Tangi Gourmelon, agroforestry technician and co-founder of the Lodevois association Paysarbre, shares his passion for trees, the plant world and all living things.
“The tree allows you to talk to everyone, that’s its strength.” When Tangi Gourmelon talks about trees and living things, her enthusiasm is infectious: her eyes light up and a smile lights up her face.
He was born on the Larzac plateau where his parents were part of a community in the 70s. After years spent as a performing arts technician, he returned to settle in Lodève and changed his life. “During a bereavement, I discovered the strength of the living and realized that we, humans, are only one link in a network of interconnections with other living beings. I was born on a farm but it is at that moment it became very clear to me”, says Tangi.
The transplant, a simple and ancestral gesture
He begins to study, self-taught. He discovered the practice of grafting through a meeting with Maurice Chaudière, man of letters, naturalist, innovative beekeeper and grafter. “I was his driver to take him to his conferences because he was getting older. He got me started.”
In 2013 he founded the Paysarbre association with Martin Gomas (market gardener in Saint-Étienne-de-Gourgas) and Noémie Claveau (Plume, Le Champ des Possibilities association) to share knowledge and know-how about trees, particularly during transplant courses. “The graft is a simple gesture which questions our relationship with nature, the fruits that we consume all come from the graft. We give a new structure, new roots, we are part of the long term.”
Free Midi – CD
The Little Tree Festival, the highlight of the year
Raising awareness in schools and among elected officials about the importance of trees, technical assistance for agroforestry work (Hérault’Haies project), grafting courses, collaborations with other environmentalist associations in Lodévois, actions are multiplying. And meet their audience. In 2016 the association launched the Little Tree Festival. “Among all our activities, this one is particularly close to my heart. The financing is complicated but it is very important that it continues because it allows us to better publicize this plant otherness and it allows us to bring life to the hinterland in March.”
The plant world is extraordinary
Tangi continues to assiduously follow research work in the field of plants. “The scientific community has only been seriously interested in the plant world for thirty to forty years. It has incredible capacities for adaptation and we are talking about a long time, it represents 380 million years of adaptation. The basic role of plants It’s photosynthesis. It’s still a pretty extraordinary phenomenon: from the energy of the sun and atoms taken from nature, the plant forms carbon chains which will then be used to feed humans and animals.”
Self-taught, he builds bridges between disciplines, science, philosophy, culture, and holds nothing back. “Transmission is rewarding, I am lucky to be employed to share my joy, we must rejoice every day to be alive”, Tangi concludes.
