Partners from the University of Maribor’s Faculty of Agriculture, together with an Italian silkworm farmer from Sisiano, visited the ARACNE French partners in the Cévennes. The main objective was to exchange knowledge and share the results of the ARACNE project on the inventory of mulberry trees, the maintenance of plantations and the concepts of polycultural plantations linked to traditional agropastoralism in the Cévennes. The meeting also focused on the advanced use of mulberries and silk by-products for pharmacological applications. Synergies were created and milestones defined towards a common certified Silk Route based on the recognition of the points of interest of the natural and cultural silk heritage.
Wednesday, 6 August – Arrival at the Ferme des Cévennes
We arrived at the Ferme des Cévennes in the evening and were warmly welcomed by Evelyne Dussaut and Jean Pierre Marie from the “Association Les Chemins de la Soie des Cévennes aux Alpujarras”. We enjoyed a traditional chestnut beer under the vine pergola to discuss the excursion itinerary and mulberry sampling. The charming stone farmhouse has an ethnological museum, a library, and a large dining room with an open fireplace, where delicious local dishes are daily roasted. The farmhouse built into the rock, which can be admired from the insight, is surrounded by vineyards and pastures where Evelyne and Jean Pierre’s fifteen donkeys graze between guided hikes.
Thursday, 7 August – Visit to Sericyne & the Silk Museum in Saint Hippolyte du Fort
Founded in 2015 by Clara Hardy, Sericyne has revitalized silk production by combining innovation with a deep respect for the tradition of silk farming in the Cévennes and creating an entirely French, eco-responsible supply chain. We met Frédéric Viatge at the Sericyne mulberry collection in Gravas that maintains the traditional sericultural varieties. We exchanged cultivation practises, took samples for analyses, and monitored the growth and health status of pilot cultivation techniques, including low and medium pruning form planted in single row and a high plant density suitable for mechanical harvesting. One part maintains rows with alternate paired plants 3 meters apart giving promising harvest results. Fertilization methods, microbial biostimulants, and phytopharmaceutical treatments were discussed. We also visited the rearing facility, getting knowledge of the advanced patented manual rearing technique of silkworms, which produces flat, two-dimensional Sericyne Silk® sheets.
In the afternoon, we visited the Musée de la Soie in Saint Hippolyte du Fort. The exhibits are organized from silkworm rearing to silk processing, starting with a silkworm rearing room, where the larvae are displayed through the five instars, as well as egg incubators and microscopy equipment for egg health monitoring including presentation of Pasteur’s work on diseases. The silk processing exhibition part evolves reeling machines from wooden felandas to automated reeling machine with multiple basins. In the weaving department, historic looms, a large warping machine and stocking- knitting machinery can be seen with examples of embroidered silk stockings and women silk dresses.
In the late afternoon, we met with Clara Hardy at Sericyne’s main building to discuss the joint research on microencapsulated sericin particles and extracts from mulberry leaves, shoots, and fruits. We observed various advanced creations made from Sericyne Silk ® sheets, which you can discover at https://sericyne.fr/portfolio-fr/
Friday, 8 August – Florac and regional insights
In Florac, we met Pablo Barrera Espada from the Tourism and Cévennes National Park Office and UNESCO representative, Ségolène Dubois, Director, to explore mulberry trees as a monumental heritage, their reintroduction in polycultural landscapes, and the synergy with the agropastoral traditions and the chestnut usage. We discussed the concepts of UNESCO heritage and the planed collaboration activities with Local Action Groups (LAGs). We admired the picturesque village with the mountain massif in the background and the rapids flowing through the village. The river is used for trout farming, and we enjoyed a riverside lunch tasting the delicious trout in a former watermill.
Saturday, 9 August – Saint-Martin de Lansuscle and traditional farming
We visited Saint-Martin de Lansuscle, where around 50 mulberry trees, dating back to the late 19th century were planted. The last ones were replanted after the severe frost in 1956. These trees are between 100–260 cm in circumference and about 2.5 to 4 meters apart. In nearby villages we monitored additional monumental mulberry trees for sampling.
Lunch was planned at the Fromagerie du Fédou, a family-run sheep’s milk cheese producer known for Le Claousou, a creamy, silky cheese with smoky, nutty, and fruity flavours. The cheese is wrapped in Jura spruce bark and matured for 2–3 weeks. The sheep graze on the local pastures of the Causses, and give the cheese its distinctive flavour (truefoodies.com).
