We agreed, the bank agree to finance our project of waste water filtration system!!

After lot of negotations with our bank and the enterprise, we were ready to become. It was long to get authorization of works. We wanted participate in construction of the system to decrease the costs. The project cost 20 000€, and we will need of 5 years to repay the investment. The system was explicate before so I did not repeat the detail...

 I want share a little story with you. It happened a funny story this week. First, you should know that this weekend, the sows delivered each of approwimately 10 piglets in them parks. Usually, the piglets went out around 3 or 4 days, gradually until the be less frail. But here, when Cyrielle and Nolwenn went feed the sows, one of they left her shelter, and her piglets too. And the wire fence was open, and not tear! We finished to feed the other sows by looking if the missing sow was there but we didn't have find that. Nolwenn began panic and search in places the less probable! But Cyrielle knew that a sow can't leave her piglets, and the piglets can't travel far in this old. Then both, we went in the building of insemination and the sow didn't here. We were ask in Jean-Bertrand and Gautier but they didn't know why a sow didn't in her park. We continuated our searches together. We searched around the farm for 1 hour when the neighbor arrived. He nounced us that the sow is at his farm and he searches her owner, and like we are the only ones to have pigs out he didn't search a long time.
We will not understand why and how this sow and all her piglets will arrived to cross all this land until the farm near, but the main is that it is return in her park, the piglets so, no ills.

Our Plan!

Last week have a meeting with our town mayor. He wants the town to be more sustainable. The municipal council asks us if it is possible to use the town green waste to produce power. This is a way to reduce the ecologic impact of the town.  That is one of our plan and they know it, it's that why they ask us to set it up. Still now the green waste was burn as household wastes. The green waste was recycling to worm a swimming pool but the incinerator is at 50 km from the town. This method has a really bad carbon footprint so the council tries to change it.  The council offers us a financial help to realize our project. The town technical service will bring the green waste they produce. We ask them to handpick the waste because we want only organic waste. This is a necessity for a well working of the cell.

The cell will cost nearly 400 000€ it is a really heavy cost for the farm. But if we have access to incentives to help to set up a higher sustainable systems. The incentives from the EU and Belgium could reach 150 000€, the town can help for 50 000€. So the cost for the farm will be 200 000€. But we have save money with the aim of making our farm more sustainable.  The system will produce 9000 kW which could bring back 75 000€ per year. So in this way, if we add the maintenance cost, we have an 6 years pay back plan.

I have forgotten to present you how does it work. Our pigs are producing manure which can pollute the nature and in the same time represent a source of power. We are a little farm so we have no problems with the nature. But bigger pigs producers need to dispose of the amount of manure that their animals produce. The manure and the green waste from the town are put in a digester. There, the waste is eaten by bacterium and other microorganisms. The temperature, in the digester, grew to 38°C. The production of biogas start with the digestion of the organic material by the bacterium.  Then the biogas and the solid phase are bringing in a storage grave by pipes. In the storage grave the microorganisms continue to eat the waste which becomes a sort of mud. From the methanisation, it result mud and biogas. The mud can be use as fertilizer on crops. The biogas is pasted in a generator which produces in the same time electricity and warm. This type of generator is on of the most effective. 35% of the biogas becomes electricity, 50% become warm and the remains of gas are lost in the process.

To our mind this is a great system, because it will reduce our power dependence. It permit us to recycle our waste. We are a local actor of the sustainability!

Hello !!!


In recent years, we produce a part of our energy in our farm. On our rearing houses, we mounted, in 2003, 130m² of photovoltaic panels. The produced energy allows warming a part of our pigsty. Furthermore, a lagunage waste water filtration system was set up. Lagunage is a technique of treatment in free water process: all the waste water is sent to a water area, called lagoon, in which live bacteria, seaweeds, water plants. The followed plan allows to illustrate our installation and to understand it better.

Furthermore, we have for objective the installation of a wind turbine in a field, which would allow us to be autonomous in energy.Today, we wait for the financing :)


See you soon

The Endive harvest:

        As every year we harvest Endive during November. But this year, it has rained a lot and the harvest came true later because our machinery could'nt get in the fields without getting stuck.

Since the sun shines, and allowed the lands to dry. We were able to collect our endives last week.

 

This harvest is realise in several stages : 

-  in a first time we cut the air part.

- in a second time we extract the root, clean it and we put them in a trailer. 

- to finish: when the trailer is full, we empty it at the end of the field.

 

 

Our machinery

  The Endive roots are rich in fiber (promotes intestinal transit and reduces cancer columbus). Nowadays it is used as a substitute in the food, but also as a natural sweetener that is to say, it has a sweetness as sugar beet.Our 8 hectares are for the candy firm of Warcoing. It picks up the silos from September to January. It requires root clean, low-cut, with no rot and root rich (> 16% inulin).

