"When you live in an urban environment, many of the plants you find in stores do not come from very virtuous production circuits. And they are not necessarily the most suitable plants either. Not to mention that there is not much variety in what is offered to us. So, the association was created to produce plants in the city,” says Eloïse Bloit.
Pépins Production is primarily a place, a greenhouse, and outdoor spaces that allow for the practical application of the association's values, which include participation, integration, meeting, and collaboration among people from different backgrounds.
In this place, plants are produced. For this, we need seeds or cuttings from other plants, soil, and pots. “We work with artisanal seed producers who grow living seeds, also known as farmer seeds. These can also be seeds that we harvest on-site, or from old crops, or through the network of gardeners around us, with which we make cuttings,” explains Eloïse Bloit.
The idea is also to offer diversity to people, to familiarize them with a multitude of plants, including herbaceous, woody plants, small trees, shrubs, vegetable plants, aromatic plants, ornamental plants, as well as wild or local plants that promote biodiversity, which is threatened by soil destruction.
The moments of plant production are open to the public and are carried out with the help of a community of volunteers who come every week to repot and sow. In another nursery, there is a team that uses gardening as a means of integration. Activities are also organized in schools with social structures. Finally, the plants are sold on-site, directly from the producer to the buyer, without intermediaries.
“Plants in the city are not just indicators of oxygen and biodiversity; there is also something sensitive, and I think we are all convinced of that. When we are children, it is a bit of a primal urge to touch and manipulate them,” emphasizes Eloïse Bloit. "And then, it’s the pleasure of sowing a seed, planting, watching it grow, observing how plants interact with each other, or not, how they thrive or not. We become attentive to another being, the plant, to others who are very different from us, humans".
"Nurseries are also basically, for people who have little opportunity to leave the city, a space where they can be in direct contact with nature, with what it brings to mental health, calmness, disconnection from the urban rhythm, and connection to its natural rhythms,” concludes Eloïse Bloit.
