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Miraculous Abundance: One Quarter Acre, Two French Farmers, and Enough Food to Feed the World
The Bec Hellouin model for growing food, sequestering carbon, creating jobs, and increasing biodiversity without using fossil fuels
When Charles and Perrine Herve-Gruyer set out to create their farm in an historic Normandy village, they had no idea just how much their lives would change. Neither one had ever farmed before. Charles had been circumnavigating the globe by sail, operating a floating school that taught students about ecology and indigenous cultures. Perrine had been an international lawyer in Japan. Each had returned to France to start a new life. Eventually, Perrine joined Charles in Normandy, and Le Ferme du Bec Hellouin was born.
Bec Hellouin has since become a celebrated model of innovative, ecological agriculture in Europe, connected to national and international organizations addressing food security, heralded by celebrity chefs as well as the Slow Food movement, and featured in the inspiring Cesar and COLCOA award-winning documentary film, Demain ("Tomorrow"). Miraculous Abundance is the eloquent tale of the couple's evolution from creating a farm to sustain their family to delving into an experiment in how to grow the most food possible, in the most ecological way possible, and create a farm model that can carry us into a post-carbon future--when oil is no longer moving goods and services, energy is scarcer, and localization is a must.
Today, the farm produces a variety of vegetables using a mix of permaculture, bio-intensive, four-season, and natural farming techniques--as well as techniques gleaned from native cultures around the world. It has some animals for eggs and milk, horses for farming, a welcome center, a farm store, a permaculture school, a bread oven for artisan breads, greenhouses, a cidery, and a forge. It has also become the site of research focusing on how small organic farms like theirs might confront Europe's (and the world's) projected food crisis.
But in this honest and engaging account of the trials and joys of their uncompromising effort, readers meet two people who are farming the future as much as they are farming their land. They envision farms like theirs someday being the hub for a host of other businesses that can drive rural communities--from bread makers and grain millers to animal care givers and other tradespeople.
Market farmers and home gardeners alike will find much in these pages, but so will those who've never picked up a hoe. The couple's account of their quest to design an almost Edenlike farm, hone their practices, and find new ways to feed the world is an inspiring tale. It is also a love letter to a future in which people increasingly live in rural communities that rely on traditional skills, locally created and purveyed goods and services, renewable energy, and greater local governance, but are also connected to the larger world.
When Charles and Perrine Herve-Gruyer set out to create their farm in an historic Normandy village, they had no idea just how much their lives would change. Neither one had ever farmed before. Charles had been circumnavigating the globe by sail, operating a floating school that taught students about ecology and indigenous cultures. Perrine had been an international lawyer in Japan. Each had returned to France to start a new life. Eventually, Perrine joined Charles in Normandy, and Le Ferme du Bec Hellouin was born.
Bec Hellouin has since become a celebrated model of innovative, ecological agriculture in Europe, connected to national and international organizations addressing food security, heralded by celebrity chefs as well as the Slow Food movement, and featured in the inspiring Cesar and COLCOA award-winning documentary film, Demain ("Tomorrow"). Miraculous Abundance is the eloquent tale of the couple's evolution from creating a farm to sustain their family to delving into an experiment in how to grow the most food possible, in the most ecological way possible, and create a farm model that can carry us into a post-carbon future--when oil is no longer moving goods and services, energy is scarcer, and localization is a must.
Today, the farm produces a variety of vegetables using a mix of permaculture, bio-intensive, four-season, and natural farming techniques--as well as techniques gleaned from native cultures around the world. It has some animals for eggs and milk, horses for farming, a welcome center, a farm store, a permaculture school, a bread oven for artisan breads, greenhouses, a cidery, and a forge. It has also become the site of research focusing on how small organic farms like theirs might confront Europe's (and the world's) projected food crisis.
But in this honest and engaging account of the trials and joys of their uncompromising effort, readers meet two people who are farming the future as much as they are farming their land. They envision farms like theirs someday being the hub for a host of other businesses that can drive rural communities--from bread makers and grain millers to animal care givers and other tradespeople.
Market farmers and home gardeners alike will find much in these pages, but so will those who've never picked up a hoe. The couple's account of their quest to design an almost Edenlike farm, hone their practices, and find new ways to feed the world is an inspiring tale. It is also a love letter to a future in which people increasingly live in rural communities that rely on traditional skills, locally created and purveyed goods and services, renewable energy, and greater local governance, but are also connected to the larger world.
307 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 10, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
May 3, 2016
I loved this book but it’s not a how to book, it’s a story of a family learning to farm.
What I most enjoyed about this book was that it appealed to my sense of beauty and possibility in a way that other market gardening books haven’t. Like those books this is a description of a working farm, of people working the land to earn their living. Unlike those books this book won’t teach you how to farm, what it might do (and what it did for me) was rekindle the belief that earning a living from a farm doesn’t have to be about ruthless efficiency.
I love the idea of producing and selling food and of helping to regenerate an ecosystem, I’ve take several market gardening classes and read a bunch of books. However each time I’ve dug in to the details I couldn’t get enthused, the practical reality of growing food for money just seemed tedious and overwhelming. What JM and Curtis added to the the picture was that you can make good money doing it. What Charles and Perrine add to it is that it can be food for the soul too.
