The installation steps
Let the thread of the story ...
January: first contact in the House Agriculture The first step to achieve in the course of installation, when wishing to receive aid at the facility for young farmers is to make an appointment Point your info Installing the Chamber of Agriculture.
At this meeting, we explained the sequence of steps to take to installation and we are informed about the aid to which they are entitled. We shall provide a form of self-diagnosis to fill in for the next appointment (CEPPP).
January-February: first encounters with gardeners surrounding
same time, we have begun to build a network in order to have good neighborly relations, friendship and even cooperation with the few Gallic resistance had chosen work the land around here (Pierre, Bertrand, and later Cyril), but some producers who are located a little further in the region.
We met Daniel Vuillon (creator of AMAP in France) SIVAL Angers, which put us in contact with a network of AMAP in Aquitaine. We were able to attend a meeting this network of coordinators and youth AMAP installed through networks of AMAP.
We also were welcomed by Greg and Mary, which refer to organic gardening in the Gironde, and in which Fanny is then part of an internship. For his part, Adrian has assumed a position of laborer in other organic growers in the Médoc, where he was eventually hired.
We joined by the second formal stage of the Chamber of Agriculture ...
February: visit the Center Development Plan Professionalization Custom
We chose to perform the equivalent of a 6 months internship: 5 months internship for Fanny, and salary for the same period for Adrian, in two different farms.
In addition to further practical experience, a small group course of 21 hours is required. We'll talk later.
April-August: a little practice among gardeners
Adrian has been hired as a laborer at Marie-Noël Saint Vivien de Médoc and Fanny is part internship at Gregory and Mary Naujac sur Mer
Both farms are very different. A Naujac, land much like what was in Hailsham, because they are more or less black sand, while in Saint-Vivien, they are very clayey land edge Gironde.
Marie Noële grown on mounds, many under low tunnels, and nearly all the soil is tarped. In Gregory and Mary, the crops are on board, a party is in the field and the other under high tunnels cold.
The size and farm management are also very different. Works where Fanny is the only market gardening activities, and personnel management is family. Where Adrian works, market gardening is only part of the operation: a large grain is grown by Peter and Elodie, daughter of Pierre and Marie-Noëlle, who has a bakery shop on the farm. There are advantages to Naujac staff (especially in summer).
Both farms are diverse gardening oriented direct selling, but Mary-Noële sells mainly on the (ten per week in summer) and just in AMAP baskets, while Gregory and Mary sell mainly AMAP (any year), but also on two markets in the summer, and sales Farm is being developed. They only sell their own vegetables, while Marie-Noëlle must complete its markets through a wholesaler bio.
Finally (there would be other things to say, but we have a "finally"), Gregory and Mary are specialists asparagus while Mary Christmas is known for its melons.
Two very different experiences in the end!
continued: Following the steps already completed or in progress ... the purchase of the tunnels, the course 21 hours, diagnosis young farmers, organic certification, the Economic Development Plan (PDE)
