the work done by these organisms. taken from the slopes, the Earth is red ochre when the one at the foot of the Oaks is dark brown.

Acorns, pubescent oak fruits, attract and feed many animals including the oak Jays, which by their hoarding behavior contribute very actively to the spread of acorns.

In our forest, the pubescent Oaks are associated with Green Oaks. When they are together, these two trees indicate the meso-Mediterranean climatic stage (neither too hot nor too cold) which welcomes, thanks to the disappearance of the leaves of the pubescent oak which lets penetrate the light in the undergrowth, a procession of plants associated characteristics.

When plants generate favourable reception conditions for other plants (availability of light, soil structure…), it is referred to as vegetal sociability.

Viburnum Tin or Laurier Tin-Tinus

MEDITERRANEAN UNDERGROWTH PLANTS

Viorne-Tin Viburnum Tinus, nerprun alaternus Rhamnus alaternus, narrow-leaved corded Phillyrea angustifolia, European salsaparilla smilax ASPERA and Aleppo Pine Pinus halepensis… Plants that we found in the forest inventory (see map site) which have joined more thermophilic plants, which love the heat.

We observed in the heart of the forest, young Oaks mixed with older trees, their number from the Center to the periphery.  When the oak loories, the Aleppo Pine appears. 

These two trees are easily cohabiting, because their demographic strategies are very different and complete: the oak has a slow growth, it blooms around 20 years and a life of 500 years and more. The pine, has a fast growth and lives about 100 years.  In the vicinity of the forest, a burned-out area reveals a car carcass and skeletons of calcined trees. One question then arises to us, the pine Halep, very flammable, can it endanger the forest?

ceterach compendial scales

A FERN WITH SCALES

Naturalised IRIS, from the Immortelle of Italy… populate the rock. And even a very beautiful fern, the ceterach compendial (Asplenium ceterach), whose underside is covered with silver scales that participate in a thorough adaptation to drought. In dry weather its leaves curl to present only the scales that are barrier to evapotranspiration.

ForestA cave, at the top of the forest

We also discovered a small cave at the top of the site, a nice surprise for the little explorers botanists…

ForestA's Botanical explorations continue: https://www.hoteldunord.coop/balades-prog/and http://parcforesta.org

Anniversary walk at our eastern neighbours!

It has been several years since the marchers of Rives and cultures, who work in the Eastern quarters of Marseille, and those of Hôtel du Nord correspond to the scale of their feet.

Cross-walks, joint research around our industrial rivers or our oppida, urban transformations in tension, opportunities to find topics of conversations are not lacking. But here is a bit peculiar since the Association Rives et cultures celebrates its 10 years. The accomplices initiatives will join her on the ground for a great walk with several voices and territories…

Rives & cultures is pleased to invite you to its 10-year anniversary March on Sunday, 3 February:P erma
nences and urban transformations in the East of Marseille tribu
te to the geographer Marcel Roncayol
owith the participation of partner associations Bureau des guides du GR2013, Chantepierre, Hotel du Nord, Momkin, Robins of the cities!

RDV 10.30 at the level of the 126, BD Pont-de
-Vivaux. accessible by bus n ° 18 stop Pont-de-Vivaux-Sidolle even bus 15 near (stop St Loup-Flo
rian) picnic to expect!
End of the trip around 4.30 pm at the Metro the f
odder inscriptions by email: rivesetcultures@live.fr or Tel: 06.74.59.13.39

On the heights of the City Air Bel-may 2013

Save the pneumatic machine

Acting step by step and on the scale of the foot, Hotel du Nord invites us to share our stories and to develop our desires for conversation, exchanges, mutual assistance, common experiences. For this it takes motivated inhabitants, spaces to explore but also collective places to meet, discuss, imagine, discover, make… Several delightful experiences have developed in recent years North of Marseille, attempting to invent human, cultural but also economic adventures. The pneumatic machine is part of these fragile and precious places.  We are relecting its call for support to save it from a forthcoming closure in January, which would represent the far too early end of one of these spaces necessary for our common fate. To save the pneumatic machine: here

Let's stay tuned! #2 exploration story

Exploration stories share conversations and searches of walks under construction. 