If you’re interested in regenerative agriculture, Miraculous Abundance provides a wonderful overview of everything you might want to research in greater depth. It summarises most of what I’ve learned in the last five years and drops quite a few hints about fascinating new topics to research (making bokashi from your own indigenous microbiology!?). If you’re wanting to learn techniques, skip this book. If you’re wanting an overview of what’s possible and how one family navigated to a profitable, beautiful, amazingly diverse small-scale, permaculture farm then I can’t think of a better book to read.
____
A few snippets that stood out for me:
On the traditional Parisian market gardeners that inspired Elliot Coleman and John Jeavons:
“The market gardeners of Paris form the category of workers which is the hardest working, most consistent, most peaceful of all those who live in the capital. However solid or weak their situation, we never see the gardener change occupations. The sons of a gardener become accustomed to work, under the eyes and with the example of their fathers, and almost all become established market gardeners. The daughters rarely marry a man from a different profession than their father. Although the job is very hard, the market gardener becomes attached to it.” — “Manuel pratique de culture maraichere”, Moreau & Daverne 1845
Parisian market gardeners are called jardiniers-maraichers in French, which contains the word marais, meaning “swamp” or “marsh”. It is a reminder of the time long ago when vegetable crops were grown in wetlands, in the small spaces left free by urbanization, when regulations were much looser than today. In 1845, food crops within the walls of Paris covered about 1,378 hectares, divided into eighteen hundred gardens, each about 7,650sqm. They employed nine thousand people or five people on average per garden: the master gardener and his wife, the day laborers, and a hired boy or girl, more often than not children. The work of these nine thousand market gardeners was enough to supply the city with vegetables.
On Japan’s ecological crisis in the 16th century:
At the beginning of the Edo period, almost all of Japan’s cultivatable land was farmed, feeding just twelve million people. These lands were, for the most, depleted. Two hundred years later, after a period of widespread ecological restoration, those same areas largely fed thirty million people. Deforestation had been controlled and trees replanted. The land had regained its fertility. At all levels, the actors of society were cooperating in order to find the right balance between the needs of humans and the resources that the island had to offer. The standard of living had improved, the Japanese were well fed, decently housed and clothed, their level of health was good. It was a result perhaps unequaled elsewhere, then or now.
“More than anything else, this success was due to a pervasive mentality that propelled all other mechanisms of improvement. This mentality drew on an understanding of the functional and inherent limits of natural systems. In encouraged humility, considered waste taboo, suggested cooperative solutions, and found meaning and satisfaction in a beautiful life in which the individual took just enough from the world and not more.” — “Just Enough”, Azby Brown
Agriculture researcher Stephane Bellon commenting on why he was so enthusiastic about their farm:
“We aren’t crazy enough to create a system like this at our research stations; that’s why it’s so interesting to us!”
Talking about forest gardens …
We are convinced that the most innovative system we put in place in our valley is the forest garden.
The forest garden could prompt the emergence of a new profession in organic farming, on that we propose to name sylvanier (forest gardener).
Java, home to the largest concentration of forest gardens – or pekarangan – is one of the most densely populated areas on earth.
What we are moving towards:
The future lies in an ecologically sound, circular economy that creates value at every stage of the trade cycle, does not waste anything and replaces what it takes from the earth. This type of economy is inspired by nature and is based on living systems, because only they are capable of generating a natural increase in resources. We will have to relearn how to live almost exclusively on biological resources, as our ancestors did.
Each of us can align our lives with our most precious aspirations. We can in good conscience, take responsibility for our existence and the consequences of our passage on earth. Every persona firmly committed to transition advances the entire human community.
What I most enjoyed about this book was that it appealed to my sense of beauty and possibility in a way that other market gardening books haven’t. Like those books this is a description of a working farm, of people working the land to earn their living. Unlike those books this book won’t teach you how to farm, what it might do (and what it did for me) was rekindle the belief that earning a living from a farm doesn’t have to be about ruthless efficiency.
I love the idea of producing and selling food and of helping to regenerate an ecosystem, I’ve take several market gardening classes and read a bunch of books. However each time I’ve dug in to the details I couldn’t get enthused, the practical reality of growing food for money just seemed tedious and overwhelming. What JM and Curtis added to the the picture was that you can make good money doing it. What Charles and Perrine add to it is that it can be food for the soul too.
If you’re interested in regenerative agriculture, Miraculous Abundance provides a wonderful overview of everything you might want to research in greater depth. It summarises most of what I’ve learned in the last five years and drops quite a few hints about fascinating new topics to research (making bokashi from your own indigenous microbiology!?). If you’re wanting to learn techniques, skip this book. If you’re wanting an overview of what’s possible and how one family navigated to a profitable, beautiful, amazingly diverse small-scale, permaculture farm then I can’t think of a better book to read.
