In summer: create tasty fruit juices with the fruits of the gardens.

In winter: make soft mattresses and balls of pure local wool.

 

by Nathalie Pinault
Saint-Saulge, France

 

Project display

Where does this idea come from?

Looking around, there is a great waste of resources that we don't use anymore. These resources have become "invisible".

The fruits of gardens or family orchards, or fruit trees in the hedges are good examples. A lot of tasty fruits rot on the ground near us, while we buy more or less tasteless fruits ...

Sheep's wool is another example. It is sold so cheaply on the national or international market that it does not pay the shearer. But the sheep are still very numerous in the Nièvre, and this wool could be partly transformed on the spot. We have within easy reach a noble material, durable, cosy, but we make our bedding and furnish our house with plastic ...

My boyfriend breeds 80 sheep in danger of extension until recently. His animals, the “Charmoises” are awarded each year at the international agriculture show in Paris, including for the quality of their wool ... But finally what do we do with it?

 

It made me want to do something GOOD, something BEAUTIFUL, something USEFUL, HERE, in the Nièvre, in the countryside!

What to do ?

I will transform the wool of the sheep of our breeding.
I add a collective dimension combining other breeders and other professionals of the wool trades.
I diversify my activity by offering a harvest and fruit processing service for individuals and public spaces. This activity is guaranteed by a contract ensuring that neither trees nor fruits have received pesticides.
And soon I will have an organic orchard of small red berries and rare berries as well as dyeing plants (reseda, madder, pastel ...)

I start in 2019 making fruit juices with fruits that are not collected by people, around muy home area. I also transform the wool of our sheep into colored knitting yarn with vegetable dye (dyeing plants and fruit peelings). I also have woolen cushions, futons, quilts, mattresses, etc.

Why is it a good choice for me ?

I find my interest in agronomy and ecology. I combine my taste for creation, knitting, fruit trees and cooking.

During my studies as an agricultural engineer I toke a work experience in an orchard of organic kiwifruit in Brittany, then I turned to ecology. I worked since 25 years in the interface between agriculture and environment then in sustainable development.

I live in the Nièvre for 24 years, I founded my family of 3 children.

After working in the territorial public service for 18 years, I needed to evolve towards more autonomy, more concrete action, more sense, to be able to see and appreciate the result of my work.

I followed courses about business creation, also practical courses about the transformation of wool and about food hygiene.

 
How can I know it pleases ?

The fruits ...

I tested : a few kilometers from home, I picked fruits from volunteers. I made 300 liters of 6 flavors of fruit juice. Everything was drunk in one month! Nothing but fruit, full of mouth even in winter! More than 30 people gave me their fruits and validated the juice with enthusiastic comments "It's so good!", "Addictive!", "We want more!"

I loved: the contact with people proud of these tasty juices made with their fruits, the warm exchanges during the picking and later for the tasting ...

Wool ...

I tested: by preparing the festival of sheep and wool "Bêêêle et laine" on Saint-Saulge in 2016 and 2018, I was tempted! Followed spinning tours, training courses to make bedding, vegetable dyeing, knitting machine to forge a know-how with professionals.

I loved this noble material, rich in 20000 years of know-how, dozens of possible uses. The wool has qualities that we rediscover.

Why do I use crowdfunding?

After these tests and technical training which lasted 9 months, I created my self-organization on February 1st, 2019.

Now I have to produce 3 to 4000 liters of fruit juice. I can squeeze the hard fruits (apples, quince) at a professional but I will transform myself soft fruits (cherries, red fruits, plums, peaches, pears, figs, kiwis ...) now I need a dedicated room and professional adapted equipment.

 

 

 

 

 

A workshop is necessary to work serenely on the sewing or knitting machine, to store wool in yarn, to make vegetable dyes, to make mattresses.

Crowdfunding is not just a way to finance some of these investments. It is also a way to consolidate the foundation of the project, to raise other financing, to unite, to share its values, to encourage adventure and to make wonderful encounters.

What will the fund be used for?