This time it starts with a picnic on the terrace of Dominique.

Each has brought a story to tell, a production to taste or a book to share around its relationship to the tree.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After the almost gastronomic pique we return to the investigation.
 
The memory of fractures…
 
First the story of the Robini faux Acacia. In the old farmhouse that Dominique and Jean come to live there is already a pack of years, they guessed two rounds surrounding what had to be two trees, pleasantly sheltering the terrace and giving airs of bastides to the place. 
 
But we must live well and the activity of the farm evolved, especially with the storage of coal. The trees were cut to give way to the truck coming to deliver the fuel. Years later, Jean and Dominique went on a quest for a new tree to plant there, to give a little freshness to the place where we picnic. 
As they hoped for a micocoulier, it is finally a Robinia who will move with them. They will learn with him to accompany the "fracture" (it is a very brittle tree), which is going to allow us to arrive at our first adage/slogan invented of the day (there will be others…): "it breaks but it grows"…
 
 
 
 
 
 
It's worth a few Nevers…
 
Not very far from the robinier, we find a very valiant neflier who has particularly the affection of John. 
 
Would it be by taste for what is not very valued (like a little each of us in these walks)? Or by interest in the permanent activity that this tree shows (John is also a great worker)? 
 
In any case he brings us our second adage: "great, it's worth the Nevers"…
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The ghetto Palm tree…
 
Josyane has well prepared his summary of his research on the Aillante! Besides what we already knew (that it is a plant that settles in the disturbed land, which withstands very degraded conditions of soil and pollution, that one can choose to see a pest or a champion of survival), we learn that this tree was therefore imported from China (it will be seen that China is recurring in this story…) as an ornamental tree but also, but above all, in the hope of an economic exploitation via its Bombyx, a moth capable of producing silk.
When this production no longer found any economic interest it was little by little found less sympathetic…
To continue to list its qualities, and not only its flaws (our taste for Nevers…), one notices its ability to grow rapidly, the musical qualities of its wood, its abilities to inhibit the germination of other plants (which can be a defect as a quality…).
 
 
An instrument to probe Ravens in Ailante
 
 
The Ailante also has many different names, which express the difficulty of clearly classifying it on the side of good or bad…
 
Besides the "ghetto Palm", "false varnish of Japan", "tree of heaven" and "tree of paradise", it also has two names of use in China: 
For the Chinese of the countryside it is the "tree of spring" (because its annual "Renaissance" period is late and announces with certainty the spring) when it is for Chinese cities "the stinking tree" (because it exudes a foul odor when one crummy leaves). 
The Chinese also use it as a metaphor for both the father of the family (by allusion to his imposing side when he is mature) and the unturned son (alluding to the somewhat fomad growth of the stump releases).
 
Then the adage that comes to us could be: "Yes but no".
 
Between Earth and heaven…
 
And we finish our little round of table again with China, but also the Arabic language and the drawing, with Stephanie who shows us the ideograms that correspond to "tree" but also "root", "CIME", "forest"… 
It also makes us share the beautiful book we will not go to the wood "designed by Zeynep Perinçek. 
 
 
For the adage, the Chinese invite us to think about whether I was a tree…

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And then we go for a stroll on ForestA…
 
 
It is to begin the return of the robinier, in another situation. 
Dalila tells us that this tree, thanks to the presence of nodosity and symbiotic bacteria on its roots, has the particularity like all the Fabaceae (legumes), to be able to capture the nitrogen of the air (which most plants can not make sure the atmosphere contains 78%). 
Some of this nitrogen will be used to make its proteins, and the other is to remain in the soil and become assimilated by other plants.
The Robinier, acting as a fertilizer, makes it so enjoy the others.
 
