Volunteers

Every year, many volunteers support the activities of the “Le Moulin Jaune en fêtes” association. The best way to get to know us is to take part in one of the gardening work sessions organized each season.

Dates are regularly set. Contact us and introduce yourself in a few sentences to take part or to be kept informed of the gardening dates, which generally take place from February to November each year.

WHY COME AND GARDEN?

• Become part of Slava’s garden-theatre:
  Take an active role in the garden’s life rather than being a spectator for a day. Coming to garden is a way to share in the life of Le Moulin Jaune, taste its Slavic soups, discover ongoing projects, and meet people.
• Escape into nature, by the water, for a day.
  Manual weeding, planting, immersion in nature and in the different worlds of the Moulin Jaune garden… a burst of positive energy!
• Help beautify this remarkable garden.
  Le Moulin Jaune doesn’t have a permanent team of gardeners, but instead invites professionals or amateurs, throughout the seasons, to help under the guidance of our landscapers, who share gardening techniques and tips.
• Get to know people. When a connection is made, the shared adventure sometimes continues through events, residencies, or other forms of collaboration.
• We also sometimes welcome international volunteer groups or young people program to the remarkable garden. To encourage cultural exchange with these volunteers, volunteer gardening sessions are organized during the same period.

WHAT DO WE DO?

• Our gardener-landscapers put together programs that vary by season, including light planting, hand weeding, pruning of perennials and shrubs, bulb or new plant planting, and dividing root clumps.
• No experience is required: all friends, beginners, amateurs, or professionals, regulars and newcomers alike, are welcome.
• These sessions are not intended for children: for those under 15, please arrange another activity; for pre-teens or teens, please check their motivation to work with their hands in the soil for several hours in a row.
• If this is your first time, plan for the whole day (from around 9:30 am to 5 pm, with a lunch break).
• We welcome you during the day, but there is generally no possibility of staying overnight or sleeping on site, especially not the first time. However, if you wish to stay several days, you’ll find plenty of Airbnb options nearby.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE?

• Send us an email specifying your availability, describing in a few sentences who you are, where you live, and your motivations. THESE SESSIONS ARE RESERVED FOR PEOPLE OVER 15 YEARS OLD, and minors must be accompanied.
• On the day, please bring:
  • appropriate clothing for the weather, including shoes (we can lend boots if needed).
  • gardening gloves, pruning shears, and dibbers if you have them; we provide them if you don’t.
  • a dish or dessert to share; we prepare the meal, which is usually served around 2 pm.
  • a water bottle or flask.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED

These days are free, but occasionally multi-day sessions are organized, in which case there is a contribution toward accommodation costs.

WORKSHOPS

A tree and plant pruning session is organized with Tanya Bessarab for Russian speakers at the end of February and the end of October each year.

For exact dates, information, and mandatory registration, please contact info@moulinjaune.com

If you would like to suggest a group trip by train or carpooling from Paris, please let us know. Le Moulin Jaune is located in Crécy-la-Chapelle, 30 minutes from Paris via the A4 motorway, and is accessible by train from Paris Gare de l’Est in 47 minutes (Transilien station “Villiers-Montbarbin”: free with a Navigo pass / €2.50 for others), and by bus from the Marne-la-Vallée Chessy TGV/RER station in 15-20 minutes (bus 2407 or 7717, Marne et Morin network).

These gardening sessions are an opportunity to get to know one another. Afterward, friends of Le Moulin Jaune can take part in preparing and organizing events open to the public.
Some come to experiment, invent, and create to bring the place to life or draw inspiration from it: learn more about our artist residencies.

In the garden of Le Moulin Jaune, a new project by Slava Polunin is taking shape: a media library dedicated to clowns, mimes, jesters, street theatre, visual theatre, carnival, play, the absurd, laughter, and imagination, as well as our eccentric friends from the worlds of painting, fashion, and architecture.

We are looking for volunteers willing to help us digitize and catalogue books.

You most likely love books, which means you are attentive, patient, thorough, and have already spent time in libraries.

The more languages you know, the more interesting this will be for you: we have books in 34 languages.

Write to us at info@moulinjaune.com

Would you like to take part in the life of Le Moulin as an actor or clown?

Send a one-minute video introducing your character to the following address: info@moulinjaune.com.