La Traversine, Paris – France

Until November 20th in the garden Martha Desrumaux (Paris 12th), Dessine l’Espoir presents the exhibition “Nature en Villes”, cultural bridge between the French and Senegalese young people. Here, discover the photographs of children from the Bercy school in Paris.

Until 20 November, come and discover the photographs of children from the Bercy school and the Petits Princes school in Rufisque (Senegal) exhibited in the Martha Desrumaux garden (in the 12th arrondissement of Paris). This exhibition illustrates the discovery of … Read More

Before Thebe Magugu’s “Lucky Charms” exhibition at Le Bon Marché, wooden flowers had been painted by the students of the Bercy nursery school. The children were able to express their creativity by making a stencil work with multicolored paints! Once … Read More

The Traversine garden will soon host a mini set-in-nature theatre ! First step: cutting out and colouring the paper templates that will bring to life all the stories that the children made up. Fairies, boares, feathers, pumpkin houses, she-warriors… that … Read More

Last week, children from the Bercy school gathered at the Traversine Villiot to proudly hold up the letters of the word “Diversity” topped with flowers, replicas of the “Porte-Bonheurs” (Lucky charms) designed by Thebe Magugu, that they decorated by themselves. 

In the context of the “Porte-Bonheurs” exhibition at the Bon Marché, Designing Hope wanted to involve the children of the African schools where it is implanted as well as those of the Bercy school, by entrusting them with a project … Read More

Peels, dead leaves, more peels and more dead leaves… One layer after another, our compost is built like a lasagna dish. The children were delighted to get their hands dirty to make it !

During the Mayor of the 12th arrondissement’s of Paris visit to the Traversine garden, we displayed the pedagogical tools which were conceptualized by Dessine l’Espoir, such as the nutrition games. The children of the Bercy school had the opportunity to … Read More

The preparation of the seedlings in the small glasshouses has been the opportunity to try out a new grid pattern, removable and reusable, which is more sustainable than the one-use only sowing trays. The tomatoes and the bell peppers are … Read More

The children of the Bercy schools have taken part in a treasure hunt in the Traversine garden. During the journey, they discovered different parts of the garden: the mandala, the pergola’s herbs, the insect houses and even the vegetal teepee. … Read More

Spring is here, the strawberries on the green wall are blooming and will soon be ready to pick. New patches of spinach and salad have been sowed. Nice weather is slowly coming back !

One of the Traversine garden’s itinerary steps consists in inviting the children to create vegetal portraits.  Glass frames are at their disposal, on which they draw, by transparency, vegetal decorations on their friends’ faces. These artworks are inspired by artist … Read More

Last October, we were lucky enough to harvest a good quantity of saffron at La Traversine, enough to cook a nice little dish! So, after being dried, the saffron was ground into powder in a stone mortar, then infused in … Read More

With the arrival of Spring, it is possible to sow and plant more and more crops at the Traversine. This year, for example, we wanted to introduce the children to a new vegetable, the Peruvian oca! It is a pinkish-red … Read More

Snow and cold weather enveloped the Traversine garden this week. Some plants that had resisted until then, such as the nasturtium, did not survive the winter conditions. Spinach and beetroot braved the cold before making a strong comeback. As for … Read More

This week at the Traversine, the treasure hunt was happily inaugurated by the children. For about 1 hour, they  were able to discover the garden and its components (mandala, keyhole, wall, pergola of herbs etc. …) through a fun and … Read More

La Traversine is full of inspiring natural elements for craft activities! The children went there to collect leaves and sticks of different shapes and colors. Our little artists then assembled and glued them together to create people and animals. It … Read More

We organized this afternoon a Jerusalem artichoke harvesting activity at the Traversine. It was an opportunity for the children to discover this vegetable which is unknown to most of them. The harvest was good and the children were able to … Read More

In order for the elementary school children to go home with the right gestures and to better understand the principle of composting in the garden, we organized a waste sorting activity. Through the game of selective sorting, the youngsters were … Read More

The children took advantage of their visit to the garden this afternoon to inaugurate our herb game! This is a Memory game, but the cards to be turned over are replaced by small boxes to be opened. Each one has … Read More