____
A few snippets that stood out for me:
On the traditional Parisian market gardeners that inspired Elliot Coleman and John Jeavons:
“The market gardeners of Paris form the category of workers which is the hardest working, most consistent, most peaceful of all those who live in the capital. However solid or weak their situation, we never see the gardener change occupations. The sons of a gardener become accustomed to work, under the eyes and with the example of their fathers, and almost all become established market gardeners. The daughters rarely marry a man from a different profession than their father. Although the job is very hard, the market gardener becomes attached to it.” — “Manuel pratique de culture maraichere”, Moreau & Daverne 1845
Parisian market gardeners are called jardiniers-maraichers in French, which contains the word marais, meaning “swamp” or “marsh”. It is a reminder of the time long ago when vegetable crops were grown in wetlands, in the small spaces left free by urbanization, when regulations were much looser than today. In 1845, food crops within the walls of Paris covered about 1,378 hectares, divided into eighteen hundred gardens, each about 7,650sqm. They employed nine thousand people or five people on average per garden: the master gardener and his wife, the day laborers, and a hired boy or girl, more often than not children. The work of these nine thousand market gardeners was enough to supply the city with vegetables.
On Japan’s ecological crisis in the 16th century:
At the beginning of the Edo period, almost all of Japan’s cultivatable land was farmed, feeding just twelve million people. These lands were, for the most, depleted. Two hundred years later, after a period of widespread ecological restoration, those same areas largely fed thirty million people. Deforestation had been controlled and trees replanted. The land had regained its fertility. At all levels, the actors of society were cooperating in order to find the right balance between the needs of humans and the resources that the island had to offer. The standard of living had improved, the Japanese were well fed, decently housed and clothed, their level of health was good. It was a result perhaps unequaled elsewhere, then or now.
“More than anything else, this success was due to a pervasive mentality that propelled all other mechanisms of improvement. This mentality drew on an understanding of the functional and inherent limits of natural systems. In encouraged humility, considered waste taboo, suggested cooperative solutions, and found meaning and satisfaction in a beautiful life in which the individual took just enough from the world and not more.” — “Just Enough”, Azby Brown
Agriculture researcher Stephane Bellon commenting on why he was so enthusiastic about their farm:
“We aren’t crazy enough to create a system like this at our research stations; that’s why it’s so interesting to us!”
Talking about forest gardens …
We are convinced that the most innovative system we put in place in our valley is the forest garden.
The forest garden could prompt the emergence of a new profession in organic farming, on that we propose to name sylvanier (forest gardener).
Java, home to the largest concentration of forest gardens – or pekarangan – is one of the most densely populated areas on earth.
What we are moving towards:
The future lies in an ecologically sound, circular economy that creates value at every stage of the trade cycle, does not waste anything and replaces what it takes from the earth. This type of economy is inspired by nature and is based on living systems, because only they are capable of generating a natural increase in resources. We will have to relearn how to live almost exclusively on biological resources, as our ancestors did.
Each of us can align our lives with our most precious aspirations. We can in good conscience, take responsibility for our existence and the consequences of our passage on earth. Every persona firmly committed to transition advances the entire human community.
September 22, 2019
Miraculous Abundance is a call to action for the Western society to change it's ways when it comes to producing food. Focused on combining many of the elements of permaculture, organic gardening, Persian market gardens, and other small scale/traditional farming, the author encourages readers to think small. Small scale, microfarming like that happening at the author's farm provides a greater amount of food and soil health while still supporting full time labor.
I found the message hopeful and the book to be an interesting read. It is scattered in places. Such that this book would be best picked up for small doses near the winter hearth or on a rainy day rather than reading cover to cover. This is a title I'd suggest getting at the library or sharing with friends. Inspiring and interesting, but low on the need to reference again material.
I found the message hopeful and the book to be an interesting read. It is scattered in places. Such that this book would be best picked up for small doses near the winter hearth or on a rainy day rather than reading cover to cover. This is a title I'd suggest getting at the library or sharing with friends. Inspiring and interesting, but low on the need to reference again material.
July 22, 2021
Cultura legumelor ne oferă multe. În calitate de cultivatori, continuăm o co-evoluție cu plantele pe care le numim legumele noastre. Îi ajutăm să scoată la iveală cea mai deplină expresie a potențialului lor și, la rândul lor, ne ajută să scoatem la iveală cea mai deplină expresie a noastră. În acest sens, a te angaja în cultura legumelor în acest moment este o binecuvântare. Există multe lucruri de recunoscut atunci când se ia în considerare tot ceea ce ne-a condus pe calea cultivării acestor culturi.
Acest manual descrie multe dintre detaliile practice despre cultivarea legumelor într-o relație benefică cu natura.
Acest manual descrie multe dintre detaliile practice despre cultivarea legumelor într-o relație benefică cu natura.
March 23, 2023
Alright. This book has been on my TBR list for years, so when I finally got a chance to check it out I was thrilled. The authors are a French couple who in their 30s decided (with practically no previous experience) to begin what would go on to become the first 100% organic permaculture market micro-farm in France. This book is about their journey and successes, with a healthy dose of theory thrown in.
Some parts of this book I thought were great, others I could do without. Eventual acceptance of no-dig practices? Yes please. Romanticizing to the point of worship of "Indians" around the world? No thank you. Introduction of new concepts like bokashi? Absolutely! A hypocritical condemnation of purchasing anything non-essential and non-local as I'm listening to your translated audiobook on the other side of the world? Hard pass. Entire chapters dedicated to giants in the field on whose shoulders you stand? Brilliant.
I have to admit that even the highly idealized utopia described later in the book left me conflicted. Normally I dismiss such unrealistic dreams out of hand, but their frank rejection of the ideas of communes, and the emphasis on business relationships trumping social ones to keep the whole operation running healthily was much more realistic than I'm used to seeing in this particular niche. I was begrudgingly inspired.