First I will develop two independent rooms in a wooden building for 6000 €:

-a local standards dedicated to fruit juice + its interior
-a workshop for wool work

If the crowfunding exceed this amount, it is not a problem! I will have cash to buy:

-a material to extract juice and pulp from tender fruits for 3000 €
-a pasteurizer for 1600 €
-1300 large bottles + 2300 small bottles for 900 €

 

You can support my project by choosing to:

(click on "contribuer" then)

-Make me a simple gift: click on the choice "don sans contrepartie" (see opposite)
-Or choose a gift with compensation (see below*) and click on your choice (see opposite)
-And / or simply by spreading my project around you!

People who don't want to pay by internet, can send me a check in my name, or bring it to me personally (send me a SMS before (33) + 674023520), at the following address:

Nathalie Pinault
Les Quinaux
F-58330 SAINT-SAULGE

France

Send me your Name + First Name + Email Address and your choice of compensation (see below), so that I'll add your participation to the prize pool on the MiiMOSA website.

Whatever your choice, a huge warm, sweet and fruity THANK YOU!

THANK YOU also for being so kind to read the project so far!

 

 

*compensation choices

For 10 € or more : A big thank-you
Your name will be registered as a thank you on the labels of fruit juice bottles produced in 2019/2020 and on the Frugalaine Facebook page.
Availability: June 2019

For 10 € or more : 2 natural (ecru) balls
2 natural (ecru) balls in the thread size of your choice (needle # 2.5-3 or 4-4.5 or 5-6)
Availability: June 2019
Delivery: National (by parcel, postage extra or pick up at the Saint-Saulge market on the first Sunday of each month, or at the Colibri market in Rouy the 3rd Sunday of each month from March to December)

For 20 € or more : A big bottle of fruit juice
A bottle juice produced in 2019 (75 cl or 1l according to flavour)
Availability: September 2019
Delivery: To be picked up at the Saint-Saulge market on the first Sunday of each month, or at the Colibri market in Rouy on the 3rd Sunday of each month from March to December

For 40 € or more : A snood knit kit
2 balls of color or ecru of your choice (aig N ° 4-5) + a pattern of snood (choker) simple to knit
Availability: June 2019
Delivery: National (by parcel, postage extra or pick up at the Saint-Saulge market on the first Sunday of each month, or at the Colibri market in Rouy the 3rd Sunday of each month from March to December)

For 40 € or more : 2 large bottles of fruit juice
Two bottles of juice produced in 2019 (75 cl or 1l according to flavour)
Availability: October 2019
Delivery: To be picked up at the Saint-Saulge market on the first Sunday of each month, or at the Colibri market in Rouy on the 3rd Sunday of each month from March to December

For 80 € or more : 5 juice samples + a loyalty card
5 bottles of 25 cl with various flavours + a lifetime loyalty card entitling you to 10% discount on each product purchased (fruit juice, balls, cushions), for a maximum of 150 € of purchases.
Availability: October 2019
Delivery: National (by parcel, postage extra or pick up at the Saint-Saulge market on the first Sunday of each month)

For 120 € or more : 5 bottles with various flavours + a loyalty card
5 large bottles of various flavours produced in the year 2019, 75cl or 1 l according to the flavour + a loyalty card for life entitling you to 10% discount on each product purchased (fruit juice, balls, cushions), for a maximum of 200 € of purchases.
Availability: November 2019
Delivery: National (or pick up at the Saint-Saulge market on the first Sunday of each month, or at the Colibri market in Rouy on the 3rd Sunday of each month from March to December)

For 250 € or more : A day with "wool"! for 2 people
Meeting of the sheep and the breeder, demonstration of transformation of the wool and initiation to the activity of your choice: knit or felt. Midday country meal offered.
Availability: June 2019
Delivery: No delivery
Limited quantity: 10

For 250 € or more : Come make your fruit juice! for 2 people
After a morning of picking, we will make the fruit juice together and you will leave with 3 bottles of your choice. Midday country meal offered.
Availability: July 2019
Delivery: No delivery
Limited quantity: 10