The Tipi is a traditional North American Indian habitat. It is composed of long wooden poles leaning on each other and covered with animal skins. At the Traversine, the Tipi is being revegetated: we have replaced the animal skins with … Read More

The insect hotel contains several compartments that correspond to “rooms”. Each of them hosts a specific family of insects, depending on the materials used: pine cones and moss for the ladybugs, piles of bark for the sowbugs, stumps and dead leaves for … Read More

Feeling hungry ? The children took advantage of their time in the garden to taste the last strawberries and cherry tomatoes. At the same time, they discovered the mini greenhouses, which allowed us to have a good harvest this year. … Read More

After collecting spoiled vegetables from the neighborhood organic grocery store, the children poured them into the central compost bin of the keyhole. We also added a bucket of dead leaves collected in the yard that we mixed with the vegetables. … Read More

With a bread apple on their shoulder and a bark on their head, the children were able to play the new Traversine agility game. The goal of the game?  To make the two wheels in the garden turn. The “object” … Read More

Autumn is here! Mirana presents her harvest of the last vegetables of summer, displayed on the hopscotch in the schoolyard of Bercy School: cherry tomatoes, squash, courgette, Jerusalem artichokes, onions, potatoes…  

The fall season is now here at the Traversine and with it its lot of colors: yellow, orange, red, brown… It’s the opportunity to organize a land art activity with the children using the leaves of the yard. With Halloween … Read More

In order to welcome even more birds in the garden, new nesting boxes had to be built. So the children got involved: one nail here, another there and here are two brand new houses for our friends the birds! Our … Read More

At La Traversine, new bins have been made to accommodate new plants in the educational garden! To do this, we start by putting a layer of clay balls at the bottom of the galvanized metal tub that we have custom … Read More

Summer has arrived at the Traversine! It is manifested by the strong presence of the sun and its warmth. A perfect setting for the growth of plants grown in the garden, as long as they are watered properly. It is … Read More

Planting in the greenhouse will soon be ready in the mini greenhouses of the Traversine! Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant … A few more weeks and they will be ready to set up Outdoors!

First flowers on the strawberry plants of the Traversine ! While waiting for the fruits, we are content with the colored fruits of the panels painted in Burkina Faso by Solstène, painter of the Laafi Village in Koudougou.    

Spring is just around the corner and the salads are already here! With chives, and nasturtium leaves, for vitamins … Culture in the city, on a roof, enjoys ideal sunshine, with a few more degrees, which shifts harvests by 3 … Read More

In the Grande Section class of Bercy, we did an activity on vegetable painting. We first presented the different vegetables, such as the red cabbage that we used to make different colors of paint. Then we carried out the various … Read More

Spring is approaching … It’s time to make the first sowing in the greenhouses of La Traversine garden. As part of extracurricular activities, the children of Bercy primary school were invited to participate in this sowing activity in the mini … Read More

During school time activities, we decided to make a mini-composter with the children of Bercy School. For the production of our mini-compost, we needed different materials. We used as a container half of a plastic bottle. Then for the filling … Read More

The elementary children from Bercy came to help us plant our crops on the roof of the school, in the Jardin de la Traversine. On the program, transplant salads that have sown on their own, thanks to the feet that … Read More

During an afternoon in extracurricular time, the children of Bercy school went to the UMCEBO gallery and were able to discover an exhibition organized by the association Desining Hope. This exposition has been realized to the benefit of Desining Hope’s … Read More

During a school time activity at the Bercy school, we carried out a Land art workshop with children from the middle section.   Upstream, the children went to collect leaves and branches in Bercy Park. We did the activity in … Read More

In one night, the Safran crocuses came out of the ground! A small harvest, only the orange pistil can be used to make the precious spice …

For the third time, La Traversine associates the children of the Bercy school to the exhibitions of  Umcebo Gallery, also located in the 12th district of Paris. The afternoon started at the Gallery, with a group of children on extracurricular … Read More

Sowing day at the Traversine … We enrich the soil to prepare the spring sowing

We collected our first kilos of strawberries on the garden of Traversine.the sunshine of the terrace has been beneficial! they were sweet and fragrant!Enough to make our first jams, labeled “jams of Paris” …

The mini-greenhouses of Traversine play an important role in the preparation of seedlings for the garden. The ideal sunshine of the terrace guarantees a fast growth !