Although not exactly a how-to manual (and certainly not the permaculture bible I've heard it described as), this book gives a really good overview of what permaculture can accomplish, especially on a small and manageable scale, and was fantastic as pointing to other resources to get deeper information. They are a market garden, so the emphasis was not so much on how to be self-reliant and grow your own food so much as it was how to be as efficient as possible in as small a space as possible and make a significant profit (after the initial stages of set up and diversification). I am not planning to be a market gardener, but I think that that level of efficiency and system health can only benefit even the home gardener. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in gardening, for market or otherwise.
Some parts of this book I thought were great, others I could do without. Eventual acceptance of no-dig practices? Yes please. Romanticizing to the point of worship of "Indians" around the world? No thank you. Introduction of new concepts like bokashi? Absolutely! A hypocritical condemnation of purchasing anything non-essential and non-local as I'm listening to your translated audiobook on the other side of the world? Hard pass. Entire chapters dedicated to giants in the field on whose shoulders you stand? Brilliant.
I have to admit that even the highly idealized utopia described later in the book left me conflicted. Normally I dismiss such unrealistic dreams out of hand, but their frank rejection of the ideas of communes, and the emphasis on business relationships trumping social ones to keep the whole operation running healthily was much more realistic than I'm used to seeing in this particular niche. I was begrudgingly inspired.
Although not exactly a how-to manual (and certainly not the permaculture bible I've heard it described as), this book gives a really good overview of what permaculture can accomplish, especially on a small and manageable scale, and was fantastic as pointing to other resources to get deeper information. They are a market garden, so the emphasis was not so much on how to be self-reliant and grow your own food so much as it was how to be as efficient as possible in as small a space as possible and make a significant profit (after the initial stages of set up and diversification). I am not planning to be a market gardener, but I think that that level of efficiency and system health can only benefit even the home gardener. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in gardening, for market or otherwise.
May 20, 2018
A very inspiring but somewhat idealistic book. This is not a manual although I’m very interested in the upcoming manual as the few insights given are very interesting. It gives a new take on what the future could look like. You also get a good overview of other sources of information about permaculture sustainable farming organic growing and locally sourced food. It’s definitely food for thought.
May 31, 2017
I don't know if it was a translation problem or what, but I had trouble with this book. I wish it had been easier to read. I kept waiting for the authors to explain and show their system for their wonderful garden. Instead, it felt like a history of different types of intensive farming.
April 2, 2025
One of my favorite burnout responses is reading about farming so I can quit everything and go back to the land. I don’t like mud or bugs so it’s probably a non-starter, but the books are fun.
I’ve read gay neo-liberal back to the land memoirs, hippie back to the land memoirs, novels about people going back to the land as Iron Age British reenactors, multiple books of Wendell Berry essays, longform articles about Womyn’s Land, histories of the Kibbutz movement, and probably a few others. Again—a favorite burnout response.
Anyway, Miraculous Abundance is in this vein but is the first of them that made me think “I could practice micro-agriculture”. It’s just informative enough and just idealistic enough to capture my attention without getting bogged down in detail. Did I skim parts? Yes. Am I imagining the forest garden and raised beds I want to plant in my next yard? Also yes.
Generally—worth your time, if for no other reason than thinking differently about food systems.
I’ve read gay neo-liberal back to the land memoirs, hippie back to the land memoirs, novels about people going back to the land as Iron Age British reenactors, multiple books of Wendell Berry essays, longform articles about Womyn’s Land, histories of the Kibbutz movement, and probably a few others. Again—a favorite burnout response.
Anyway, Miraculous Abundance is in this vein but is the first of them that made me think “I could practice micro-agriculture”. It’s just informative enough and just idealistic enough to capture my attention without getting bogged down in detail. Did I skim parts? Yes. Am I imagining the forest garden and raised beds I want to plant in my next yard? Also yes.
Generally—worth your time, if for no other reason than thinking differently about food systems.
August 11, 2020
This is the story of a lawyer & sailor, who became psychotherapists & then became market gardeners. Yep, that’s actually their career paths. They tell how they came to be gardeners & then work through some of the aspects of their garden farm from the forest garden to aquaculture to fruits/berries. If you are interested in farming/gardening then I think you’d find this fascinating since they touch on so many different approaches. One interesting piece is that they are working to prove that a family can be self-supportive on a really small piece of land. They advocate hard for a resurgence of the micro-farm & a move away from mechanized, oil dependent large scale farming.
May 24, 2021
This book is about a vision for the kind of world we could be creating, one where people have gainful employment, healthy food, beautiful nature around them. One in which we are emitting way less carbon, building biodiversity and healthy soil and basically stepping outside the big global industrial machine and into a positive future.
I run a small land based project in England and I absolutely sign up to this vision!
I run a small land based project in England and I absolutely sign up to this vision!
May 18, 2019
A pleasure to read, with optimistic and beautiful ideas for the upcoming climate apocalypse. It's arranged in a scattershot manner, but there were lots of little asides and half-ideas that made me think "I want to try that!" which is the point of reading farming books, anyway.
