What is the green lover? 

An organic farm that we created with my husband Adrien. There are aromatic plants there, which we then market in infusion and dry plants for restaurateurs who want to explore the aromatic spectrum of nature. We work by hand, according to the terroir, the climate and the seasons so as not to distort our herbal teas. 

We do not only consider ourselves producers, our work is above all that of plant mediators. To do this, we have set up a bookstore coffee on the farm, where we offer workshops, awareness, etc. Wherever the taste of nature can be useful we try to explore it and make it accessible to others. 

How many herbal teas do you offer? 

We cultivate 47 varieties of plants and offer 8 assemblies, created as perfumes, with head notes, background notes, sometimes complex mixtures to break the received idea that a herbal tea has no taste. Our infusions express the meeting of a terroir, a nature and our know-how. 

When and how did your story started? 

Adrien and I met in a militant setting: on a climate action camp. We joined a desire to change the world, to do something useful, except that we were doing actions at 30, so it was difficult to see the impact. So we said to ourselves that we had to start by transforming our lives, our habits and putting our energy in a space that would do us good and that would be useful to others. He had this desire for agricultural installation and I of a bookstore coffee. We said to ourselves why not!  We did our urban exodus and we set up a project that corresponded to our values: collective and open. 

The green lover was born 10 years ago, it is a cooperative SCI, with 126 co -owners: friends, neighbors, people of the territory who wanted to welcome a project like ours, people who support peasant agriculture, people who love plants ... Everyone here has an equal voice. We are of course the project leaders, we do the job on a daily basis, but we try to interact in a network with those who share our values. We therefore rely on two pillars: nature on the one hand, and humans on the other. 

Do you explain your daily approach to us a bit? Your commitments? 

We do not dissociation between our professional life and our personal life. We apply the same rules to our work and our daily lives. These are simple rules of life, autonomy based on the seasons cycle. We follow natural light, temperature, flow of nature, both for our production but also for our health, our sleep, our diet. 

We are not yet in food autonomy - even if we would like it - but we rely on local synergies, we barter, exchanges with the local market gardeners. 

The jars Le Parfait This is a fine example: when I started conservation, I asked for advice from the elders to make preserves. They are happy to share their knowledge but also their materials! The basic deal is "I give you jars, you give me a ketchup".  For me the jar is a whole: the conservation of the products, the seasonality and the sustainability but also the exchange: it is a container which circulates with its content, which conveys taste and the link! 

Did you feel the need for a return to the earth? 

The city no longer suited us. Autonomy, solidarity, sharing, all of this is much more difficult to set up in an environment where consumption injunctions are permanent. I associate our departure with a personal need for balance, silence, but also a desire to change our relationship to others and time. In the countryside, we are busy all the time but in a completely different way. We came back to the very first step, that of food, because there is no more essential than harvesting the fruits of the earth. 

What fascinated you the most in it when you started? 

Symbolic remuneration: getting up every morning and saying to yourself here: this is really my job, I live a waking dream. Of course there are small challenges, problems to settle, etc., but it is nothing compared to the rest, in relation to the pride that this life gives. Nor did not expect such a quality of social relations. The links are intergenerational and based on mutual aid and conviviality. We are all there to spin a helping hand and have a drink then together! 

Your biggest challenge? 

When Adrien broke his knee.  We had never realized that the limit could come from our bodies. We were faced with a dizzying problem: here it is Santiago de Compostela every day, we have 10km in a row to kneel when we weedly ... We had to adapt the workstation. We relied on crowdfunding to raise funds: the chefs helped us, the customers helped us, our network has supported us enormously, and we managed to adapt the position thanks to Toutillo, a COBOT (unauthorized collaborative robot) which serves as a human support to work in the elongated position. Nature is well resilient, it's up to us to be too.  It requires a lot of adaptability, an intimate conviction that it is only up to us to move forward!

You have also opened a coffee where you come as much to taste your infusions as to learn and share. Can you tell us more about this project? 

Adrien has this sensitivity for plants, me is for communication. You can put lots of things in the firm word, including the word closed. I wanted the opposite: an open farm! 

In our coffee, we find large tables, because commensality is extremely important for us. Just like transmission: we have the culture of free software here, we are for sharing. So we do workshops, sensory walks for example, concerts, conferences, readings, meals ... 

Highlighting these professions, to discover nature, to invite people to wonder about their relationship to it, it is a simple act, without flag and without slogan, it is pleasure and joy as vectors of a message.

A souvenir in jar? 

When I started preserving, the elders taught me so much. We see that the jars create bond and sustainability. We exchange recipes, techniques and we always leave with a jar of jam, fermentation, a kept under the arm. For me it is this transmission potential that is important!