Our journey leads us East again as we head up towards Belgium.  On route we stop at La Ferme biologique du Bec Hellouin, an experimental organic farm being adapted according to Permaculture principles in more recent times.

Parts of rural France feel like stepping back in time, the beautiful landscapes around this part of Normandy feel steeped in memory and story.  We stopped along the way up here at Merlins forest and visited an ancient oak, over 1000yrs old, similar in age to the King of Limbs in Savernake forest close to where I grew up.  According to local legend Merlin lived near hear and this was also the site of Arthurs famous sword pulling.  Many people in these rural parts seem to grow some of their own food, keep some chickens and have regular community connection.  It feels comfortable and relaxed; the pace of life is certainly slower looking in from the outside.
 Bec Hellouin is home to Charles and Perrine Herve- Gruyer, and farmyard buildings are mostly newly built, however with such sympathy for the traditional styles and materials that you might never guess.  The original house is mimicked with its timber framing and cob wall infill’s, and thatched roves are elegantly planted along the top.  Its an incredibly beautiful farm and a lot of care has gone into the details of the infrastructure.  Walking out through the yard down into the growing spaces I can see this is a very efficient place, with water carefully and magically carried through the landscape, creating productive islands and growing spaces where I can see immediately how multiple and diverse microclimates have been created.  It’s breathtaking here.

Im taken aback by how much is going on, and by the fact that a couple started this site.  Only in the last few years have they taken on 1 then another person to help out.  The farms around 16 ha (39ac) but divided into 2 sites.  The other parcel is not connected to the main farm and is a sloped piece of land with trees establishing and animals grazing.

The need for research and clear documentation

We learn from Perrine that the farm is engaged since late 2011 in a research program in partnership with INRA and AgroParisTech to create data around the possibility of creating a livelihood from 1000m2 of land.  (1/4 ac) They are very confident that this is so, although the trials will not be completed until the  end of this year.  If the results are positive then this will have some impact on the wider French agricultural policy, which is really fantastic news.  

The pictures you see of this part of the farm only add up to around 1000m2 of growing space, so you can imagine this statistic is a little removed from the reality of needing space for mulch plants, composting, pathways and other infrastructure.  It’s the clunky way in which modern bureaucracy meets nature, yet it’s a good start to getting serious about a permanent future on this planet!  A leaked UN report last year indicated that only small scale local agriculture can meet the needs of the worlds growing population matched with energy and climate considerations.  I think a lot of us in this field already feel quite clear about this, but it raises some important issues for the integrity of work and documentation within Permaculture and similar movements.

Ive seen many beautiful and productive patches, I feel clear that 1000m2 growing space could be very rewarding, the trouble is documentation and the creation of tangible data.  It reminds me of Andy Goldrings work creating and seeding an International Permaculture Research Protocol at the IPC last year, to be rolled out this year.  It seems essential, there are clearly so many people all over the world now creating and enjoying solutions but there is very little data out there that could help speed a transition back to secure and diverse local food systems.  Im all too aware that this is definitely the case with farmers, especially when trying to introduce new ideas and concepts that step away from conventional modern agricultural approaches.  Modern farming is diverse resource management, and a farmer cannot afford the risk, money, energy or time to try out a potentially very foreign approach based on hearsay.  I understand that, its basic business.

Im excited to hear the results as they emerge- its time to get real with finances, data collection and dissemination.  Ive been mulling this over in terms of the work I do with Diploma mentoring.  I think costing’s and financial evaluations are widely missing in Permaculture education and trainings and it’s the basic aspect that frames most peoples goals and boundaries.  Surely it is the generation of clear, scalable and replicable data that will help proliferate the transition of positive solutions based regenerative strategies around the globe.

Here at Bec Helluion the plots are measured down to the square centimeter.  All the inputs coming onto the site are recorded diligently, as well as exact quantities of produce that leave.  Organic matter fed back into farm compost is weighed and recorded.  The hours, even minutes, of work must be written down and other qualitative aspects of working life must be documented for this study.  How do the workers feel?  Any physical problems through this work?  

Perrine and Charles seem to have both lived very full lies before they took this farm on about 16 years ago.  Charles was a sailor involved for many years in the brilliant Le Enfants series, sailing around the world with children and creating film and books about their culturally rich learning adventures.  Perrine has also published books about nurture in the family environment, and is involved in regional politics.  Quite how they have found the time to achieve all this amazes me.  You can see the farm has had high capital inputs to establish the stunning infrastructure and accommodations.  Perrine reflected that looking back they might not have put all their capital into this to begin with, relating to the short flow in cash later on and the difficulty when trying to establish little enterprises such as pressing apples for traditional fruit cider.

In France you have to derive over 70% of your income from the land to continue to be a registered “farmer” so setting up another business to run courses and workshops has helped the farm bring in revenue whilst sharing about what they do here.  Whilst I can see it took large investment to create this space the results are magnificent.  It’s a very capable site to act as a hub for learning in this region, and a highly productive growing space too.  What I appreciate about this example is that the infrastructure around the growing spaces related purely to production, including polytunnels and earthworking, does not necessarily represent a huge investment.  These are obviously financial investments but this place can turn out 100 veg boxes a week as well as supply to some fine restaurants locally and regionally, so relatively small in relation to the benefits and ensuing ecosystem services.  What was a simple bare field has been turned into a production unit that does not rely hugely on the more costly and extensive farm developments.  True, if you want to produce preserves, juices, cider, etc, you need a kitchen, materials, etc, but this could be in the form of a shared community space and a little creativity could circumvent the prohibitive costs to a small start up.

The aspect that catches my attention the most on the land is the way water has been brought into the site.  The great benefit of having flowing water through a site is clearly revealed when exploring the vegetable islands benefiting from the heat sink and reflective property of water as well as the ecosystem services it offers.  Its an incredible space to be in, on of the most pleasant little farms Ive ever been too.  Whilst there are some carp in the ponds, there is room for aquacultures to extend and diversify the yields of a farm like this.  Most Europeans still have freshwater fish in their cultural dietary traditions, which has all but disappeared in the UK save trout.  Its an incredibly efficient way to produce protein in small foot spaces which obviously stores fresh in situe in a way land based animals cannot.

Perrine reflects how Permaculture Design pulled so many things she had already looked at and considered together, and gave her direction to move forward more clearly, a familiar story to many who have studied this design methodology.  The main elements of the farm were put together before this change in the families lifestyle, and so systems are being established according to what is already there, and everything is being “tweeked” as they go along.  Before Charles and Perrine would do things in the most logical way they could, now they look much more carefully at how to place different elements together so that they can functionally interconnect and create a stable and diverse ecosystem that happen to grow a lot of food as a result.  That’s the wider view; to create viable economic systems that can be run by a family not wishing to work full time in back breaking work.  This has led to more tree and shrub species, seeing that perennials are far less work than annuals, as well as being of more benefit for soil development and nutrition.  There are a lot more species now too, hundreds in this small patch, which looks, feels and tastes very different to a conventional mono culture of one single crop.

Something is happening everywhere you look, there’s a huge diversity in plants, textures, shapes and topography here that makes it a very pleasing space to work in.  Amazing to think that not long ago this was a flat potato field!  Its great testimony to the fact that even without detailed master planning from the beginning, but by observing and interacting with nature, each other and the families needs with care and common sense, the end result is a highly productive and healthy farm system that demonstrates the principles for a community embedded family farm that is both profitable, resilient, regenerative and fulfilling.