November 26, 2016
Perrine and Charles Herve-Gruyer both had successful careers, but wanted to spend their days closer to the land. They were also concerned about where their food came from, so they decided to become farmers. Through trial and error they transform a small piece of land in France into a wildly productive food business. This book explores their farming philosophy and some of the the issues they've encountered and overcome. My main complaint about the book is that it's not a straightforward story of their farm. That is interspersed throughout the chapters on various topics/issues/philosophy/etc. It is an interesting book, just not exactly what I was expecting. But the biggest point is that they show that you can make a living on a a quarter acre of land if you plan well and use permaculture ideas - they commission a study to see exactly how much work and production goes into one 1/4 acre section of their farm and the results are astounding (pg. 118-121 for specific data). Definitely an interesting book and the color photographs really make the book because you get to see the spaces they've transformed.
Some quotes I really liked:
"Slow Food is often criticized as elitist. But that criticism is totally blind to the real issue. It is not important whether you or I or anyone else in the United States ever gets to eat some specific artisanal food. What's important is that it exists, that there is one small corner of the planet still unconquered by Kraft or Nabisco or Monsanto, one little rural holdout inhabited by a few hardworking people who still know what quality is and have a passion for producing it." (p. x of the Forward)
"Here is a definition of this system adapted to our latitudes, from Patrick Whitefield: 'A forest garden is a garden modeled on natural woodland. Like a natural woodland, it has three layers of vegetation: trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. In an edible forest garden the tree layers contains fruit and nut trees, the shrub layer soft fruit and nut bushes, and the ground layer perennial vegetables and herbs. The soil is not dug, and annual vegetables are not normally included unless they can reproduce by self-seeding. It is usually a very diverse garden, containing a wide variety of edible plants.'...If we abandon an agricultural area, it is the forest that will return naturally. Maintaining open space requires constant effort. The central role of the tree is becoming better appreciated. It fulfills a plethora of ecological functions, creates soil, promotes microclimates conducive to life, and stores carbon. It also beautifies the landscape and provides countless human services." (p. 128-9)
"Traditional agriculture was labor intensive, industrial agriculture is energy intensive, and permaculture-designed systems are information and design intensive. - David Holmgren" (p. 147)
Some quotes I really liked:
"Slow Food is often criticized as elitist. But that criticism is totally blind to the real issue. It is not important whether you or I or anyone else in the United States ever gets to eat some specific artisanal food. What's important is that it exists, that there is one small corner of the planet still unconquered by Kraft or Nabisco or Monsanto, one little rural holdout inhabited by a few hardworking people who still know what quality is and have a passion for producing it." (p. x of the Forward)
"Here is a definition of this system adapted to our latitudes, from Patrick Whitefield: 'A forest garden is a garden modeled on natural woodland. Like a natural woodland, it has three layers of vegetation: trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. In an edible forest garden the tree layers contains fruit and nut trees, the shrub layer soft fruit and nut bushes, and the ground layer perennial vegetables and herbs. The soil is not dug, and annual vegetables are not normally included unless they can reproduce by self-seeding. It is usually a very diverse garden, containing a wide variety of edible plants.'...If we abandon an agricultural area, it is the forest that will return naturally. Maintaining open space requires constant effort. The central role of the tree is becoming better appreciated. It fulfills a plethora of ecological functions, creates soil, promotes microclimates conducive to life, and stores carbon. It also beautifies the landscape and provides countless human services." (p. 128-9)
"Traditional agriculture was labor intensive, industrial agriculture is energy intensive, and permaculture-designed systems are information and design intensive. - David Holmgren" (p. 147)
March 31, 2019
What are you getting into? Miraculous Abundance is less a book of instructional material and more a plea for accompaniment and story of trials and successes. It's a quite strikingly nerveless and beautiful book that entertains the history and practice of permaculture, microfarming, and biomaterials. There are dashes of exoticism here and there, which are a little moony, but more foundational is the actual practice of small-farming for market production.
On top of the subject matter, Hervé-Gruyer is impassioned and in full conversion mode. Much of the text is justification, context, and a call to arms about the merits of market permaculture. After realizing that instruction in face to face contexts wasn't going to answer H-G's ambitions for the spread of permaculture, the family accepted scientific study of their methods and he began to compose the text of this book (as well as others, I would suspect). The writing is thoughtful and genuinely moving, and made all the more pleasant by forsaking high theory for the accessibility of direct conversation.
Throughout all, Hervé-Gruyer is relatively frank. Their family came into the permaculture business with many resources, and it still was a hard, long slog. All of the context of extreme positivity regarding methods should be read against the backdrop of the intense and continuing work that is a small farm, along with the financial concerns that drive many away. And it is exactly that reason why permaculture is so focusing for the authors: it helps people cope through adversity, it has a history of success, and it demonstrates the will and practice to address current concerns about climate change and carbon buildup. As the authors (mostly Charles) stress, while they haven't had many vacations, they love the farm and the work, and wouldn't have it any other way.
Find this at your local library or, alternatively, you can see more at their website, where up to date information can be found. As a primer in the world of permaculture, this could be the right book for you!
On top of the subject matter, Hervé-Gruyer is impassioned and in full conversion mode. Much of the text is justification, context, and a call to arms about the merits of market permaculture. After realizing that instruction in face to face contexts wasn't going to answer H-G's ambitions for the spread of permaculture, the family accepted scientific study of their methods and he began to compose the text of this book (as well as others, I would suspect). The writing is thoughtful and genuinely moving, and made all the more pleasant by forsaking high theory for the accessibility of direct conversation.
