Gardening at a height
© Patrick Smith
This is where he grew up, and mountain agriculture has always been his passion. He is now living up to the challenge he set himself: to live and work locally, growing and selling gorgeous flowers.
Guillaume Caillat is incapable of getting up in the morning unless he is in the middle of his valley. Following his horticultural studies, he became a landscape gardener "much too far away from the light and landscape of the Ecrins". He was missing Vallouise.
In 2003, Guillaume decided to start growing flowers on family land, in the place he was born, 1,200 metres up the side of a mountain. At first his projects were regarded with polite interest. In addition to the long and sometimes harsh winters in the Ecrins, his fields had been abandoned over 20 years previously, at a time when the farmers could no longer survive by producing food.
Guillaume Caillat is however realistic. "First of all, it is necessarily a seasonal activity. In winter I drive a snow groomer on the cross country ski trails from Vallouise to Pelvoux." As soon as spring comes, he sows his seeds in greenhouses. The hot spring sun melts the snow, providing abundant quantities of water. "Don't forget we're at the source of the Durance here," he reminds us, "we have all the water we need until the beginning of the summer. We make reserves in case of drought, channelling off water to irrigate the greenhouses and the fields."
All this hard work is rewarded by plentiful, high-quality harvests. From May till the end of June, the new mountain farmer sells his flowers on the markets. In summer and autumn he supplies bouquets to the best hotels and restaurants in the Ecrins. And he has no difficulty in selling his organic fruit and vegetables either.
Contact us
Office de tourisme de Vallouise
23, avenue de la République
05120 L'Argentière la Bessée
(0033) (0)8 10 00 11 12
The outdoor markets in Les Ecrins take place on Thursday mornings in Vallouise and Friday mornings in L'Argentière-la Bessée.
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Topic : Landscapes and nature
Published on : 2008/12/23
Tags : back to the land
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