Although perhaps a little ambitious for our first foray into permaculture, this mandala vegetable garden project is very close to our hearts, as we want to give the earth a space in which to flourish. Thank you to Perrine for her energy and help, and to my grandfather Fournol for passing on his passion for the land to me from a very young age.
In the space of a month, we’ve prepared this 500 m² of meadow to plant our first seedlings, which we’ve germinated indoors. The winding paths laid out within the circle invite you to lose yourself amongst the vegetables. Next step: building a greenhouse, and perhaps soon, welcoming animals to enrich the ecosystem!
Latest publications
The stages
Climate action: ‘It’s not about how much you take, but how much you give back’
Thanks to Renaud for these valuable discussions… (www.sweep.net)
The mandala vegetable garden
The Kerbeleg Mandala Garden Project This mandala garden project was a bit ambitious, our first steps in growing vegetables, and we don’t know yet where it will lead us, but we want to give back to the mother earth a worthy space to blossom. With a bit of luck, after more or less successful attempts, […]
Mycobacterium vaccae: Happiness at your fingertips!
When we put our hands in the soil, without gloves of course, I don’t know about you, but in my Mandala vegetable garden on the edge of the forest, I’ve got a hell of a potato, or a hell of a peach (depending on the season). In short, I’m in seventh heaven! For a long […]
Reproduce your seeds
Collecting your own seeds (reproducible, non-hybrid) helps you preserve local varieties, improve their adaptation to your region’s climate and reduce your dependence on seed companies. Here’s a method that can be applied to a few typical vegetables: 1. Squash (courgettes, pumpkins, etc.) 2. Tomatoes 3. Dill 4. Salads (lettuces) 5. Beans 6. Maize General advice: […]
Create your own origami seed sachets
This folding system requires no tape or glue and is ideal for storing your seeds or exchanging them with other gardening enthusiasts. Materials required Steps to make your own Follow these simple steps to create your own seed sachet: 1. Fold the paper diagonally Take a square of paper and fold it diagonally to form […]
The toad, prince of the garden
Fellow gardeners, welcome to the enchanting world of the vegetable garden, where magic happens and miracles come to life! Today we present KERMIT, our little toad who still thinks he’s a pretty frog, a prince in the Mandala garden. We had our eye on Kermit, lurking behind a stone in the well, so we invited […]
Water: Life!
Connecting our well to our vegetable garden: a crucial step towards food self-sufficiency. We’ve had this idea in the back of our minds for a while: to connect our well to the centre of our Mandala vegetable garden. It’s now an absolute necessity for all gardeners concerned about the environment and efficiency in the garden. […]
Amending our soil for a sustainable crop
In our quest for environmentally-friendly agriculture, we felt it was essential to return to natural, traditional methods. Using cow manure to enrich the soil is an age-old practice. We have 4 tonnes of cow manure delivered to us, which we spread over our vegetable patch using a wheelbarrow. We apply a final pass of the […]
Decompacting the soil
Once the sketch had been finalised and the circular layout positioned, we marked out a large 23 metre square that we were going to turn over, essentially on the surface, with a rotovator. This tool isn’t ideal, but turning over 500 m2 with the grelinette (aerator) was an impossible mission, given the hardness of the […]
A wild sketch between heaven and earth
Designing the beds The concept of our mandala vegetable garden offers a unique and aesthetic approach to the creation of our vegetable garden. Bringing living things back into the midst of dormant nature requires a bit of work on the subject. We’re dedicating a 23 metre square, or around 500 square metres, to this ‘kingdom […]
An office, a greenhouse?
It all starts with the seed. It’s the middle of winter, February 2023, the dozens of packets of reproducible seeds are piling up on the desk and we’re itching to finally give life to those thousands of little vegetables and aromatic plants in the making. This year, to give the kitchen garden every chance of […]
The clearing
We only knew Kerbeleg through my grandfather’s stories and photos. The fields of the manor farm surrounding it, our neighbour’s draught horse, these images of nature and green labour that already made me dream a little. This clearing, to which the house turned its back, was home to a small vegetable garden in the summer, […]
The land
Until the 1950s, agriculture in Brittany was dominated by small family farms. Consolidation changed this dynamic by grouping plots together and modernising them with new technologies. This increased productivity, but some farmers lost their land and Brittany’s traditional bocage landscape was destroyed. Despite this, Brittany remains a major agricultural region in France, reconciling modernity with […]
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