The “Bio ready to plant” farm of Élodie Mounès and Guillaume Estrade has been operational for a few days. This young agricultural company was born from the meeting in 2018 of two enthusiasts of the plant world.
Élodie holds a diploma in green chemistry. She worked for a few years in a laboratory. Between 2010 and 2014, she lived in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Back in France, she followed a training course and obtained a certificate of specialization in organic market gardening. It then integrates the gardens of Cocagne in the technical framework.
Guillaume is a native of the country. After agricultural studies, he worked as a landscaper in Toulouse and joined the family CAEC of Sestière in dairy production. But breeding was not his thing. “I became aware of the importance of plants as an inseparable partner of human activities, both through its nurturing and landscaped dimension”, he confides.
In September 2019, the young couple began the administrative and financial procedures for the installation of their farm and in the fall of 2020, work began on their 1.6 ha land. A first greenhouse of 234 m2 quickly invested by the machines necessary for the preparation of the clods of culture and the heating tables. Their cultures are oriented exclusively towards edible plants: vegetable / market garden plants, aromatics, berries, fruit trees but also flowers with culinary flavors, because, as Elodie specifies, “a borage-free garden is like a heart without courage!”
Courage and heart at work, this couple has plenty to spare. An orchard of 70 mother trees, carrying the future scions that will form the fruit trees put up for sale is already in place. A second greenhouse to ensure the rotation of crops will be erected next month followed by a third larger to achieve a covered area of 1000m2. The farm is certified organic by Ecocert.
The farm is open to its customers Thursday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and the producers are present on Friday morning on the Foix market.
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