We then visited a traditional farm, “La Ferme Caussenarde”, where we learnt about historical agricultural practises in the Cévennes, including agropastoralism, pastoral culture and settlement, and the traditional roasting of chestnuts.
Sunday, 10 August – Maison Rouge & evening hike with donkey Obi
Sunday was reserved for a visit to the “Musée des Vallées Cévenoles -Maison Rouge”. We were welcomed by Daniel Travier, President of the Association des amis de Maison Rouge, and initiator of the restoration of the silk mill. He has personally collected more than 20,000 artefacts, which are now on display in the ethnographic museum.
The Maison Rouge Museum (“Musée de France”, 1999) is a former 19th century silk mill that has been fully restored and extended to include a new gallery housing the new Ethnographic Museum of the Cévennes Valleys. The remarkable heritage of the Maison Rouge and the extensive collections of the Museum of the Cévennes Valleys are presented on almost 2,500 square meters of exhibition space.
Daniel Travier explained the golden era of silk industry in the Cévennes. The commune of Saint-Jean-du-Gard, which in 1856 had some 4,450 inhabitants, was home to twenty-three silk mills. Maison Rouge occupies a prominent place in the history of the silk industry in France: it was the first industrial silk reeling plant with steam to heat vats. In January 1965, the site closed its doors, and with it, the last French silk reeling plant. The area underwent several modifications during the 19th and 20th centuries, with successive constructions and extensions of different buildings and functions. The “Grande Rouge”, built between 1836 and 1838, is the only testimony to the silk industrial past. It is in this building, now restored and listed as a historical monument, that part of the Museum’s collections (wool, sericulture, reeling and weaving) are presented.
Daniel Travier explained from the tower place the extension of the former mulberry plantation and the history of the mill. As we crossed the impressive garden with oranges in the typical Anduze pots, the visit starts on the spinning-mill’s monumental staircase
It then proceeds in the prestigious historical building and its contemporary extension, revealing Cévenol identities of the past and present through its interpretation of the history of the Cévennes and its landscape characterized by agropastoralism. In the museum we admired the large steam reeling machine explained by Daniel Traviert the mechanism behind the reeling, steaming and drying of the thread.
The exhibiton has a impressive collection of different egg incubators along with the traditional small cloth bags that were hanged close to the womens’ breast or on the upper side of the leg. We admired the collection of cloths and stockings from different centuries. After the museum’s visit we examined the garden and took samples of mublerry trees that are planted in the collection sectored by a mulberry living fence.
The evening’s highlight was a spiritual evening hike up a mountain path with the donkey Obi. It was an amazing last evening together that give us opportunity to walk, fill and take care of the donkey. Evelyne and Jean‑Pierre narrated the history of the Cévennes Silk Road, tracing its origins to the Arab influence and migration paths.They shared the mission of the Association “Chemins de la Soie”, which promotes hiking with donkeys along silk heritage route (https://cheminsdelasoie.com/randonner-avec-un-ane) , fostering cultural and natural heritage awareness. The virtual map including accomodations was developed in the frame of the ARACNE project.
Monday, 11 August – Mercoire Collection
Our final field visit was to the Mercoire mulberry collection, that is maintained on the reconstructed terraced orchards. Most of the mulberry varieties originate from the National Botanical Conservatory of Porquerolles via Jean-Paul Roger and were planted between 2002 and 2016. The orchard includes around 50 varieties of Morus alba in group from France, Italy, Japan, and China, rare species like M. boninensis, M. atropurpurea, hybrids of M. alba × M. rubra, and ancient local black mulberry trees. A few trees represent M. rubra hybrids. Ancient black mulberry trees probably reflect the hamlet’s original settlers, though not officially catalogued, their heritage value is significant.
Guided by the collection curator, Anya Cockle-Betian, we toured the terraces and descended the narrow plantation steps of Mercoire plantation. We documented and sampled 16 varieties for genetic analysis and collected propagation material for preservation in the University of Maribor germplasm collection.
Our joint excursion will result in valuable genetic insights from the mulberry samples and advanced microencapsulated material from mulberries and sericultural by-products in joint collaboration, which we will present at the upcoming BASCA/ARACNE conference in Tbilisi.
