News & Blog

Settled for almost 10 years in our garden in the Corrèze, our team takes stock of this year 2022, the driest ever since our first cosmetic. As you know, we have chosen to offer cosmetics that go far beyond organic certification. Our active ingredients are very, very locally sourced as they grow exclusively in our garden. For us, this is the best way to control the quality of our active ingredients but also to offer sustainable cosmetics with a really ridiculous carbon footprint!

Large temperature differences :

- We had significant temperature variations for several weeks at the beginning of the season with very cool, even cold mornings (5-7°) and hot afternoons above 35°. These wide temperature swings subject the plants to significant water stress. This is present when the loss of water by transpiration is more important than the arrival of water by absorption. This is abiotic stress, linked to the environment. The plants of our soil are not used to adapt to these conditions.

The intense heat !

When the temperature of 35° is exceeded, most of our plants suffer, we observe a reduced flowering or a less generous fruit setting.

The drought :

Rain was cruelly lacking from mid-July to the end of August in our organic garden, as it was everywhere in France and in Europe... The weather forecasts have often disappointed us by announcing the arrival of summer showers, but we are still waiting for them. And yet some members of the team gave everything, even the rain dance !

- A delayed season, shoots that arrived earlier and interrupted harvests almost a month earlier than usual
- The crops were leaner, especially the pumpkin and cucumber which lacked water, but also the plants were not as generous as usual. Peppermint and lemon balm cannot be harvested for the third time, contrary to other years. We are not sure to see a regrowth of wild pansies for the month of September,

How do we act to protect our plants ?

- We mulch our plants and sometimes even let wild grass grow nearby to keep a little freshness and even the humidity of the rare morning dews
- We do not mow the open spaces around the garden to keep the surrounding soil at the coolest temperature possible.
- We have reorganized our activities to adapt to this shift from an intense beginning of the season to a slow end.
- We discovered Maïa-KO, products to take care of local plants made with local plants, for example the Horsetail, Garlic and Thyme spray helps the plant to adapt to water stress and stimulates its immune system !
- There were more nap breaks than the other years :p and we also counted some sunburns, especially for our seasonal workers and interns. But fortunately the organic calendula oil took good care of them!

In short, we don't plan to offer you banana or papaya cosmetics right away... we will continue to cultivate the active ingredients you know, historically from our land. We are working, like the hummingbirds, to reduce our carbon footprints in our business but also as individuals in the team ... because everyone can commit to slow climate change, and preserve the fauna and flora of our planet.