Thanks to Biocoop Aligre, for this virtuous circle of waste, source of life in our garden of Traversine …

During extracurricular times, Designing Hope organizes activities with children in kindergarten and elementary school. Today, discover the “game of Goose” of Biodiversity, developed by Designing Hope.

Today, we give food to Keyhole…

For the second time this year, Dessine l’Espoir welcomed volunteers from L’Oreal on La Traversine Garden as part of the “Citizen Days” event. Production of culture tanks, sowing in greenhouses, plantations, jam preparation, they took part in small groups to … Read More

All those unmarketable vegetables that are starting to rot will delight the earthworms of the garden…

All breweries have not gone to ready-made dishes and pre-peeled vegetables! The brewery L’entrepôt, located close to the school of Bercy, keeps its peelings to enrich the compost of La Traversine garden.

While waiting for the sowing of spring, we were able to harvest in the 4 mini greenhouses of La Traversine Garden an impressive quantity of greens !

Every week, the peelings of l’Entrepôt Restaurant, located next to La Traversine, enrich the central composter of the keyhole.

Leaves from the schoolyard + peelings and decomposed vegetables = Nitrogenous matter + carbonaceous matter … The secret of a good compost, 100% local

This fall, we used the mini greenhouses to grow seedlings in preparation for the winter: cabbages, spinach and chard ribs were sown. Some plants were kept in the greenhouses, while the others were replanted in the garden.

Let’s look at these plants that grow at the top of our school…

A kindergarten teacher organized an activity in the classroom with peppermint plants harvested from the Traversine garden. She asked each child in her class to bring a broken object, an unusable shoe that they made into a support for the … Read More

On April 29, 2019, the garden of la Traversine was inaugurated by Pénélope Komitès, Deputy Mayor of Paris, responsible for green spaces, nature in the city, biodiversity, urban agriculture and funeral affairs, and by Mrs. Catherine Baratti-Elbaz, Mayor of the … Read More

Before being converted into a garden, the roof terrace of the school of Bercy had for only use to be a passage of evacuation for classrooms. This crossing path remains, in the middle of the garden, and thus inspired the … Read More

Strawberry flowers turn into fruit… Soon the tasting!

This winter, La Traversine harvests seasonal vegetables … The “Jerusalem artichokes” gave us the idea of an animation with kindergarten students … After the harvest, we organize a tasting in class, without forgetting to recover the peelings to try with … Read More

Dessine l’Espoir has entrusted Burkinabé artist Solstène with the production of painted panels to bring color to the garden in winter! 35 different panels illustrate what lives or hibernates in the garden … What help us wait for spring!

La Traversine develops a short circuit compost … The composter of La Traversine is preparing to digest the harvest of dead leaves from the past winter! We organized the composter in 2 bins, one stock the brown leaves collected from … Read More

The garden of La Traversine seen from the sky! On this 300m2 terrace on the roof of the Bercy nursery school, Designing Hope has set up an educational garden as part of the Parisculteurs project. This film offers a great … Read More

The garden of Traversine in Paris benefited from an exceptional sunshine. This first year of cultivation was a successful test for several crops: very prolific climbing beans, tomatoes, squash, salad, corn …

In this short video, you will see the evolution of la Traversine, pedagogical garden created by Designing Hope on the roof of the Bercy preschool. This virtual tour goes shows the culture modules and the variety of plants growing on the … Read More

Designing Hope has designed a game around the food pyramid, with the aim of introducing the youngest to the principles of balanced nutrition. With a set of metal cards made in Burkina Faso and painted by an artist from the … Read More

Garden of Traversine, 13 containers were designed on the principle of tiered farming. They are used for fruiters. A first row of strawberry, halfway up the container, then a second at the front of the tank, then berries (currants, currants, … Read More

