Our Farm in France
In 2020, we expanded our passion for nature by adding another location — our Demeter-certified farm in Traversères, France. This step was driven by our desire not only to work the land, but also to live and thrive there. Our farm allows us to cultivate a wide variety of Mediterranean plants, supported by the ideal climate of the Midi-Pyrénées. This decision reflects our deep connection to nature and our commitment to promoting and living sustainable farming practices.
How It Came to Be
Since early 2020, we have also been cultivating an organic farm in France.
Until then, we had grown our plants exclusively on the farms of close farmer friends in the Brandenburg region.
While we truly valued these partnerships, they also came with their challenges.
Over time, we not only reached capacity limits, but also encountered recurring logistical complexities.
Above all, not being able to live directly on the land we cultivated proved to be a major challenge for us.
Our desire to live on the land we work — to truly be rooted there — grew stronger and stronger.
This was a deeply intrinsic longing.
With our farm in France, we were able to fulfill this dream.
On six hectares of organic farmland, nestled in the rolling landscape of the Midi-Pyrénées,
we have found another wonderful home for ourselves and our herbs.
Here, together with our team, we are also able to cultivate and care for Mediterranean plants.
Why France?
There are several reasons why we chose to establish our home in the southwest of France:
The landscape of the historic province of Gascony offers a rich biodiversity, which greatly supports the growth of our plants.
The agricultural culture of the region we live in is already highly advanced and strongly oriented toward organic farming.
We found an organically certified farm with ample cultivation space that perfectly matched our vision.
As it had been barely farmed in recent years, the soil is full of life and teeming with microorganisms and soil organisms — wonderful!
The farm is now fully Demeter-certified, and we practice biodynamic farming in its truest sense.
The Midi-Pyrénées region of France offers an ideal climate, with longer harvest periods than in Brandenburg.
Here, we are able to live and work immersed in nature, in complete seclusion.
Far removed from neighboring farms, we don’t have to worry about pesticides drifting in from surrounding fields — how liberating!
We truly enjoy the beautiful atmosphere and the kind, like-minded neighbors in the area.
Although there is still plenty of work to be done, we already feel very much at home in our new surroundings.
Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?
Soil and Cultivation
We spare no effort in keeping the soil of our cultivated land as healthy and natural as possible.
Healing comes from healthy soil. This is one of our guiding principles at Kasimir + Lieselotte.
In practice, this means:
Our fields are cultivated by hand.
This prevents soil compaction below the cultivation layer and offers several important benefits for both people and nature.
Wild herbs are left in the fields and largely retained in the soil.
They provide natural protection for the humus against wind and erosion.
Of course, this is only possible as long as they do not significantly impair the growth of our cultivated plants —
but it is always worth trying.
We do not use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides and manage our land as naturally as possible.
For some time now, we have been experimenting with various methods that support and regenerate the soil.
The principles of permaculture, Terra Preta, and the use of effective microorganisms (EM) are particularly close to our hearts.
This is only the beginning and will not be enough on its own to save our soils in the long term.
We need a shared and radical rethinking of conventional agriculture.
Soil-conserving and regenerative practices must receive far greater attention.
Challenges
We do not have our own water supply and work with very clay-heavy soil that has a high lime content. These conditions cause the soil to dry out significantly, especially during the summer months. Intensive irrigation is therefore one of our key responsibilities here. Despite these challenges, we remain optimistic about finding sustainable solutions to keep our soil healthy and to continue cultivating high-quality herbs and plants.
Do you have an idea? Don’t hesitate to share it with us!
Animal Companions
The natural production of organic fertilizer for our plants,
as well as support with plowing and carrying loads,
are additional benefits of keeping animals on our farm.
Quite apart from that, we love animals just as much as plants.
That’s why we have shared our farm with animal companions from the very beginning.
We live here with sheep, goats, dogs, cats, and chickens.
We’ll keep you updated through our newsletter!
What Grows Here
What else wishes to grow here, we discover little by little. We have already planted hyssop and valerian on a trial basis. Ashwagandha and rock rose (cistus) are thriving particularly well with us. We are excited to see what else we will encounter and cultivate here in the future.
Wild Plants
A wide variety of wild plants can be found around the farm. Nettles, hawthorn, daisies, lemon balm, oregano, bay laurel, and elderberry grow and thrive here in natural abundance. Not to be forgotten are teasels and milk thistle, which found their home on this piece of land long before we arrived.
Artemisia annua
Our Artemisia annua grows and flourishes especially well in France. Seeds from the plants grown on our fields in Brandenburg have produced two beautiful Artemisia annua fields here in France. In October, we were able to complete our first harvest season in France, and we also collected seeds from the blossoms for the following year.
The Vision
Our vision for this farm is to bring people together and to actively work together to protect our Earth.
In the long term, this place is intended to become a training center for sustainable cultivation, gardening, and agriculture. Everyone who wishes to live and work in harmony with nature should feel at home here.
In addition to education and knowledge-sharing, we aim to create networks for partnerships and collaborations. We also plan to establish small vegetable gardens on our farm, allowing us and our guests to enjoy the finest form of self-sufficiency.
Our farm in France is meant to become a place of retreat and restoration
for our customers, employees, and family.
Everyone is welcome — whether to actively participate or simply to take a personal break.
