When everything makes sense!
Did you know I was a farmer?
I took my maps from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries when I was taking my first steps as a farmer some 4 years ago. I was in front of a virgin land and had to draw a plan. I was even asked to sit on the board of the Union des producteurs du Québec as a small farm! I also had to demonstrate to the CPTAQ that my agricultural project (that of planting in a diversified and sustainable way) was viable.
Where am I?
I first installed animals: Pépito and his farmyard. The former watches over and guards. I like to think that the chickens and rabbits plow as best they can while fertilizing the land and feeding on insects in the case of the chickens. The alpacas arrived this year and we will use their manure (like Pépito's) as much as their wool, which you can buy in our online store.
(photo taken at the beginning of everything, when the earth was virgin)
As for training, I chose the simplest and most appealing for me: beekeeping. And since I believe in learning through experience, I installed and then learned! I will have 8 hives this summer, to the great joy of my apple trees which are producing fruit like never before.
Three years ago, I started the fruit project, to plant to feed us, so that each plant has this vocation. Thus, our windbreaks are cherry and hazel trees on the east side, on the south side, sugar maples and orchards of all kinds (several trees, however, did not withstand the intense cold of the following winter), to the north, white mulberries; our land is fenced to protect children and animals, on each post, a kiwi vine has been planted on one side, on the other, a rustic rose bush. We also have a few aisles of small fruits and a vineyard of table grapes.
This year, in addition to receiving a self-contained greenhouse where children's classes can plant and watch them grow, where shoots will delight them (and serve for local green juices), we are making a connection with beauty:
- Therapeutic clay and flowers for masks
- honey and herbs (thyme, rosemary, lavender) for exfoliation
- sea buckthorn to extract the oil
- rose bushes for foot baths & sensory pleasure
- grapes & blackcurrants for care and body mist
- centaury cyanus flower for cornflower water like our ancestors used to make
Our beautician will therefore be able to pick the ingredients for these treatments in the morning dew!
We are planting a nourishing, diverse garden where each species has a reason to be! Thus calendula, chamomile, apricot trees & co will delight your senses, your health, your skin! With this flower garden, we will meet the needs of our bees while the country bouquets will allow us to complete (with honey and wool) the minimum required for an agricultural project in terms of profitability and the harvests will serve the beauty business! The greenhouse will allow the whole to be autonomous.
And so much for the Sunday farmer who makes this land a painting of a thousand colors! A garden for bees, to welcome laughing children and to nourish our vitality and beauty.
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