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.
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 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.
Animals: an essential link of the cycle
- grazing and maintain orchards and meadows
- controlling weeds and pests (e.g. chickens eating insects)
- amending the soil with manure
- and simply being good company
The agro-ecological project
An agriculture working with nature
The goal is to diversify crops according to permaculture principles and aim towards autonomy by supplying the house guests and workshops with fresh, seasonal produce, as well as eggs and honey.
The majority of the nine hectares of bocage remains as grassland to encourage biodiversity, regulate water levels and capture carbon. They are grazed by neighbouring herds.
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