“I am a market gardener by descent, and I have never wanted to do anything other than this profession. I first helped my father and when he retired three years ago I took over production. We had entered the Culinary College of France three years earlier, and I wanted to give even more value and meaning to what we were doing. We were already producing a lot of varied vegetables, but I realized that there was a real lack of aromatic herbs, and I decided to focus on that.
“I was told that in the XVIIe century the notaries defined the profession of market gardener as “feeder of soil”. “
What I’m looking for is both regularity and diversity: I try to grow many different herbs between May and November, and even in winter for some varieties, and offer them throughout the year. ‘year. We work in a cold greenhouse, and we apply the principles of permaculture, by installing aromatic herbs next to vegetables for example, to naturally repel parasitic insects. This year, we planted wormwood near the tomatoes and eggplants, and we had no aphids.
These are things that you learn over time, often empirically, because you have to adapt to the climate, the type of soil, the altitude. Our farm, in Octeville-sur-Mer, north of Le Havre, is 500 meters from the sea as the crow flies. Our lands are sandy, windy, laden with spray. It is through hard work and thanks to the experience of the generations that preceded us that we manage to test, analyze and find the right solutions. For mint, for example, we tried 169 varieties before finding the one that we liked and that we liked at home.
It takes three to four years to establish a culture, which then sometimes has to be modified and adapted. With the climatic changes of recent years, the marjoram which was in the greenhouses has not survived: we have to find another location … We must constantly adapt. I was told that in the XVIIe century the notaries defined the profession of market gardener as “feeder of soil”. Today, agriculture sometimes no longer feeds either man or the earth. But that’s what I’m trying to do …
The Taste of M
On the farm, we have 12 hectares, half of which is cultivated (while the other is fallow, for the land to rest), and 800 square meters are devoted to aromatic herbs. This is enough for a continuous production of about fifty species of herbs per year.
I love to cook and put herbs everywhere, of course. One of my favorite uses are herbal infused (or macerated) oils, like this blend I created with different powerful herbs: marigold, pineapple sage, mugwort, ache (or lovage), Thai scallion and chives. . This deliciously complements a fish or grilled meat. Sometimes there is not even a need for salt and pepper. And oil is a way of carrying, diffusing and perpetuating the essence of aromatics. “