Roses and scents of the Verdon

Address : Evelyne et Jacky Boyer
Town/Suburb/City : 04120 La Palud sur Verdon
State/County/Province : Alpes de Haute Provence
Country : France
Phone : 04 92 72 69 50
@ Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web Site :  www.verdon-rosesetaromes.com

La récolte

Evelyne and Jacky Boyer’s farm is nestling in les Chauvets, a hamlet at the end of the road from the Point sublime, next to La Palud sur Verdon - and yet so far from the bustle of the Great Site

This wild ridges landscape over the Grand Canyon du Verdon has a surprise in store for you : soft coloured Damascus roses fields, alongside with bright orange calendula fields, and other flowers which colours punctuate the landscape as they blossom  in turn with the passing of seasons.
A serene beauty emanates from the place and its quiet balance between the wild and the domesticated sides of mother Nature

Here, Evelyne and Jacky handpick wild and cultivated plants, choosing the exact moment when they yield up the most of their active substance. You’ll follow them in their fields, on their picking circuit, and learn about the medicinal plants and herbs, their properties, their secrets, their centuries-long uses.

On the way, along  ancient terrace farming or irrigation canals, you’ll see old farms, discover truffle oaks, and learn about life in this retired spot – today’s life as well as yesterday’s.


Back from the walk, the still will be charged, and the day’s pick distillation proceeding or over. It’s time to talk about the subtlety of the method, as well as the other means to gather flowers’ treasures.
The little laboratory hides its secrets well, but Evelyne will let you know…

An olfactory discovery and some drinks will end the visit, in a friendly moment to share your days’ impressions.


 

 

 


 

Evelyne et Jacky offer direct sale of  
S.I.M.P.L.E.S. et Nature & Progrès organic certified products :

•  essential oils

•  floral waters

•  balms and creams

•  aromatic fluids

•  eaux de toilette

You can find their products

in the farmer's store « Panier du Verdon » in La Palud sur Verdon, open everyday from 4 to 7 p.m (except on Sundays) 

 

          

Tales of chestnuts and wild scents

Address :  Karine Mayen
Address : Domaine du Fâ
Town/Suburb/City : 04320 Castellet-les-Sausses
State/County/Province : Alpes de Haute Provence
Country : France
Phone : 06 63 53 22 20
@ Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web Site :  coldufa.net

The farm of Karine Mayen owns its name to the col du Fâ, on the road to Castellet-les Sausse, at the entrance of the high valley of the Var. It lies in a well-preserved place among moors, pinewood and chestnut groves planted on the famous Annot sandstone. The farm produces aromatic plants (wild or cultivated), chestnut-based products and lambs.

Karine leads you towards the old terrace cultivations where the chestnuts grow - some of them several centuries old. There, under the shadow of these mighty giants, she explains the cultivation and grafting technics, the diverse uses of the tasty fruits - and shows you the geological difference that sets a abrupt limit to the chestnut bearing soils, and to those favourable to another plant she gathers : the thyme, carefully chosen and picked in the wild moorlands to be distilled and used for aromatherapy.

The ewes are summering on mountain pastures and will be back at summer's end for the lambing : you can meet them with their lambs from September on.

On your way back you'll see the farm's chickens, pigeons and goats, then visit the old farm with all its outbuildings, its old baker's oven and cisterns, the cooking place where the fruits become chestnut spread, and the several aromatic productions. The collation that ends the visit is an occasion to test your olfactory skills, as well as taste the farm made delicacies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karine offers direct sale of :
• Chestnut spread
• organic labelled wild thyme essential oil
• lavender essential oil (organic labelled from 2007)
• wild thyme and lavender water

Accommodations :
weekly rental for 6
Bed and breakfast and table d'hôte

 

 

          

The Argens Blue Trail

Address : Véronique Blanc
Address : Argens
Town/Suburb/City : 04170 La Mure-Argens
State/County/Province : Alpes de Haute Provence
Country : France
Phone : 04 92 89 09 22
@ Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web Site :  http://www.bleudargens.fr/

Hanging on the top of the mountain overlooking the Haut Verdon valley, the Argens village holds a historic tradition of fine lavender wild gathering and later on, plantation.

A little bit elapsed, the lavender growth finds a new start thanks to Véronique Blanc, farmer & fervent lover of perfume, aromatic and medicinal plants.

Walking across Véronique's cultivated blue fields bordered by beautiful scenery under an open sky, you'll discover the life of yesterday's and today's people in a valley with a peculiar mountain climate. Surrounded by the colours and perfumes of her cultivated plants, you'll discover the growth, make-over techniques, and aromatic virtues of her plants: lavender, thyme, mountain savoury, hyssop and even genippi.

A little sensorial game, refreshments and Provencal snacks will be offered as you get back to the village.

 

Véronique's products are available on the farm
• Essential oils of fine lavender and Mountain Savoury
• Lavender hydrating butter and soaps
• “Bouquets garnis”
• Aromatic and medicinal herbs in pots

You can find her in the local markets

Saint André les Alpes on Wednesdays
Colmars les Alpes on Tuesdays and Fridays

          

Sheep and cheeses from the meadows...

