Since its creation in 2013, the Conservatoire des Légumes Anciens du Béarn (CLAB) has been a showcase and a centre of excellence in the fields of cultivated biodiversity as well as in the fields of vegetable crops and arboriculture. The site of 6500 m² of the association, includes a vegetable garden and an orchard hence its name of "garden-orchard": - the vegetable garden offers collections of rare varieties of vegetables, medicinal, aromatic and dyeing plants. More than 500 species and/or varieties make up this collection. A pond of 20 m ² hosts a very rich flora and fauna. - the orchard is composed of a hundred fruit trees including about 70 apple trees of old local varieties. A fruit hedge with multiple functions encircles the plot. From an ecological point of view, the garden and orchard are cultivated with the utmost respect for the soil, without chemical input. The preservation of the various biotopes is achieved thanks to the involvement of volunteers sensitive to nature and its biodiversity. Our association intervenes in: - the cultivation of old varieties, - the preservation of flora and fauna biodiversity, - raising public awareness of the preservation of the environment, - the conservation of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) through the creation of an ethnobotanical pole, - healthy and sustainable food. The association has set up the Jardin-verger Conservatoire which serves as a support for: - vocational and social reintegration courses, - the setting up of training workshops for all audiences, the animation of workshops for schoolchildren, - the implementation of cultivation methods on the basis of the ecological transition, - the organisation of festive and awareness-raising events. The CLAB is a place of shared resources and knowledge in many fields: agro-ecology, botany, education, arboriculture and ethnobotany. It is a space of living together where conviviality is required, where social and cultural diversities coexist, where cooperative relations are natural and the common desire to act for a noble cause - the preservation of Mother Earth - reinforces everyone's convictions and values. The garden shows that the protection of biodiversity is not incompatible with human activities.
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