La Grelinette is the small original farm of Jean-Martin Fortier, author of the Market-Gardener which is based notably on his experience on this farm to develop his bio-intensive farming model. It was created in 2004 by Maud-Hélène and Jean-Martin and is now mainly managed by Maud-Hélène as Jean-Martin takes care of the Ferme des Quatre-Temps.
The design of the micro-farm is very well-thought and interesting. The house as well as the infrastructure nécessary for storing and conditioning of the harvest are located in the middle of the land. Around is 0,8 ha cultivated, a little surface farmed intensively in organic agriculture and mainly manually.
The beds are grouped in about ten blocks which are planed into a rotation based on fertility and the vegetable families. Each bed is 30m long, that allow the bed to become a standard unit to measure things throughout the system.
The team that takes care of the farm is full-time constitured by Maud-Hélène and three employees as well as one intern.
The harvest is sold through veggie boxes as well as two markets.
There are three cold tunnels and two greenhouses that are warmed up when necessary to keep the temperature above freezing point.
To control the weeds, tarps are used on unused beds and otherwise weeding is done manually thanks to hoes of various sizes. The preparation of beds also is an important step to ease this control. Given the cultivated surface it is possible to weed all of the beds in a single week.
MORE INFORMATION
Website Jardins de la Grelinette: http://lagrelinette.com/
Facebook: @LesJardinsdelaGrelinette
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