Creating a terrace in an urban setting is an opportunity to find vertical farming solutions. We made this model with recovery pallets and empty bottles. The bottles were filled to 13 of clay balls to retain the water and prevent … Read More

This is the last step of the tin cans decoration workshop! After designinig black and white friezes inspired from traditional patterns from several African countries, after having them colored by the children of Bercy, we printed them on a water-resistant … Read More

Women of the Fundzisa Live’s association, made at the request of Dessine l’Espoir bags sewn and embroidered hands, stamped “Transjardins”, reproducing several vegetables. This canvas bag, ideal for shopping, is sold to the benefit of the Transjardins project. Support la … Read More

Le jardin de la Traversine bénéficie d’un ensoleillement assez exceptionnel sur le toit de l’Ecole de Bercy. Cela se ressent sur la précocité des récoltes, le goût des légumes, (les fruits sont gorgés de sucre) et le rendement assez étonnant … Read More

La Traversine garden is presented in the journal of the 12th district of Paris, highlighting this summer the urban greening policy implemented in the district. Access the full article here

Designing Hope has received the support of a team of 18 L’Oréal employees for the Citizen Day. A day dedicated to the maintenance of the garden, and animation of workshops with the preschool and elementary children from bercy school.

The cans of the canteen were collected and painted in dark green. Filled up to 10cm of clay balls, at which level a hole was also drilled to form an overflow, they were filled with soil and biochar, and use … Read More

elementary students were invited to draw an insect shelter   EnregistrerEnregistrer

The Milpa also called “the three sisters”, holds an important place in the Amerindian mythology. We use it for biochar experimentation at La Traversine.   EnregistrerEnregistrer

The children of the Macambeni center made drawings for the children of the Bercy preschool , as part of the “communicating classes” program, creating exchanges between educational gardens.   These drawings will be given to the children of the Bercy … Read More

At La Traversine, a demonstration compost bin was designed to show children the evolution of the decomposition process. We fill the tank by the left, mixing leftovers, peelings (nitrogenous matter) with the dead leaves recovered from the courtyard. Then, when … Read More

Designing Hope proposed in class an activity with the children of the elementary around the insects useful to the garden. A presentation of a dozen insects was made, then a questionnaire was given to the children to test their knowledge. … Read More

Marc Dumas took part to a workshop with pupils from Bercy School, during his “Réburbain” exhibition at Gallery Umcebo. The exibition’s subject. Réburbain revisits and assembles ordinary urban fragments, a panoply of banal, common, functional, “no quality” and “unparalleled” objects … Read More

Marc Dumas s’est rendu avec l’équipe de Dessine l’espoir à l’école de Bercy, pour une animation avec un groupe d’élèves, à l’occasion de son exposition à la Galerie Umcebo, à proximité de l’école. Réburbain revisite et assemble des fragments urbains tout … Read More

In its 13 plots inspired by the agroforestry staged culture, spring is in full effervescence: Level Zero … The strawberries in bloom start to form their first red fruits, Level 1 … Blackcurrants, currants, mulberries, raspberries, are covered with flowers … Read More

The children from Bercy preschool made a decorated cardboard suitcase containing drawings, photos of their school, their garden, and their neighborhood, for the children of Laafi’s preschool. The suitcase was given to the association by Laetitia, responsible for extracurricular activities … Read More

Dans le cadre des échanges entre les enfants s’occupant de jardins pédagogiques dans leur école et réunis autour du blog “Transjardins”, les enfants de l’école Hlohlo AME du Swaziland, ont envoyé aux enfants de l’école de Bercy (Paris), des dessins … Read More

Like every afternoon, the children of Roosboom’s Half Way House come together for creative activities, sports, and garden maintenance before their meal is served. This afternoon, the children just receive a large envelopped with pictures and drawings made by the … Read More

The insect shelter aims at attracting beneficial insects to the garden. La Traversine now has 3 insect shelters: 1 on the terrace, one in the preschool court yard, and one in the elementary courtyard. EnregistrerEnregistrer

