Journée BIO des Corbières

It is that time of year again, the lovely organic festival at the Chateau de Bonnafous is this Sunday, 5th June from 9am all day. It is a great little showcase of the organic producers in the area. However it would be great to see them add a bit of other local production, there are now at least six other plant growers in Les Corbieres, a Safron producer, three herb transformers, who make essential oils and dried herbs as well as more and more vegetable growers. Most of the above try and follow a near organic approach but for various reasons cannot describe themselves as organic. Normally they cannot afford the three year transition that it takes for an existing small holding to become organic, or they resent paying 700 euro a year to prove a negative. I mean it is a bit ridiculous that we have to pay a certifier to say that we don’t use chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides. Instead of resellers of ‘magnetic rocks’ that apparently help you lose weight as an obese reseller explained to me last year(1)why not open the festival up to the many new producers that are arriving in Les Corbieres. We really have a new groove going on let’s celebrate it.

That is the rant over, it is still a great day and the weather is looking good. Best time to get here is around 11, that way you can have a good look around, buy some plants and be in place for the free appero/wine tasting of the organic wine producers then settle down to some serious eating.

Hope to see you there.

Stands de producteurs bio et artisanat, conférences, animations, musique

à 9h : Ouverture au public

à 10h: “Viande bio ou pas bio ? pourquoi ?” conférence par Marie Paule Nougaret ;

à 11h45 : apéritif offert – dégustation des vins des producteurs présents – Lâcher de pigeons ;

à 14h: “Le Jardin écologique” conférence par Hélène Hollard ;

à 15h30 : “Échappées sauvages ” divertissement pour les enfants avec la Cie “Les Baladins du Rire” ;

à 17h30 : tirage de la tombola

(1)Nothing against obese people or resellers, as someone who does not have any ‘truc’ with the mumbo jumbo aspect of the organic movement it just struck me as vaguely ironic