The Garden of our Mothers. A souk of plant-related offerings designed around seeds, soil, plants and related workshops
Our final offering in the Spring 2025 programme is a souk of plant-related offerings that celebrates our communities: from plants, to cooperatives, the gifted mothers, seed collectors & savers, farmers, gardeners and land stewards.
You can purchase seeds, plants and learn about growing and transforming natural materials into cosmetics through workshops throughout the day, offering technical know-how from farmers and seed savers and the growing expertise of the Gifted Mothers who have been working hard on their roof garden
You will also be able to find a selection of products from our cooperatives for sale through the Harvest Festival team.
In addition to their workshops, the Gifted Mothers will also be selling their handmade items.
Jnane Tamsna Gardens will be selling seedlings brought from their gardens in the Palmeraie.
Soufiane and Kaja from AZOUKA Essaouira will also be holding a workshop on our beloved national tree, the Argan <3
Mehdi Taib brings his technical brilliance to us with an artisanal natural soap-making workshop.
Our colleague Abderrazak Bassir brings his agronomist knowledge into discussion with Imlil & Midelt Seed collectors and savers to teach us about saving seeds.
The day finalises with our friends Studio Noujoum La Gironde x A.MAL Projects with Saad El Barakka and Soufiane Ouarich leading us into an installation and demonstration on Organic Screen Printing that recycles the sounds of the technical components into a sonic experience. Expect to participate and take home a print!
Full Schedule:
11am to 5pm Souk, open all day until the goods run out
11am to 11.40am (Gifted Mothers Workshops)
- Soil Composition & Key Soil Tips Workshop with Zahra Khiraoui & Fatima Naaoui. Register here
- Ecological Agriculture: Irrigation & Medication of Plants with Latifa Ghazdaoui & Saida Bennani. Register here
12pm to 12.40pm: Gifted Mothers Workshops – Trimming: Plants Aeration & Dehydrating Aromatic Plants with Zhour Bou & Latifa Fari. Register here
12.30pm to 1.30pm: The Argan Tree as an Agroecological and Cultural Keystone Species with Azouka, A conversation and workshop. Register here
2pm to 3pm: Soap making workshop with Mehdi Taib. Register here
3.15pm to 4.15pm: Seed Saving with Abderrazak Bassir, Abdelkader El Khadraouy and Saleh Ouarbi. Register here
4.30pm to 6pm: Slik Listening, Organic Screen Printing and sound installation organised by Studio Noujoum La Gironde x A.MAL Projects. Register here
SILK LISTENING:
An audiovisual performative and participatory installation by SAAD ELBARAKA @saadzekid and SOUFIANE OURICH @soufiane_ouri as a continuation of the collaboration between @studionoujoumlagironde and @a.mal_projects.
Silk Listening premiered at NBTA (@nbtahouse) in 2024.
Building on their research conducted during previous @harvest_marrakech programs, the duo has experimented with natural dyes made from plants endemic to the High Atlas region to work with them in screen printing.
Expanding on this research, Saad has been exploring sonic connections between the screenprinting gestures as well as building on materials gathered during different moments of recording natural sounds. The sonic process transforms these gestures into loops of sound and feedback.
The screen printing is sonorized with dynamic microphones to capture the real-time sounds, while musical composition and modulation are added and improvised, creating a seamless fusion of sound, color, and movement.
Working with natural dyes and organic matters is an idea developed by A.MAL project and Studio Noujoum La Gironde from their first participation in the Harvest Festival 2023 spring edition. This workshop/ performance is the continuation of this collaboration and one of many final aspects that this research could take.