Throughout all, Hervé-Gruyer is relatively frank. Their family came into the permaculture business with many resources, and it still was a hard, long slog. All of the context of extreme positivity regarding methods should be read against the backdrop of the intense and continuing work that is a small farm, along with the financial concerns that drive many away. And it is exactly that reason why permaculture is so focusing for the authors: it helps people cope through adversity, it has a history of success, and it demonstrates the will and practice to address current concerns about climate change and carbon buildup. As the authors (mostly Charles) stress, while they haven't had many vacations, they love the farm and the work, and wouldn't have it any other way.
Find this at your local library or, alternatively, you can see more at their website, where up to date information can be found. As a primer in the world of permaculture, this could be the right book for you!
June 28, 2017
The agricultural side was interesting, and I'm glad this project/farm exists, but I didn't find the organization of the book to be well done.
January 6, 2024
Book #27 of 2023. "Miraculous Abundance" by Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer. 3/5 rating.
This book tells all about this couple's forays into permaculture-backed agriculture on a small scale.
The subtitle of this book sums up their ideas: "One-Quarter Acre, Two French Farmers, and Enough Food to Feed the World". I really like the first three-quarters of this book as I am hugely interested in the ideas of a small microfarm that is based on principles of working with nature. The move towards ever larger farms has NOT been good for nearly anyone and has led to much less effiency in many domains:
- "In the United States in 2002, the revenue per unit area for farms less than 1 hectare (2.5 acres) was ten to fifty times higher than the largest American farms."
Their mix of vegetable gardening, along with a forest garden, and fruit trees is a great idea! I also wrote down some ideas that they tried out such as heating their plants in winter with compost.
This book has an incredible goal to get millions of microfarms into the world. These are farms somewhere around 2-5 acres (~ 2-4 football fields in size) worth of varied agriculture use. Basing their info off their farm at Bec, they dream of the below scenario:
- "If a cultivated area of about 1,000 square meters (0.25 acre), as in La Ferm du Bec Hellouin, produces, throughout the year, the equivalent of sixty to eighty CSA baskets of fruits and vegetables weekly, then any garden, even a small courtyard, becomes a potential farm. A 200-square-meter lawn, with good soil and a skilled gardener, could be producing a dozen weekly baskets. A 10-square-meter balcony, almost a basket. Flat roofs represent so many opportunities."
- "Going with the flow of life, trying to understand what is good for the soil, good for vegetables, good for people and for the whole world of the living, is the foundation of natural farming."
I liked the ideas I got from this book, and possibly even more, the amount of other resources, including their website www.fermedubec.com. I think is a really interesting almost philosophical book about what the future of farming (and therefore the world) could look like!
This book tells all about this couple's forays into permaculture-backed agriculture on a small scale.
The subtitle of this book sums up their ideas: "One-Quarter Acre, Two French Farmers, and Enough Food to Feed the World". I really like the first three-quarters of this book as I am hugely interested in the ideas of a small microfarm that is based on principles of working with nature. The move towards ever larger farms has NOT been good for nearly anyone and has led to much less effiency in many domains:
- "In the United States in 2002, the revenue per unit area for farms less than 1 hectare (2.5 acres) was ten to fifty times higher than the largest American farms."
Their mix of vegetable gardening, along with a forest garden, and fruit trees is a great idea! I also wrote down some ideas that they tried out such as heating their plants in winter with compost.
This book has an incredible goal to get millions of microfarms into the world. These are farms somewhere around 2-5 acres (~ 2-4 football fields in size) worth of varied agriculture use. Basing their info off their farm at Bec, they dream of the below scenario:
- "If a cultivated area of about 1,000 square meters (0.25 acre), as in La Ferm du Bec Hellouin, produces, throughout the year, the equivalent of sixty to eighty CSA baskets of fruits and vegetables weekly, then any garden, even a small courtyard, becomes a potential farm. A 200-square-meter lawn, with good soil and a skilled gardener, could be producing a dozen weekly baskets. A 10-square-meter balcony, almost a basket. Flat roofs represent so many opportunities."
- "Going with the flow of life, trying to understand what is good for the soil, good for vegetables, good for people and for the whole world of the living, is the foundation of natural farming."
I liked the ideas I got from this book, and possibly even more, the amount of other resources, including their website www.fermedubec.com. I think is a really interesting almost philosophical book about what the future of farming (and therefore the world) could look like!
September 21, 2023
This was fairly good, but also really disappointing.
I've read a couple of permaculture books before, and this is fairly standard in that respect. Somewhere in the space between long-established sound gardening theory and a socialist cult planning to take over the world with forest gardens. You know, permaculture stuff...
Their gardening process is kept deliberately vague on all of the details, because this book is just the hook to make us buy into the Bec Hellouin gardening method. Then they can sell us a whole run of expensive instruction manual books, training courses etc etc. Like all the other gurus in gardening, personal health, nutrition, exercise, etc etc.
The simple fact is, gardening isn't that complicated. You dig or you don't, compost, crop rotations, mulching, cover crops, companion planting. It's all been extensively covered before, and is all there for free on organic websites. And isn't in this book.
