My name is Sylvain, I was born 20km from the farm and I have always lived there. I have never left my native land (except for professional training) and my village of Notre-Dame de l'Osier is a part of me. All my best memories bring me back to my region and to agriculture in general, I started young to learn the job with my father and the seasonal workers we had previously to collect the walnuts by hand. Taking care of the walnut trees and making sure that they have everything they need so that they can develop perfectly, that's something I've had inside me since I was a child. I grew up with the walnut trees that my father and grandfather had planted and I have planted many others myself since then! I am the fifth generation of farmers in our family in Isère. Since 2015, I have chosen to stop breeding dairy cows that I had also taken over from my father, to devote myself exclusively to walnut trees and to be able to plant new orchards. I want to get involved with consumers and get closer to them. I believe in and adhere to CrowdFarming's values and that's why I chose to be part of it! Clémence, my partner, in professional retraining after 15 years spent in offices, joined me on the farm to support me and allow us to produce quality nuts and potatoes. We like to be outside, in permanent contact with nature and to be able to organize our days freely with the great variety of work to be done according to the seasons. For Clémence, learning this new job is a daily challenge, but she is a very strong woman: she drives the tractors, clears the weeds and works the land. We are happy to feel useful by producing quality food for consumers. Our production requires year-round maintenance: December, January, February: shredding dead leaves, maintenance of equipment, pruning orchards, removal of dead trees, cutting wood for the boiler to dry the walnuts. March, April, May: spreading manure and fertilizers, preparation of cultivated fields, pruning young orchard trees, planting potatoes, planting new walnut trees, crushing wood to make wood chips for the boiler to dry walnuts, micronutrient intakes. June, July, August: installing mating disruption in the trees and traps to monitor insect pests, crushing of orchards, almost daily monitoring of pests and treatment if necessary, watering if necessary, harvesting potatoes. September, October, November: last crushing of the orchards and manual shearing of the base of the trees with a brush cutter, preparation for the harvest (station and machines), harvesting, washing the walnuts, drying, sorting, packing, delivery of the products.

Merveilleuses Noix is a family-run farm. I took over from my father who continues to help me almost daily despite his retirement. My mother also gives me a hand during the harvesting period, and my partner joined me on the farm recently, following a professional retraining to manage the commercial side of things and help me with daily tasks. She also manages the contact with CrowdFarming. My brother helps me occasionally with the mechanical tasks and during the harvest when we shake the walnut trees. We also hire one or two seasonal workers for two weeks at harvest time. They help us sort the fresh and dry walnuts. We may also ask for the help of an additional person for agricultural work for a few days in the year. Our farm is located in the countryside, between Valence and Grenoble, in the hills of South Grésivaudan, facing Vercors, in Notre-Dame de l'Osier. Our orchards are spread all around and less than five kilometres away. Walnut trees are particularly popular here in Isère because the soil in which they grow is special. It contains glacial river alluvium deposited in the region several millennia ago, mainly by the melting of glaciers. Our fields are located in the countryside, close to small forests, meadows for hay and a few pastures for our two horses to enjoy. Some of our fields are near the small river Tréry from which we draw water to irrigate our walnut trees. Others are more difficult to access because there are forests all around and the vegetation is more dense and varied. Each field is composed of about 400 walnut trees of the Franquette variety. We have chosen to use Franc or Juglans regia variety rootstocks for their sturdiness and longevity. We have added a variety of Franquette walnut trees known for their disease resistance, good productivity and incomparable hazelnut flavours. To enrich the soil, we mainly use manure from cows and chickens from neighbouring farms. The nuts are harvested when they are at optimal ripeness. In general, and depending on climatic conditions, from the beginning of October, starting with the Lara variety (earlier). To dry them we use either a natural drying at room temperature for about four or five days or our wood chip boiler which we also use for our house. The wood chips come from the wood from the surrounding land that we cut and process every winter. The production of one of our walnut trees generally begins around its 15th year, and this for 200 years. However, its production decreases after a hundred years. We have chosen to convert to organic farming in order to respect the nature around us and our planet. We use natural trap systems to control pests. These sticky pheromone traps allow us to detect the presence of codling moths, the main pests of walnuts, which lay their eggs on the nuts, thus significantly damaging them if no natural treatment is applied. We want to diversify our production and create an organic potato workshop to perpetuate the recent employment of Clémence, my partner. Indeed, until now we cultivated our potatoes to satisfy the annual needs of our whole family for 5 generations. My grandfather used to sell his surplus production to a guesthouse in our village and to retirement homes. Our choice to increase and diversify our potato production is therefore obvious! The production methods have evolved over the years, from working with oxen, then with draft horses, we finally came to use tractors. We also have 2 horses and a pony which still work in the fields from time to time. The potato plants are sown in a field of young organic walnut trees, which will start giving their fruits in about 8 years from now. Our small sized potatoes are used for sowing in the next season and for the family consumption. We will send you only those with the best appearance, without damage and without diseases. The nuts that are separated during the 3 manual sorting processes are then stored separately in large crates. Those that don’t meet the criteria to be able to be sent to you are cracked open by us throughout the winter, and then sorted again so that the kernels can be used for both sale and processing for products such as caramelised kernels and walnut oil. The nuts and kernels that cannot be eaten are scattered on our cultivated fields. As for the potatoes that cannot be sold, they are eaten by our family or given to local farmers to feed their animals.