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.