This is a cross between an OK and fairly nice story of their family adventure to leave the city behind and run an organic farm, and a campaign leaflet about how the world should be permacultured to save and feed us all. It felt a bit long, kind of a mish mash of family story, science and ecology that never quite got fully into any of those things.
It could be a charming family story, or a gardening manual, or a permaculture treatise on social engineering, but isn't quite any of these things. I agree with most of what they are saying, but still found myself irritated by the selectiveness of how their theory could be applied on a wider scale in society.
The new book coming out with their gardening method might be worth reading if you are new to organic gardening, and I would really like to have a look at it. But this isn't on the list to look at again, and I wouldn't actively recommend it to anyone.
I've read a couple of permaculture books before, and this is fairly standard in that respect. Somewhere in the space between long-established sound gardening theory and a socialist cult planning to take over the world with forest gardens. You know, permaculture stuff...
Their gardening process is kept deliberately vague on all of the details, because this book is just the hook to make us buy into the Bec Hellouin gardening method. Then they can sell us a whole run of expensive instruction manual books, training courses etc etc. Like all the other gurus in gardening, personal health, nutrition, exercise, etc etc.
The simple fact is, gardening isn't that complicated. You dig or you don't, compost, crop rotations, mulching, cover crops, companion planting. It's all been extensively covered before, and is all there for free on organic websites. And isn't in this book.
This is a cross between an OK and fairly nice story of their family adventure to leave the city behind and run an organic farm, and a campaign leaflet about how the world should be permacultured to save and feed us all. It felt a bit long, kind of a mish mash of family story, science and ecology that never quite got fully into any of those things.
It could be a charming family story, or a gardening manual, or a permaculture treatise on social engineering, but isn't quite any of these things. I agree with most of what they are saying, but still found myself irritated by the selectiveness of how their theory could be applied on a wider scale in society.
The new book coming out with their gardening method might be worth reading if you are new to organic gardening, and I would really like to have a look at it. But this isn't on the list to look at again, and I wouldn't actively recommend it to anyone.
September 19, 2019
I am on a life tangent, perhaps a permanent life reboot, in the direction of regenerative/organic farming. What started as a late-in-life desire to do something that makes sense globally and delivers meaning and fulfilment to me personally has been rendered into sharper focus via the body of literature by intellectual agrarians who wield distilled truth in the simple language of the farm. Wendell Berry, Gene Logsdon, and other old school farmer/authors have produced a canon of farmer literature titles which are anything but gardening manuals, but rather offer a blueprint for transforming both the climate change-endangered world and the nature of work. Miraculous Abundance deserves to join that canon. It is the story of a couple converting an ordinary small plot of land into a marvelous Eden of nature, food, and beauty. There are passages which tempt the reader to dream of a new and intensely possible world in which food abundance no longer belongs to massively scaled conglomerates and superstores, but is just around the corner. This book is a peek at a food system that is sustainable, delicious, and nutrient-rich, and reading it may just make you question the fossil fuel pyramid scheme and false busy-busy urgency which is life in the modern world.
November 2, 2019
With a lot of Chutzpah, this French husband and wife team created their own world on a small farm in Normandy. This book is not a how-to book but rather a manifesto for the alternative agriculture/permaculture world. Perhaps their greatest contribution is in motivating others, as in the following advice:
"So prepare your project meticulously. Give yourself time—several years. Move ahead gradually. Start by cultivating a garden, putting yourself in the skin of the professional you aspire to become, but on a reduced scale. (my emphasis). Give or sell your production to your neighbors. Keep gainful employment as long as possible, until you have acquired sufficient expertise to take the plunge."
And:
"The best way to begin a market microfarm is undeniably at your home, in your garden—if you’re lucky enough to own one. We get many people in our training programs who struggle to acquire a few hectares, while they live in a house with a plot of 1,000 square meters or more. Look no farther—your microfarm is there before your eyes! (my emphasis) … By creating a microfarm home, you will not have to move, your spouse can retain his or her job, your children will stay in their school with their friends, and the transition will be that much easier…"
"So prepare your project meticulously. Give yourself time—several years. Move ahead gradually. Start by cultivating a garden, putting yourself in the skin of the professional you aspire to become, but on a reduced scale. (my emphasis). Give or sell your production to your neighbors. Keep gainful employment as long as possible, until you have acquired sufficient expertise to take the plunge."
And:
"The best way to begin a market microfarm is undeniably at your home, in your garden—if you’re lucky enough to own one. We get many people in our training programs who struggle to acquire a few hectares, while they live in a house with a plot of 1,000 square meters or more. Look no farther—your microfarm is there before your eyes! (my emphasis) … By creating a microfarm home, you will not have to move, your spouse can retain his or her job, your children will stay in their school with their friends, and the transition will be that much easier…"
October 13, 2017
Another permaculture + gardening book I ended up adding to my permanent shelf of food-growing resources. It took me a few months to finish this well-researched and well-written tale because I was taking notes and rethinking my own home gardening methods. Charles and Perrine Hervé-Gruyer tell an honest tale of what it was like to transform a patch of land in the French countryside into a highly productive farm using biointensive methods and without reliance on fossil fuels--including their failures and reliance on a generous savings to begin their farming journey. This is not a how-to book. It provides a good look at how the theories, history, and practice around integrating permaculture and biointensive farming methods can be used to address current and future challenges around sustainable food production.
