By invitation of Château de la Borie / Galerie d’Art Contemporain. June 2020. Tabulatopia Collective (Jonmar van Vlijmen and Ronald Boer (together De Onkruidenier), Céline Pelcé and myself).

Tabulatopia was invited for a weeklong residency late June 2020 in order to explore the four different gardens of Château de la Borie. La Borie’s gardens consist of the traditional jardin à la française, a jardin en mouvement to the philosophy of Gilles Clément, a permaculture garden and a forest garden currently undergoing a rewilding process. The results of our research and findings of our residency were shared during two edible exploration walks and a workshop.

During our stay we have focused on the hyper local and have prepared little tasters found in 2m² across the four different gardens. These hyper local tasters were shared during edible exploration walks with visitors. Some elements we have worked with were; dried clovers to become part of a tempura, toasted dandelion root as a slightly bittersweet garnish, fern tops served sautéed as base for a canapé and sticky weed seeds as a coffee-like dust to garnish another little edible garden taster. The plant narratives, the local experiences and recipes we produced during this week will become a small publication.