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FOUNDERS, Les Jardins de la Grelinette


ABOUT Maude-Hélène Desroches

Maude-Hélène Desrochesis an organic farmer, business manager, speaker and mother of two.

Native of Lanaudière, she was very young awake to the importance of living in harmony with nature and sought, through environmental studies at McGill University, ways to have a positive impact on the health of the earth . It was during trips that she found in local organic farming an immediate way to contribute to the well-being of her family, her community and the environment.

In 2004 she co-founded with Jean-Martin Fortier Les jardins de La Grelinette. By generating sales revenue of more than $ 150,000, the farm demonstrates that an organic farm of less than one hectare can be financially viable and provide an enviable lifestyle for its owners.

Since 2015, she operates La Grelinette by herself, continuing to produce healthy food and an excellent profit margin. Many see her as an inspiring woman with a heart as big as the earth.

ABOUT Jean-Martin Fortier

Jean-Martin Fortier is an organic farmer, teacher and award-winning author of the best-selling book The Market Gardener. Now translated into 7 languages, his book has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers around the world to imagine and implement a model of farming on a human scale, ecological and profitable.

He is the co-founder, with Maude-Hélène Desroches, of Les Jardins de la Grelinette. Since 2015, he has been the produce production manager at Ferme des Quatre-Temps, a larger experimental farm whose goal is to demonstrate that small ecological farms can be more profitable and produce foods of higher nutritional quality than the conventional agriculture.
In 2017, he launched The Market Gardener's Masterclass, an online course of expertise on bio-intensive farming methods. Several hundred students in 33 countries have registered, creating a global community of young (and not so young) motivated farmers who want to make a positive impact on their communities and the environment.

In the spring of 2018, with his team at the Ferme des Quatre-Temps, he will be the subject of the documentary series Les Fermiers, broadcast on Unis TV. He hopes that the media attention he receives can inspire a new generation to embark on the farming lifestyle.