September 3, 2025
Thank you Perrine for an encouraging synopsis of what is possible when we pursue sustainable and best practice land management techniques to grow food and feed our communities. I am challenged to attempt to do more on our land and in my community to foster and encourage the methods you cover in the book.
I want to do more in growing my own food and developing a lifestyle and farm that encourages my wife and daughters, our community, and friends and family to begin building better routines that can positively impact our lives. I appreciate the time and efforts of creating this resource and being a champion in this space for the rest of us. I hope to learn and read more from you in the future.
I want to do more in growing my own food and developing a lifestyle and farm that encourages my wife and daughters, our community, and friends and family to begin building better routines that can positively impact our lives. I appreciate the time and efforts of creating this resource and being a champion in this space for the rest of us. I hope to learn and read more from you in the future.
May 17, 2021
A truly beautiful book about the potential for small-scale farming to heal nature and our communities. It's written by two French farmers who practice permaculture at their farm in Normandy, France: La Ferme du Bec Hellouin. Their care for our Mother Earth emanates in every chapter. Gardening is really a craft that should be approached with the intention of finding harmony between the natural world and our natural desire for food. This book outlines a path to nourishment that encourages hope and will find resonance with anyone seeking a read about how to care for our bodies and our world with sustainable agriculture. Highly recommend!
January 21, 2024
A book about action as an antidote to hopelessness and a path to deep joy and one which sums up what I’ve learned over the past year of organic farming, that life - the soil, the plants, the animals - is relentlessly abundant and that the crisis we face is much more a crisis of belief in the human capacity to belong to the rest of life than it is a crisis of our planet’s ability to survive our predation. This book was a fkn joy to read, full of beauty and passion and worthwhile hard hard work. A real example of how the problem is the solution.
“Nature would not have created without us there flowers and fruits”
Bless the farmers, bless the food.
“Nature would not have created without us there flowers and fruits”
Bless the farmers, bless the food.
August 20, 2024
Excellent book!! I really love how well thought out their micro farm plans are, and how accessible their plan is to anyone wanting to start growing large quantities of food in small places. A must read if you want to really increase your food production on a small plot of land, or if you want to increase the efficacy of any sized farm. They give very viable and actionable solutions to the environmental harm caused by big ag. If you want to learn to grow food (and you should; food shortages are without a doubt coming in our lifetime), I would definitely add this book to your personal library.
They included really beautiful pictures of their farm. It was really a very enjoyable read.
They included really beautiful pictures of their farm. It was really a very enjoyable read.
August 2, 2021
Similar to fukuoka's "one straw revolution", I read this because I'm interested in and sympathetic to the core ideas of permaculture and regenerative lifestyles/agriculture.
Unfortunately the book is a pseudoscientific tract that tediously and repetitiously attacks industrialization, mechanization, large scale operations, and anything remotely dependent on hydrocarbons (peak oil is a foundational assumption of the book)
Unfortunately the book is a pseudoscientific tract that tediously and repetitiously attacks industrialization, mechanization, large scale operations, and anything remotely dependent on hydrocarbons (peak oil is a foundational assumption of the book)
January 14, 2020
Manifesto not method
This lengthy book is a manifesto, and a lifestory. Inspirational, interesting and raises questions as well as answers. I was disappointed at first when I began, and realised it was not a practical book. However, I'm glad icarried on as it is truly a great read.
This lengthy book is a manifesto, and a lifestory. Inspirational, interesting and raises questions as well as answers. I was disappointed at first when I began, and realised it was not a practical book. However, I'm glad icarried on as it is truly a great read.
October 26, 2020
Good book to introduce readers to the world of small farm organic farming. The last 1/3 of the book actually made me quite sad. The authors use that section to describe a beautiful vision of what they think the world could be like. And it made me sad to fall in love with their vision but then think it will never actually happen.
April 19, 2021
Excelente libro, inspirador y esperanzador con el futuro y las formas como lo ve el autor. Sin embargo, no me veo el mundo en la posición de regresar a las formas de vidas que tenia el mundo antes de la década de los 50, más bien creo que es posible un enfoque regenerativo en una adaptación a algunas formas de vida contemporáneas
January 18, 2023
I thought this was a great book being an avid gardener and vegetable grower, and also seeking information re growing food, l loved this book. Would love to visit there farm one day. i already grow vegetables and fruit trees, and have done for years. Wish l had some nut trees as well. Just love hearing about growing food and different peoples approaches.
May 31, 2025
There's a lot to like here, but it's almost two books in one. I loved learning about the farm and things they've been working on. The last half is a utopian (though they offer evidence to support their vision) dream of a future that is highly unlikely and unfortunately pretty paternalistic. I think some of the paternalistic vibe is more based on cultural differences, not entirely intentional.
April 11, 2018
Great concept, well executed, but not very fully explained
The Farm at Bec Hellouin is just the kind d of farming we need more of-- ecologically friendly, intensive methods. This book does not go very far in describing the methods, however. We must await the next book for that.
The Farm at Bec Hellouin is just the kind d of farming we need more of-- ecologically friendly, intensive methods. This book does not go very far in describing the methods, however. We must await the next book for that.
February 25, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyed this book as my first taste of permaculture/market gardening knowledge! Excellent reasoning for this lifestyle being a part of the global warming solution and an important direction our future is going towards.
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