So it's great… yes! 
 
But it also possibly takes the place of other plants because of its pods full of seeds… no! 
 
"Yes but no"…
 
 
Well, we also learn that he can replace the teak to make a nice terrace but also of the gardener's sticks because his wood is unputrescible.
 
A few meters later here is the Poplar. 
 
Potentially water marker, but yes but no tells us the company, because it is the White Poplar, not the green. 
But do you know that the White Poplar is the Poplar of painters of the Italian Renaissance, the tree with which they made their altarpiece to paint on wood? The northern ones used oak. 
Wink at the many Italian stories of these neighborhoods?
 
And here is the ash and its stories of Fresnette (idea for the Epicerie ForestA?) but also of ants that clean the tree by drinking the sweetened liquid contained in aphids from the tree's soot… Uh… you understand me??
 
And always these plants that would indicate the water below… 
 

The mystery of the Savonnier. Why is it called that? We do not know but we know that once again, this tree comes from China… 
Troubling this recurrence of China, when we know that the project MIF 68, which indirectly caused the project ForestA, is largely linked to Chinese investors and strategies of new Silk roads…
 
 
 
This time, here's a Trojan from Japan. They were fashionable in the Marseille Bastides, cut into a ball and covered with nets to allow "the hunts to the ladies", the birds being thus easier to hunt for the female… Hum hum…
 

Here we are at the edge of the fire. A drama and a chance… We exchange on the impacts of the fire, both traumatic for men in altering the landscape that it causes, but also Accelerator for some plants that will enjoy the light found.
It is said that it will be necessary to deepen this question of the fire, of its management also, in particular by inviting the researcher Thierry Tatony to converse with us.
 
White Oaks, Kermes Oaks, wireframe, Neprun, Viorne Tin, sarsaparilla, it is a whole environment that lives there, facing the Ailantes and the bushes of Atriplex.
 
 
 
 
Will one nibble on the other?
 
 
We will be attentive and to take care of this incredible relic we also propose to start a procedure of classification for the protection of the biotope, just that!!
 
 
 
To follow…
 

Story #1 roots and trees: let's stay tuned!

This year the 1000 paws, an informal group that manufactures collectively within Hotel du Nord explorations and then walks, is guided by the trees, with the starting point ForestA. Story of the first working session… This group is open, you can join it at any time by contacting the co-op. A first small group ended up in ForestA, not under a tree, but under an Umbrian in Cannes of Provence, made collectively with the collective Safi a few weeks ago to bring shade there the trees are not… We have time for a picnic to define a little more precisely what we would like to look for by taking the tree for guide. What are our questions, desires, intuitions that lurk behind the tree that today we are questioning? Invader, opportunist, whistleblower...? Vincent starts and tells us his questions about the Ailante. In his neighbourhood on the estaque side, this tree, originally from China and imported into the West during the craze for ornamental "Chinoiserie", is commonly regarded as an "invasiveness". The Ailante seems to be pushing everywhere and at high speed. So between the value that we have been able to give in the past (it has been widely used as an ornamental tree both in gardens and in public spaces) and its possible status of invasive plant to fight today, what to think?… This case of the Ailante becomes even more exciting when Dalila explains that the Ailante is one of those trees that love the land stirred, impoverished or degraded. More than an invasive one could say that it is an "opportunist", she knows very well enjoy the taste of the human of the cities to disburze, backfill, move the land and let them become the backstage of the construction. By its multiplication, one might even consider that it "gives the alert", that it calls us on how we manage the land on which we inhabit. In the garden of Vincent, the Grove of ailante has become an important subject, to contain but also to transform. In addition to the shadow it brings to this arid Hill, the aillante allows the companion of Vincent to make kinds of totems with the discharges and branches of Ailantes which each year grow rapidly. To go see! ForestA being quite characteristic of these degraded urban lands, interested in the ailante and this type of trees, in all these ambiguities and tensions that it reveals, seems to us motivating. Especially since the cane, which is the origin of the shadow that shelters us, is also part of these species both considered invasive but developing strategies to find the resources of the places (e.g. water) and it even become a resource on these lands degraded by men. So we decide this year to conduct a kind of investigation around the ailante and the cane (where, why and how they live, their uses and their stories, how they can become resource and stories to share…). From forestA to forest: a short history of a forbidden territory… From this first story, it seems obvious to us that it is necessary to prolong this question of "survival" on terrain as difficult as the disturbed and transformed lands of ForestA. But before that we go back to the name "ForestA". It is not just the name of a noble provenal family and its castle, an area of military operation, an industrial trough, an adventure field. It is also in the history of the word the term to designate a forbidden land, banished, on which it is ordered not to dwell or cultivate, in the interest of the seigneurial hunt. Thus appears the verb Forestare, "to ban". And as the hunt loves animals that love the Woods, Forestare gave forest! Restoring collective use to a land called ForestA? Once we know this etymology and the history of the places, again it motivates! Living on the ruins… But if the notion of "bandied territory" resonates well with our local situation, it must be noted that there is not, almost more, forest in ForestA. Were there any days? And how do the survivors manage to live there despite the urban upheavals, or the newcomers who chose despite the salty spray, despite the wind, despite the lack of water and the impoverished land to settle there? These survival trees are questioning us and we want to go and meet them. We therefore decide that a part of the explorations will be devoted to inventorate them, understand their strategies and listen to those trees that are there, witnessing another time or on the contrary agile to survive in particularly difficult conditions.

