Join Bohémont to discover wild and edible plants | Saint Germain Boucles de Seine

What led you to this profession? Was it a vocation or a coincidence?

I discovered this fascinating profession through a civic service programme I did after my studies. This experience allowed me to immerse myself in a world that was very different from the one my studies had predestined me for. At the time, I was graduating from engineering school with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. The combination of a very strong attraction for this potential new path and an unprecedented ecological awareness in my life eventually led to this change of trajectory.

I’m sure you’ll all agree that I’ve had a great deal of success.

What fascinates you most about your work?

My work combines both the discovery of nature in all its dimensions (botany, geology, pedology, etc.) and the practice of the skills that stem from it. In my opinion, the whole package is very complete, since it enables us not only to learn about nature (the mind) but also to put this knowledge to practical use (the body). To give an example with basketry: to be able to make a basket from wild plants, you first have to learn to recognise basketry plants in nature. Once you’ve done that, you need to know the techniques for preparing the material and weaving it into the basket. It’s this completeness that fascinates me the most.

Can you share with us a memorable anecdote from your career?

When I was on civic service and discovering this new world, we were trained every day to explore local nature and ancestral skills. We spent our days outdoors with the association’s trainers, discovering plants, stones, mushrooms and their uses. I remember having an indescribable feeling of joy during all these initiations, a new emotion of saying to myself “I had missed all these marvels that have existed all this time, but now I can see them and appreciate their immensity”. I felt a deep sense of alignment that could be materialised by this phrase “There, I’m in my place”.

How is your activity rooted in the Saint Germain Boucles de Seine area?

Generally speaking, the workshops can take place at the partner’s premises (in the school, on the company’s premises, in a forest, etc.), mostly in the Île-de-France region, or at our educational garden in Mareil-Marly, a commune located in the Saint Germain Boucles de Seine area.

The aim of this garden, located in the magnificent orchard area, is to become, in partnership with the Mareil-Marly town council, a living encyclopaedia of natural skills such as woodworking, clay modelling, basket-making, discovering edible wild plants, rope-making, eco-construction, permaculture and many others. Today, there is a range of spaces designed as a journey to give visitors a glimpse into the craft life of yesteryear. At present, you can see village-style gliding benches, an earthenware pottery oven and bread oven, a vegetable garden, a pond, an ancient forge, benches and tables and a prehistoric fire pit.

Do you have a place or experience you'd like to share?

The Musée d’Archéologie Nationale in Saint-Germain-en-Laye is packed with objects of great historical value.

A time for know-how

Le Temps des Savoir-Faire is a company founded by two nature enthusiasts whose objective is to enhance the natural and wild environment that surrounds us through the learning of ecological know-how.

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In all seasons, we offer outings and know-how workshops in the natural areas of Île-de-France to learn how to interact in harmony with local nature.

Sculpting a wooden spoon, getting to know wild plants and their uses, learning about pottery in the great outdoors, making a wild wicker basket, designing a permaculture garden…so much know-how that we pass on with a unique method.

We transmit each know-how starting from the resource in its natural environment. Each outing therefore begins with a walk and for those including manufacturing, follow an outdoor workshop of manual practice with the resources discovered during the walk.

Each animation therefore respects the following 3 steps:

1. Identification
Identification and harvesting of the resource in its natural environment
2. Learning
Learn about its characteristics and uses
3. App
Application of know-how through the transformation of the natural resource

Animation examples:
- Birch Sap Harvest
- Tasting of forgotten flavors
- Charcoal making
- Making a harvest basket
- Making a wooden spoon
- Making a Native American dream catcher
- Introduction to clay and its uses
- Discovery of clay and its uses
- Introduction to basketry
- Discovery of basketry
- Learn to light a fire
- Primitive Feeding

Organization of team-building on demand around the discovery and tasting of edible wild plants.

In all seasons, we offer outings and know-how workshops in the natural areas of Île-de-France to learn how to interact in harmony with local nature.

Sculpting a wooden spoon, getting to know wild plants and their uses, learning about pottery in the great outdoors, making a wild wicker basket, designing a permaculture garden…so much know-how that we pass on with a unique method.

We transmit each know-how starting from the resource in its natural environment. Each outing therefore begins...

Practical information

Address

Forêt de Marly, Marly-le-Roi

Opening hours