Preparation of a naked soil strip, Inauguration of a naked soil strip

The 20 meters long strip of naked soil, prepared and inaugurated in the fields of the horse farm on which the SETU festival was held.

A solitary bee, in its burrow, dug in the bare soil.

The 18 meters long strip dug in the fiels of Christian Toullec's cider farm.

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Robin, identifying local species of pollinators by isolating them on a white background.

The Soft Protest Digest was invited at the end of August 2020 to take part in the performance festival SETU held in the village de Ergué-Gabéric, in the french Cornwalls. It is in this specific context that the collective came to prepare a naked strip of soil and to inaugurate it before the visitors of the festival.

Preparation of a naked soil strip

Commonlly found encircling the fields of Northern European farms, “strips of naked soil” can still be considered a rather contemporary farming technic. Though relatively novel, this technic of clearing a thin strip of land from its weeds and compacting its soil has proven to be activelly fostering biodiversity and pollination. Indeed, many insects do not build nests from scratch (such as hives for instance) but rather rely on digging tunnels in the ground to turn into burrows. These burrows ultimatly become reproduction chambers and allow number of species to multiply and later polinate the area, often at a much efficient rate than of more common species. May bare soil be fertile ground for numerous species, the collective primarly focused its attention on “solitary bees”, as a way to echo their former research project “Spore & Pollen”, which aimed its attention at the celebrated “honey bee”.

The collective therefore decided to introduce the technic to the residents of the region. To be granted the permission as well as to prepare and monitor the efficiency of the strip, Nickie, Robin and Jérémie first decided to meet a nearby cider producer named Christhian Toullec, owner of the Cidrerie Mélénig. Growing various varieties of apples in his orchad, Christhian produces his own organic apple juices, ciders, pommeaus, and lambics and is awarded with numerous gold medals while also being protected by the EU label AOP Cornouailles. With a great sense of hospitality, Christhian took us for a stroll around his farm, laying out the whys and the hows of his practice as well as how he made sure that the biodiversity of his orchard was preserved. This conversation was recorded and published in a podcast (link below).
Following this conversation, the collective shared its desire to dig a naked soil strip in Christhian's farm. He kindly accepted and the first strip with dug. To this day, Christian sends us regular updates on the evolution of the strip.

As mentioned above, the naked soil strip technic calls for a compacting of the bare soil —which allows insects to build sturdier tunnels. Commonly done with tractors, simply rolling their wheels on the strip, the collective however decided to translate this essential stage into a performative ritual. In order for it to accuratly reflect the local culture, we got in contact with dancer Yuna Postic, member of the Cercle Ar Vro Mélénig, the traditional dance association of Élliant, a village adjoining Christhian's farm and the festival grounds. Passionate and a strong advocate for her regional heritage, Yuna taught us about the history and the various forms of dances used by locals to carry out agricultural tasks in the past. This conversation was recorded and published in a podcast (link below). The conversation led Yuna to mention the “Plinn”, a simple step formerly used to compact the soil of farms and stables to assure of the stability of their foundations. Being a volunteer teacher, it did not require any convincing for Yuna to teach us these steps, which Nickie would later come to teach the visitors of the festival.

A second naked soil strip was ultimately dug on the festival grounds. 20 meters long, the strip was prepared by the collective on the first day of the festival before the eyes of the passing visitors. In parallel to its preparation, carried out by Nickie and Jérémie, Robin had laid down a long strip of white fabric on the nearby bushes. This prop would ultimatly serve as a means to talk with the public of the various pollinators present in the area who would land, by chance, on the white canvas.

Now prepared, the naked soil strip was to be inaugurated.

Podcast

• 🔊In production — Podcast (~40 min)