At the foot of my tree (can I live happily…?)
What about us? What are our more intimate relationships with one, two, ten trees? What are our tree stories? 
There are those that are intimately intertwined in our life and our memory, like those few trees on Boulevard Henri Barnier who when we listen to Dominique end up telling the whole story of his house. Or the small olive grove where will rejuvenate near her Isabelle. But there are also those trees that carry legends, struggles, more collective memories that they can become a witness, an accomplice. 
They are next to us or a little further, they connect us.
 
Sometimes our stories of trees also become a topic of everyday conversation. How do we size them at home or in the public space, how with them or sometimes against them we mark their territory, how they set usages but also borders in a neighborhood? 
Listening to the stories of Stephanie's trees in the City Center (our picnic took place a few days after the first grudings of trees on the plain) and those of Sylviane in Saint Henri, we realize how the trees of a neighborhood become both a subject that engages the common but also the conflict.
 
We then decide to show ourselves these singular trees, to write and to tell our intimate stories with them, and also to leave in the footsteps of Sylviane to explore in more detail a part of St Henri, where the maintenance of the trees on a daily basis is a Active conversation between neighbors.
And then we end up remembering the poetic and imaginary power of the trees. It is remembered that Alice in Wonderland is rocking it by falling into a tree, that even botanists and scientists like Francis Hallé use poetry to name what can be learned, and that the affective dimension that the tree triggers in man will make it an excellent guide to walks with many voices!
Next exploration, Friday, November 16: to register here

M S: The last sunset of the 1001 Nights of the GR2013

Sunday, September 2, Hotel du Nord joins the office of the Guides of the GR2013 and Yes We Camp to share in Foresta the last meeting of the 1001 Nights. Since February, a series of steps and artistic vigils have not invited us in the vicinity of the GR2013 to meet landscapes and narratives.  To conclude the journey in the company of the artists, the inhabitants, the numerous associations and communes that have thus traveled, the final rendezvous is set up in the northern districts, with special attention to what the stories of hip hop can us Tell about our territory. North Hotel will offer an approach walk to meet the backdrop of these ancient clay quarries in slow transition for several decades.   http://hoteldunord.coop/balades/1001-nuits-au-pied-des-lettres/