Ferme biologique et maraichage dans le Jura

Hi there,

I'm Matthew!

Originally from Besançon, I grew up in a garden in which I did a lot of gardening with my grandfather. Passionate about nature, I joined the Breuil school of horticulture in Paris and after graduating, I worked for 3 years in a large park in the capital.

After the birth of our second child, in 2018, my partner and I decided to move to Marseille where I created a landscaping company in which I have worked during 2 years.

Back in Besançon in August 2020, we applied to the SAFER for a house and 9.5 acres of land in the village of Conte, at an altitude of 700 m in the Jura. We were very lucky and got it! And since then everything happened very quickly!

I am interested in the concept of nourishing gardens with the idea that even if it requires much more human intervention than any other garden, it hosts a great diversity of life.

I have this conviction because I have experienced it during my childhood, in the large gardens maintained by my grandfather and in which life abounded! Trees, birds, insects, hedgehogs, salamanders... everyone was at home there and all our visitors fell in love with the place. 

Today this garden, this paradise of my childhood, has become a supermarket parking! Yes you read that right... Since then I have never given up on the dream of reviving a similar paradise.

I looked for ways to recreate such a place which would be economically viable. So I took courses at the Bec-Hellouin farm, then in the very beautiful "organic farm of Ravel", and finally in the "Fils du Potager" near Besançon.

This project is clearly the project of a lifetime, that of creating an oasis in the difficult time that awaits us!

There's a lot of work to be done, we won't get bored in the countryside! Such a project is created over several years and it cannot be carried out as a whole without your help. And this is the reason why we are launching this crowdfunding campaign!

The place is amazing and represents a huge opportunity that we thought we would never have: a huge surface with the presence of water and at a low altitude !

Our crowdfunding campaign will enable us to finance three items of expenditure : 

> 1st level of fundraising: 4,000€ for land and equipment

For the tools, I already have a good half. I'm not going to mechanize excessively for ecological reasons and to be as dense as possible in terms of crop associations. We will nevertheless need a greenhouse for sowing because Jura can be quite cold. 

As for the soil I will need to amend it with manure and compost. Indeed, an amendment nourishes the soil, which in turn will nourish the plant, unlike a fertilizer which nourishes the plant directly. The old market gardeners practicing "hot layers" spread up to 60 cm of manure on their soil! 

> 2nd level: 6,000€ for water!

To date, I have dug 3 ponds. Two little ones to contribute to biodiversity and a larger one with a capacity of 350 m2 of water which constitute a reserve for the crops. 

The first two ponds live their lives. The first frogs are already coming in and the aquatic plants will follow! There is no additional work to be done.

The third pond will make it possible to irrigate up to 2000 m2 of crops all year round, if other factors are met (protection against the wind, good soil, mulching, micro irrigation..). It fills up after a few heavy showers (sometimes the slope has advantages) but it empties after a few days! After trying other means, I have no choice but to seal it with an EPDM cover. I will also need to invest in pumps, pipes, drippers and sprinklers to bring water to the crops.

> 3rd level: 10,000€ for an orchard

Finally, I would like to plant 100 trees to have fruits and create a little paradise of biodiversity. 

The project as a whole also includes a chicken coop, a second greenhouse and sheep for a total cost of €33,000, which we will finance. 

Thus our farm will become a harmonious place of life, mixing cultivated and wild plants, domestic and native animals, wetlands, meadows and woods... A place where anyone curious will be welcome for a visit or a simple contemplation!

Thank you very much for your help!