Established for ten years, a couple of Breton market gardeners produce atypical fruits and vegetables in the region.
Amid carrots, onions and potatoes, lemons and tangerines grow in their greenhouses.
They are constantly testing new varieties to bring diversity and originality to their customers' baskets.
Land of breeding, Brittany also thrives in the production of vegetables with a temperate oceanic climate which is perfectly suited to cauliflowers, leeks, artichokes, carrots and other shallots.
Less citrus and exotic fruits.
In Rives-du-Couesnon, a rural town located northeast of Rennes, it nevertheless floats like a sweet tropical scent in the heart of the countryside.
To treat yourself to a journey of flavors, head to the Carotte et Feijoa organic farm, which covers just over 8 hectares.
This is where Thomas Jagu and Lèna Marti Perales set up their greenhouses more than ten years ago.
In this couple, neither of them had ever worked the land before embarking on market gardening.
“We had to plant everything, we started from scratch,” says the farmer.
And to stand out, the two market gardeners opted from the start for the menu of originality and diversity.
“We didn't want to make apples or pears because that takes too much time,” emphasizes Thomas.
“A little extra for our customers”
Not very trendy orchard, the latter however loves exotic plants.
“It's his kiff!
“, smiles his companion.
From there will germinate the slightly crazy idea of growing citrus fruits and exotic fruits in the open ground in Brittany.
"I tried mango or lychee but I quickly gave up," he recalls.
We only work with varieties that can withstand temperatures down to -5° or -10°C”.
In their unheated greenhouses, a lemon tree mixes with a mandarin tree or a grapefruit tree alongside other, more traditional productions.
The quantities of citrus fruits produced are of course not astronomical, in the order of a few tens of kilos each year which they sell directly on the farm or in the surrounding markets.
“We don't live with that, of course, but it's a little extra for our customers, like a loss leader,” emphasizes Thomas.
Ground pear or ocas from Peru
Always looking for new varieties, they constantly renew their baskets by producing kumquats, carambola or even ugnis, a small fruit the size of a blueberry from South America.
Ditto with vegetables with rather atypical varieties that grow in their greenhouses such as earthen pears, ocas from Peru or different varieties of sweet potatoes.
"There must be around a hundred varieties of fruit, vegetables or aromatic plants on the farm", specifies Lèna.
And nothing indicates that the couple intends to stop there.
“We love the taste, color and originality of these fruits and vegetables and we want to share that.
By also showing that we can produce them at the local level”.
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Carrot and Feijoa are looking for a roof
The couple of market gardeners have no permanent building to store their vegetables and fruits.
Each year, they have to face considerable losses.
To finance the construction of a storage building, they have just launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Miimosa platform.
With the money raised, they also hope to buy a washer for root vegetables and install a mushroom house in their building.
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Vegetables
Agriculture
Fruits and vegetables
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