In order to decorate the cans recovered from the canteen, we have imagined friezes inspired from graphics from the different countries where Transjardins works (bogolan from Burkina Faso, Zulu murals, decoration texts from Swaziland and Lesotho …) These line-drawn friezes … Read More

A metal cover has been placed on the Keyhole of La Traversine Garden. It prevents the dead leaves placed between the kitchen waste to fly away. It retains the moisture of the compost, while providing heat that accelerates decomposition. It … Read More

The children of the Hlohlo AME school in Swaziland have prepared an original gift for the children of Bercy school (Paris). They picked up pods from their school’s garden big flamboyant tree and decorated them with paint. Kids from Paris will … Read More

The children of Koudougou decorated tree leaves drawings by sticking metallic and colored stickers on them. These drawings will join the suitcase offered by the children of Koudougou to the children of the school of Bercy as part of the … Read More

In the context of “communicating classes”, the children of Laafi kindergarten in Koudougou colored local tree leaves, such as neem, jujubier, mango tree, drawn by a facilitator. These drawings are destinated to the children of the Bercy school preschool, in … Read More

s part of the project Classes Communicantes, a memory game was made by craftsmen in Burkina Faso. This game has been duplicated and sent to the different centers for which Transjardins has developed educational gardens. This memory, on the theme … Read More

The children of the center Siletithemba centre in Roosebom, received an envelope from the children of Bercy school in Paris. with a lot of curiosity and excitement, the young people opened the pack addressed to them and discovered letters and … Read More

The children of St Paul’s School for Deaf were gathered for a surprise straight from France: a large envelope containing photos and letters from the children of Bercy school (Paris). Thanks to the sign language translation made by their teacher, … Read More

The children of Bercy elementary school, in Paris, took part to the manufacture of a tree shaped sculpture made of plastic bottles, paper mache and resin. Animation sessions were conducted on Wednesday afternoons and during school holidays at the elementary … Read More

The children of the “Hlohlo AME” school of Swaziland, received a big envelope from the children of Bercy school (Paris)! For this occasion, they were gathered by the director to open this envelope containing letters and photos of their Paris … Read More

Transjardins brings together several educational gardens in France and Africa. in that context, exchanges have been put in place between projects, that share educational materials, animations, common educational games, on the theme of garden and nature, preservation of environment, and … Read More

The greenhouses are ready for the winter … It only needed the plexi panels to protect them from the cold

It’s autumn, not the greenest season for Traversine, but the opportunity to prepare biomass for spring! Every day, the staff of the 3 establishments (kindergarten, elementary and college), sweep the schoolyard to clear the dead leaves. Nothing was planned to … Read More

This is the ideal season to transplant, especially fruit trees.   The garden of Traversine is turning green, with plantations of mulberry, raspberry, strawberry, but also honeysuckle and wisteria ready to cover the metal structures of pergolas next spring.  

The beginning of 2017 saw the first seedlings and plants on the garden of the Traversine … The season is certainly not the best for seedlings, but we still have sown cabbages and leeks in mini the greenhouses, and lettuces … Read More

The Key Hole is a traditional vegetable garden system used for small areas, especially in Africa. Often conceived in stones, a light version has been made for the terrace of the garden “LaTraversine”. The Key Hole of La Traversine takes … Read More

The construction of the beds is finished, they must now be filled! The first step is to cover the inside of the beds with a waterproof plastic sheet. For this, we used the bags of potted soil, recycling what could … Read More

After several months of preparation (manufacture of metal structures, cutting of the wood), we took advantage of the summer closure of the school to install the elements on the terrace. Below are some visuals showing the steps of this installation … Read More

4m3 of Pine “Douglas” boards were cut in an Ardèche sawmill to make the beds and structures of La Traversine garden. The timber was cut to be assembled directly on the terrace, while the metal structures were manufactured and painted … Read More

La Traversine was presented on Parisculture booth at Paris International Agriculture fair.   www.traversine.fr – www.parisculteurs.paris

La Traversine is one of the 34 projects selected by the City of Paris as part of the “Parisculteurs” project to create a garden on a Parisian roof. Designing Hope has conseived La Traversine as a paired project to existing educational gardens in Africa.