Near Dinan: in Saint-André-des-Eaux, Gaëlle is proud to be a peasant

His straw hat screwed on his head and his big boots on his feet, it is difficult to imagine him trotting in the streets of Rennes in a suit and heels. Yet Gaëlle Croguennec has not always had her hands in the ground and her head in the trees.

Give back to the earth what is taken from it

It has been only three years since the young woman moved to Saint-André-des-Eaux, after a short career as a multimedia project manager in the Breton capital. “It was interesting and I liked it, but I was cut off from nature”, rewinds Gaëlle Croguennec.

This non-daughter of farmers feels irremediably attracted to a job that she imagines as a whole. Give back to the earth what we take from it and do things in harmony. ” I’ve always had an ecological conscience, from a very young age. Besides, apart from saving the world, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do in life, ”laughs the young woman.

If she does not save the world today, Gaëlle Croguennec try to improve it with organic productions as close as possible to animals and plants. On 4 hectares, it installed strawberry plantationsalready in production, and actinidiasthe tree that gives the kiwi, which should provide kilos of fruit in two or three years.

“It’s a long time to get kiwis and I had quite a few weather-related issues when I planted them. It was the year when we had snow and a lot of them couldn’t resist, so we had to start over. »

“We have the animals we deserve”

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Fortunately, the strawberries are there and perfume the atmosphere with their sweet smell. This year, with the heat, quality and quantity are there and the fruits are selling well. “Fortunately, because it’s a lot of work”, testifies Gaëlle who even installed a skateboard to slide down the aisles while picking.

near there, black hens are on alert. They know that damaged strawberries often end up in their feeder and feast on them in advance. But there will be no strawberries today, only an unknown that they are coming welcome with curiosity. “I often say that we have the animals we deserve,” says Gaëlle, who finds it difficult to move around the plot as the hens are familiar and interested in the course of operations.

Every two days, the young woman arrives with her small trolley filled with blue honeycomb plastic. She comes to collect the eggs of her Noirans hens, which are darker in shell and yellow than those of traditional hens.

“When I moved in, I said to myself that I had to stand out from the 250,000 hens that there were in Côtes-d’Armor and I discovered this strain which is well suited to free-range breeding. . »

Mobile chicken coops

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Because Gaëlle’s hens spend their lives outside. Outside, but never very far from their shelter, in a perimeter of about 5 meters, like all hens. Hence the desire of the breeder to install mobile chicken coops. Four wooden structures, self built, have naturally found their place in the meadow occupied by Gaëlle three years ago to create her small farm there. Natural wood, a bit of grating to meet standards, perches and hatcheries, everything is made to be to the delight of these ladies.

The henhouses are moved several times a year, a few meters, attached to the tractor, like a trailer. The advantage for the hens is to always have grass to peck and, for the ground, to have the droppings to regenerate the grass.

I refuse the term farmer! I do not exploit my hens. I don’t ask too much of them. It’s a semantic shift that raises questions, moving from peasant to operator…

Of course, the hens are there to lay eggs. Small, medium or large that Gaëlle sorts using a machine and then puts one by one in box. And it is still her who will deliver them to various organic stores or local grocery stores, to Rennes. Direct sales, which the young woman hopes to be able to develop, in particular via a network of local producers, is still onlya complement.

produce cereals

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But, close to Bétineuc pondGaelle Croguennec relish his luck to have been able to settle here. “I couldn’t find a better area, close to the sea, not far from Rennes or Dinan for outlets. Despite the physical and demanding work, she can no longer imagine doing anything else. Ah yes, go again further into the peasantry and produce its own cereals. “I would need about twenty hectares for my hens, but everyone is fighting for the land today, it is impossible to find! »

Strawberries and eggs from the Verger des Galinettes are on sale on site, at La Béchardais, Saint-André-des-Eaux, at the farm, with free access in the small green chalet. Eggs: from 0.35 to 0.50 Cts depending on the size. Contact: 07 77 86 26 57. You can also go to the Dinan market on Thursday mornings, at the La Salamandre stand and in the Amap de Guitté or Saint-Judoce.

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