Page 64 - EarthHeroes

Taking inspiration from forests like the Amazon, where Indigenous peoples gather everything they need from the environment around them, they planted an edible forest, with mushrooms, berries, fruit bushes and nut trees. They dug ponds to store
rainwater with island gardens at their centre. Here, water reached plant roots through the ground, which meant Perrine and Charles needed to water less. Soon these became
one of the most productive parts of the farm. Nothing went to waste. In their polytunnel, they kept hens which ate unwanted scraps, slugs and snails and produced eggs, and fertilizer in the form of droppings.
To Perrine and Charles’s delight, within three
years of introducing permaculture ideas, they were producing an abundance of food on their small plot. News of their
success spread, and in 2011 Europe’s top agricultural research centre – the French National Institute of Agricultural Research – began a scientific study at the farm. When the results were published in 2014, they showed that by using permaculture techniques enough food can be grown on just 1,000 square metres of land (about one eighth the size of a football pitch) to provide a good income of 55,000€ for the farmer. What’s more, it showed that this growing area produced as much or more food than a typical farm 10 times its size. Permaculture had the potential to feed the world.
One of the best surprises was the response of nature. In just 10 years, a once bare field filled with life. Wildflowers now grow everywhere on their farm and it attracts more birds, including rare species, insects and earthworms than the surrounding land. Over time, the ponds have become home to frogs, plants, fish, kingfishers and ducks and occasionally herons and egrets. Spending time in nature is Perrine and Charles’s biggest joy, and the discovery that the planet can be repaired so quickly gives them hope for the generations to come.
Today, Bec Hellouin Farm looks more like an enormous garden than a farm. They produce 800 varieties of vegetables, fruits and herbs, which they sell locally and also to top restaurants. Seven people work there, farming, doing research and teaching permaculture courses to visitors from all over the world. Perrine and Charles have written two books about permaculture, which have been published in places as far apart as California and China. Small farms,
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