Address : Famille Gibert
Address : Le Tournias
Town/Suburb/City : 04170 Saint-André-les-Alpes
State/County/Province : Alpes de Haute Provence
Country : France
Phone : 04 92 89 00 69 (HR)
@ Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Only a few steps from St André les Alpes, where the Issole flows into the Verdon, the traditional rural landscape is still preserved. A kaleidoscope of fields, farms, groves and typical country cabins still resist to the agricultural land conversion. 



The Gibert, sheep breeders for several generations, have made the choice of diversification. The breeding method has changed: instead of moving the whole flock to the high mountains pastures, they keep the milk ewes home, and make sheep’s cheese. They also produce various organic labelled vegetables. Theirs is a real farm with poultry, rabbits, pigs, a horse and a donkey, dogs, cats… and of course the milk ewes and their lambs, lovely-looking and the very core of the farm.

Under the tree cover, Christine leads you along the canal to the free-ranging chickens and pigs on the Issole banks, then towards the seven-arch bridge, the remnant of an aqueduct that brought water to Saint André.

The view over Saint André and the castle of Méouilles opens other perspectives about the evolution of the landscape and the history of the village : lavender fields, ancient cloth factories…

 

 

 

 

 

Stirring up from their midday rest- for sheep rest during the hot midday hours- the ewes and gimmers may draw near to take an inquiring look at you.
Their milk is skilfully processed into cheese, and the ripening phase defines the final result : fresh and barely dry, or creamy, semi-matured, matured, or even dry – what a difference of taste it makes ! .  
Now it’s time for a mid-afternoon snack, prepared by Christine with various cheeses, while children get a chance to meet the many other animals of the farm.


 

The Gibert offer direct sale of :
• organic labelled vegetables and potatoes
• fresh or matured sheep's cheese
• eggs
•rabbits

Direct sale at the farm every day (except Sunday) from 5.30 pm to 7 pm, from May to September

You can find the on the markets in :
Saint-André-les-Alpes, on Wednesdays and Saturdays mornings
Barrême, on Mondays
Colmars-les-Alpes, on Fridays in July and August

 

          

Following the field bee

Address : Philippe et Cécile Chailan
Address : Le Rucher de l'Orton
Town/Suburb/City : 04170 Lambruisse
State/County/Province : Alpes de Haute Provence
Country : France
Phone : 04 92 89 03 88
@ Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web Site :  www.miel-orton-provence.fr

If you go upstream in the valleys of the Issole and the Encure, you'll reach Lambruisse. It is in this preserved mountain vale that Cecile and Philippe Chailan will welcome you, and introduce you to their beekeeping.

On your way to the beehives, settled in the Jas du Brusc, you'll discover a number of nectar plants and the role and importance of bees in the nature, but also the names of places, often due to generations of human activities. This green landscape is an open book for Philippe and for whoever can read it : fields, cisterns, old hives, cabins, streams...

 

And here is the apiary : looking like a row of small workers houses at the edge of the wood ... Just like professional beekeepers, everyone puts a cloak on. Then Philippe opens the hives and leads you into this fascinating world of honeycombs and pollen-gathering workers... After this visit, the life of the honeybee will have no secret for you.

Back to the honey house, you discover the techniques of honey extracting and potting, before ending the visit with a refreshing aperitif during which you'll taste the different products of the beehive.

 

 

 

Philippe and Cécile offer direct sale of :

•  their several variety of honey : red-labelled lavender, all flowers, red-labelled Provence, heath honey,

•  pollen

•  mead

•  lavender essential oil

You'll find them on the markets

in St André les Alpes, on Wednesday and Saturday mornings.

 

          

About ladybuggs ans vegetables

Address : Florence et Bruno Molling
Address : Hameau de Vallaury
Town/Suburb/City : 04330 Clumanc
State/County/Province : Alpes de Haute Provence
Country : France
Phone : 04 92 34 26 68
@ Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Between Digne and Barrême, in the Préalpes du Sud, the river Asse has shaped a green agricultural valley at the mountains’feet. Dominated by forests and mountain pastures, the fields stretch by the riverside, scattered with hamlets and typical farms

On these fertile lands, in Vallaury, Florence and Bruno Molling produce organics vegetable, flowers and small fruits. They combine traditional knowledge and skills with sophisticated techniques, such as greenhouse cultivation, which is essential to lengthen the growing season in this hard mountain climate.

 

The itinerary leads you through the fields in a landscape where geological times cans be read on the variously coloured rocks, and where numerous remains talk of a long human occupation of the valley.

 

What are the characteristics of organic farming, the works and growing measures that fortify plants to produce good and sane vegetables, while preserving the soil and the water table ?
What is this natural balance in which the ladybug finds its place ?

And how do short supply chains and local food system work, and create contact between customers and producers ? Those are some of the topics of this itinerary, that ends back in Vallary, int the production place, where delicious hams, syrups and liquors are cooked according to well tried recipes.


 

 

A tasting ends this visit, which is also an opportunity to discover good practices to maintain the biological balance in your own garden.

 

 

 

 

 

Florence and Bruno offer direct sale of
•  Hams
•  Organic labelled season's vegetables
•  Liquors (Alos to be found in the Maison du Pays du Haut Verdon in Beauvezer)

 

You can find them on the markets in :
Saint André-les-Alpes : on Wednesday mornings (from April to July) and Saturday mornings (from July to October)
Colmars-les-Alpes : on Tuesdays and Fridays
Barrême : on Mondays (from April to mid-June)

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