Regenerative agriculture

Agriculture provides our food, maintains our landscapes and holds many keys to

our climate adaptation but working with living organisms and changing seasons is complex.

Regenerative agriculture aims to protect biodiversity, microbial life in the soil, and to slow down the water cycle.

LPO Refuge

The 15 gestures

The orchard/garden

In the garden

The water cycle

As the water flows

Permaculture

The principles

LPO Refuge since November 2025

A commitment to biodiversity

We are committed to preserving nature in the broadest sense: fauna, flora, soil, environment. The LPO asks us to apply these 15 gestures. Here are a few examples of concrete actions:

The area around the hamlet is prohibited to hunting
We keep hedges for traffic wildlife
The car park is made of limestone to limit Artificialization
No chemicals in the garden
Mowing reasoned (not too frequent) and partial (areas left in tall grass)
Plantation of trees every year (fruit trees, hedges)
Shelter in the garden (piles of stone or wood) and maintenance of the'natural areas (wet meadow, biodiversity pond)
L'rainwater from roofs is used to flush toilets
Ivy, brambles and other weeds feed wildlife
From nesting boxes in the garden and farm buildings are home to wildlife
Traps We don't have a swimming pool and the bays are marked with stickers to avoid collisions.
Pollution The building is equipped with: exterior lighting with presence detection and electrical equipment for the maintenance of green spaces.
A composter is made available
Contribution to participatory sciences observation of bats, counting amphibians, etc.
The gîte is a ambassador of nature!

The orchard

First harvest planned in 2028

The first trees were planted in November 2023:

4 lines spaced 10m apart, on the hill facing east
each line corresponds to a harvest month: July to October... to harvest different fruits on the same row.
The base of the trees is mulched and the orchard is irrigated solely by springs up on the hill.
12 pear trees, 12 apple trees, 10 plum trees, 2 apricot trees, 8 soft fruit trees (blackcurrants, redcurrants, currants, gooseberries, with harvests starting in 2025!)

The plantation project

The vegetable patch

First harvests in 2025

The first vegetable patches have been prepared for the winter of 2024/2025, with the first harvest of potatoes, pumpkins, strawberries and peppers scheduled for 2025.

The aim is to supply the gîte and workshops with fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables. Guests will be able to buy a basket of vegetables or pick their own. themselves.

Any surplus production will be processed in the mill's future laboratory/kitchen to make delicious soups, jams and other products.

pears,

apples,

plums,

apricots

The water cycle

The pond is fed by natural springs

The pond was dug in September 2023 in partnership with Vendée Eau to create a wetland area favourable to biodiversity. It captures the numerous existing springs that were soaking the land in this area.

It is 250m long² to a depth of around 1.50 m and is located at the top of the Etrebières plots. By gravity, the overflow irrigates the orchard before joining the stream.

A mixture of ryegrass and clover was sown on the bank after the machines had been driven over. A year later, there is no trace of the work and biodiversity is taking root (frogs, dragonflies, pond reeds, etc.).

The stream in the wet meadow

The stream and springs flood the valley every winter. Like a giant sponge, the grassland stores and purifies the water, and creates habitat for fauna and flora. The nearby hamlet never floods thanks to this natural buffer zone.

Permaculture

Using what is readily available and working with nature

The main guiding principles:

keep the soil covered with mulch or a cover crop to preserve water, promote soil life and capture carbon
avoid monoculture. Diversity brings resilience and variety: don't put all your eggs in one basket.
preserve the microbial life in the soil, which feeds the crops: banish fertilisers that destroy the chemical balance of the soil, and pesticides that destroy the biological balance.