My Life Today: At the Farm of my Brother Benoît
Yesterday, I arrived in France in the morning.I met my brother Benoît who had a meeting near Paris and he drove me to his farm in Le Boullay-Mivoye.
When he was 14 years old, Benoît decided that he wanted to be a farmer. So, in agreement with my parents, he studied in an agricultural high school near Chartres. There, he met his future wife, Jeanne-Marie. After their wedding, in 1978, they started to work with his father in law. Then, they took over the farm.
Today, Benoît is 62 years old, and with his son Clément, he is exploiting a farm of 220 hectares, in one of the best agricultural region in France, Beauce, 15 km from the city of Dreux.
Benoît and his son Clément
The farmer and his tractor
The farm is in fact the merging of 3 farms, one large and two small. There are a number of barns, some of them, according to Benoît were initially build during the XVth century. They have been modified several times over the centuries, but you can still see some of the original parts.
Modern tractor in very old barn
The farmhouse
On the roof of one of the more modern barn, Benoît has put 120 m2 of solar panels. During summer, he produces between 150 and 200 kWh per day.
120 m2 of solar panels on the roof of a barn
Inside this barn, there is a collection of BMW cars that belong to one of his friend that lives in Guadeloupe.
A collection of old BMWs
Look at this very interesting weather vane!
An old weather vane on one of the barns
On his farm, Benoît is able to store more than 1.000 tons of grain, mostly wheat.
This afternoon, a big semi has come to get delivery of 30 tons of wheat.
30 tons of wheat delivered
-- Vincent Celier
That is no kidding.
John deere is everywhere.
What the big truck in Europe has flat head compare to the one in USA ?
la vida del granjero es muy bonita a mi me encantaría poder tener una, su hermano se parece mucho a usted y su sobrino es muy emprendedor, lo felicito. Bendiciones para la familia, me gusto mucho el post.
Yaaaay!!!
I love that you keep your word. You said Soon today and here we are.:)
Lookimg forward to traveling this trip with you virtually.
Love. Love.
Nice! Safe travels my friend!
Te voila bien arrivé! 20 ans en Beauce dans ma jeunesse! où du côté de Chartes se situe-t-il? Je suis couillon, tu 'las écrit, je viens de vérifier! Nous Epernon! 20 km quoi.
Ouais, environ 25 km. Épernon, c'est prés de Rambouillet, ou j'ai vécu jusqu’à l'age de 7 ans.
Gallardon (Ymeray) pour être précis, et oui ça fait dans les 25 kilomètres!
So glad to see you arrived safe and sound. It looks like a beautiful property your brother has there. Farmers are some of the hardest working people I have ever met. My in laws are farmers and the stories they tell are absolutely wonderful. It’s anazing to see and hear about the way things have changed over the years.
I would love to put solar panels on my house since I live in a region that has a lot of sunlight with few trees. But, we have to get permission to do so from the local electric company and they only allow so many people per year to get them installed. I don't necessarily agree with the electric company on this so I haven't pursued it further, honestly. It looks like your brother has a thriving farm and its so nice that you got to go visit. Have fun!
Ivy
This brings me good memories. When I was 12 I was part of an exchange with a school in St Sever, in Pays de Landes. My exchange partner's family ran a big poultry farm with 20 000 chickens. But they also had their own cows, pigs and geese for making fois gras. These pictures are a lot like their farm was too! They needed lots of grain to feed all the chickens, and corn to feed the geese. When they came to Canada they were surprised we ate corn on the cob, for them it was animal food lol They even had a big tractor like that one in the pictures, and they let me drive it! We all thought it was so cool almost everyone had BMW's but, the little ones were so common there. Thanks for sharing your story and bringing me back some good memories.
That is a very large farm. I like that he has utilized his roof for solar panels. That is a lot of energy that he produces. Does he use this solely for the farm or does he sell excess power? In some countries such as here, we can not sell the excess. We must use what we produce.
He sells all his solar panel electric production to EDF and buy his electricity for a lower rate. This is a very interesting situation; from what I understand, this will last for 20 years.
Ceci, you pop up all over the place!
I am a lady with many varied interests...
Wonderful story.. Xo