The Garden OF STARS
Riad between Agadir and Taroudant, in southern Morocco
Holiday rental with a resident of Swiss nationality
Our ecological will in eight points
Le Jardin aux Etoiles was designed and lives on the basis of a real ecological will, in a country where, for the majority of the population, the means of daily existence come before awareness of the protection of our environment. But don't we have the responsibility to show, by our behavior, that the future of Morocco also depends on actions that contribute to a better ecological balance sheet? Here are the eight concrete points which are as many measures contributing to the protection of our planet.
Construction
Your riad for rent looks, all windows open, towards the north. It is a question of seeking freshness, while the south facade is completely deprived of openings, in order to keep the coolness inside, respectively a certain sweetness in winter.
Perfectly ecological, this construction technique is ancestral. It is that of the Berbers, the first inhabitants of the country, before the Arabs settled there.
Pool
intelligent
The excavation of the swimming pool was in itself a smart ecological act. It was necessary to limit the transport of bricks intended for the construction of the riad, at the same time as using the earth extracted from the ground, to make raw earth bricks, namely rammed earth.
The cubic meters of land extracted to the north of the villa under construction (photo) thus made it possible to build almost the entire villa.
Natural air conditioning
recycled water
The rammed earth bricks (photo) have been dried in the sun. Made from a mixture of earth, straw and water, they have been cemented together to create the walls of your rental villa. Concrete pillars ensured the solidity of the whole, like a meccano set.
Rammed earth provides natural air conditioning, and not just in Morocco, but throughout Africa. In summer, when it is very hot, the temperature of our interior rooms is thus 10 degrees lower than outside. In winter, rammed earth maintains a certain heat inside. However, we have auxiliary heaters and mobile ventilation devices for the comfort of our guests, the only concession made to our ecological desire. Added to this is our living room fireplace.
The water used by the guests of our rental riad is recycled. Taken from the water table, thanks to a well 120 meters deep and stored in our water tower, to give the necessary pressure, the water from the Jardin aux Etoiles returns to the water table.
The gray water is indeed recovered by the pipes, first inside the building, then up to a separator located outside the riad. This concrete chamber allows the sludge to be recovered later. The resulting clear water ends up in a well more than five meters deep. The latter has a natural filter made of pebbles. Our photo shows the excavation work of this well, carried out with a pickaxe!
Waste
Solar panels
Waste sorting is very difficult to achieve in southern Morocco. Under the double sink in the kitchen, however, we have installed two waste bins. One is designed to receive compostable waste: leftover fruit, vegetables, flowers. The other is for all other waste.
This temporary solution does not satisfy us. Certainly, we manage to carry out a first sorting and to recover the soil of fertilizer. But the other waste is by no means reusable, in the absence of any possibility of differentiated collection (metal, glass, cardboard, paper). There is nevertheless an association called actionprogres.com (photo) which had begun a very commendable work of ecological sorting. Unfortunately, the good intentions got lost along the way, as too often in Morocco, and they ended up with the allocation of aPrize of the Moroccan Committee for Responsible Tourism (sic). Nevertheless, let's hope for a resurrection...
Your riad hastwo thermal solar panels. Installed above the bedroomsTaroudant Andagadir (photo), they heat the water consumed in the bathrooms and in the kitchen. These are devices from the Greek brand Dimas Solar. Electricity is thus preciously saved.
Dependent on its imports, hence fairly frequent network cuts, Morocco is in the process of carrying outgreat effort to produce its own electrical energy - which is currently excessively expensive for the consumer - thanks to solar parks like the one in Ouarzazate.
In the Garden of Stars, thehe next green step could be to install solar panels to generate electricity. However, Moroccan craftsmen are far from mastering the techniques related to solar energy in private homes. Caution is therefore called for...
green wall
Ouled Alioua Champagne
The Star Garden is surrounded by a magnificent green wall. This is made up of hundreds of prickly pears (our photo), which give pretty yellow flowers in spring and fruits in summer, as well as autochthonous cacti planted during the construction of the riad. Brambles were added where necessary, as well as trees on the west side, to protect the orange, tangerine and grapefruit trees from the sea wind.
As in all of southern Morocco, our prickly pears were attacked by cochineal. This penetrates the stems and produces a white mass that gives it a fluffy appearance. The cochineal feeds on the sap of the plant which eventually weakens., even disappears. In mid-2019, we We therefore had to undertake a vast and costly operation to destroy the contaminated stems. Quickly, new green shoots appeared. We We also installed a special drip for our prickly pears, in the hope that our efforts will be followed by effects.
Attached to the idea that a house should be surrounded by a high masonry wall, some Moroccans misunderstand the ecological and visual interest of a green wall. Let us reassure them from the point of view of security: our wall, which is one meter wide and at least two high, is just as safe, if not more so, than a high wall. And, in the Garden of Stars,our dogs Will take care of welcoming any intruders in their own way... Not to mention our observation cameras - partly solar powered as it should be. Let say no more...
We invented the "Champagne of Ouled Alioua". What is this new vintage? Certainly, our garden includes several vine plants. But not enough to produce our wine... No, this drink is both a wink and a contribution to a better environment.
Wink ? The use of the term Champagne refers to the famous French sparkling wine, synonymous with excellence and celebration all over the world. But Champagne is also the name of a Swiss town, close to one of the places of origin of the owner and creator of the Jardin aux Etoiles. And it turns out that this municipality also produces wine... whose name has been banned under bilateral agreements with the European Union and a judgment of the European Court of Justice, which is scandalous. The first vines were probably planted there by the Romans, long before the invention of the prestigious French wine by Dom Pérignon. The origin of the name of the village dates back to the 9th century. It was then called by its Latin name "campania", before becoming "champagne" around the 18th century. However, the quarrel with the Interprofession des Vins de Champagne is not over. An amicable agreement is sought. In all, at the Jardin aux Etoiles, the Champagne in question makes exclusive reference to the Swiss village!
Contribution to a better environment? Our Champagne is made from just three lemons (100% organic, of course) from our garden, mixed with just under a liter of water from our well. Not a gram of sugar! This drink is not only thirst-quenching, but also very rich in vitamin C. Nothing better for health. Ultimate environmental advantage, and not the least: the glass jar or bottle used to make our Champagne avoids the purchase of plastic bottles, which are difficult to dispose of.