We are sorry if the specifics words aren't correct but it is not easy to find the corresponding terms for this crop. 

 

 

Sorry for not giving more news last week. We are totally busy because we are thinking about our farm sustainability. We bought an organic farm because of our conviction but that is not enough! We want to be proud of our farm and to have a clear conscience. We know that we have only one planet for us and our children; we have to do all we can to keep it in good condition for future. Nearly all resources we use are limited and because of the rise of the world population we must save all our resources. So we were thinking about plan like a set up solar panels or wind turbines to get the electric autonomy or to use our organic waste to make biogas.

On the farm we have buildings with large root surface. We can use those roofs to make power. If we set up solar panels we can easily meet the energy requirement to heat our houses. If we do that we’ll need 60 000€ to pay the panels and the work and that only for our houses. We could also warm the piglet that will be a beat more expensive. We counted at least 100 000€ for them so we’ll need 160 000€. Hitch of us paid nearly 1 000€/ year of electricity and we need 10 000€ to warm piglets. With this system we save 12 000€/ year so it’ll be paid back in 13 years.

We also were thinking about recycling our organic waste in biogas. That will reduce the amount of waste. We could use the town waste to to pay back the project faster. We don’t really know the cost of this project because it depend on how many waste we use.

We are still thinking about that!
Have a nice week.I must go, today I have a lot to do

We have a pig production. We have only the maternity without the fattening of piglets.
In the farm, there are fifty sows runed in 3 groups. The first sows where are in maternity in individuals parks and suckle its piglets during eight weeks then they are weaned and sold at on other farmer. The second group of sows is in a building where we do the artificial insemination after the weaning until the verification of gestation. And the third group of sows is in a park, separeted in lots (smallers and biggers).

All the piglets are not sold but they are fattened in us farm. This pigs are slaughted in a specific slaughterhouse and then, the meat is sold in the farm.

Our farm :

She’s located in the hamlet of Brokenhoek a part of the town of Sint Denijs. We are near big towns like Kortrijk, Wevelgem, Zwevegem or Rijsel (Lille) allowing to Jean Bertrand to selling our products on the markets. At Brokenhoek, we are a little more than fifty inhabitants. There is seven farms, they produce cereals, sugar beet, endive, potatoes and they raise dairy and meat cows and pigs. Our farm is the only in organic farming but we are also the only at doing beer production. We have a close relationship with one of these farms because we have some of our machinery in common (combine harvester, seeder,..). Our productions:

The pig breeding: Cyrielle and Nolwenn manage our pig breeding on straw. They use their agricultural training. They are in charge of the preparation of the food, the motherhood, the fifty mothers and fattening. The crops production: We cultivate 130 hectars, we mainly produce the food for our pigs and for the beer production. The crops are: - Barley: 26 hectars (to feed the pigs and for making the beer). - Maïze : 25 hectars (pigs). - A mixture of peas, oats and triticale: 33 hectars (pigs). - Faba: 26 hectars (pigs). - Endive: 18 hectars (for the firm of Warcoing). - Grass: 1,5 hectars. - Hop: 0,5 hectars. - A little garden. Products processing: Each week we cut 1-2 pigs by a butcher and we made the tapas and delicatessen ourselves. Gautier who works in a brewery in the past, is in charge of beer production which represents 100 liters per week (one working day is accumulated per week). To conclude: This is the boss Jean Bertrand who travels the roads of Belgium from market to market for selling our famous tapas, the delicious beer and some vegetables.

A Belgium story !

Belgium is a 30 513 km² wide country. It situated in center of Europe between France, Germany and Netherland. Thanks to this situation Belgium enjoys of the economic dynamism from this area. Industry and factories are well developed. But farming is still an important field. They are a lot of crops base on silt soil extremely fertile. In western where our farm is located weather is soft with low gradient in temperature. So Belgium is a great place to bread and grow crops.

Nolwenn and me (Cyrielle) are sisters and decided to go in Spain to celebrate our success in examination. Jean Bertrand is an ex trader who had come in Spain with his wife for their holidays. And Gauthier had come to help his brother to manage his bar hanging a few days. Evening of June 27th, 2010, Heliogàbal bar organized a free concert. This event gathered lot of persons such as Jean-Bertrand, Gauthier, Nolwenn and I. At the end of the evening, we all get together to discuss in the bar of our lives and our envy and our dreams, around a good Belgian beer and pig based tapas. After a few hours and having redone the world, we thought that we can change our life, to make what we always wanted to make. Tapas and Belgian beer conquered us. A few months later we dashed on the project to take back a farm in Belgium. Before, Gauthier was working in a brewery. So, he could help us to hops production and beer manufacturing. My studies and that of my sister in farming allow us to have a good approach of the animal production. Jean-Bertrand, could be the manager of the farm. We shall inform you of the continuation of our adventure.