GAEC Bellis Perennis

Farmer cheesemakers and bakers: producers of raw milk (Brune des Alpes cow), cheese, flour, sourdough bread and meat (beef, veal, Longué pig), under the Nature&Progrès label.

GAEC Bellis Perennis, set up in 2008, is located between Valanjou and Thouarcé.

The name of the GAEC refers to the daisy (the beautiful perennial, in Latin) that blooms in our pastures. We work under the Nature&Progrès label, which promotes local peasant farming as an alternative to agro-industry (chemical-free, subject to a charter that extends the challenges of simple agro-ecological production to ecological, energy, economic and social issues).

Today, the GAEC has 4 partners: Vincent, Hélène, Xavier and Méric.

Of the farm's 70 hectares, 80% is given over to cows, around twenty of which are Alpine browns. They are mainly fed on grass. The cows are kept in buildings for part of the year, but have continuous access to the meadows. All the milk is processed on site into cheese and yoghurt. We offer a range of raw-milk tommes made to an Ariège recipe called "La Bellis", which we add with herbs (pepper, fenugreek, pepper and garlic). We have also developed a cooked cheese recipe called "La Belle Brune" and a creamy Auvergne recipe called "Nec'terre".

Since 2009, cereals have been grown on the farm, and in 2018, a new straw-earth bakery was built on the farm with a wood-fired oven of the gueulard type, with a capacity of 100 kg. The bread is made directly twice a week, using a sourdough (without the addition of exogenous yeast), which produces a wholemeal loaf that is tasty and easily digestible.

The presence of Longué pigs (a hardy local breed) on the farm was an obvious choice, along with our two pigs: Monique and Nicole. The pigs are reared in the open air, using whey from the cheese dairy, bran from the mill and cereals from the farm.