five friends cooperatively own and run the tournesol farm: you can read more about them here.

for the 2014 season at tournesol there are five apprentices, four full-season ones and one summer season one (me). three francophones and two anglophones, we each come from different places on this earth and have varied previous agricultural experiences. we all have the same thing in common though: a passion for organic agriculture!

presenting: amélie, aurélien, greg (“the wolf”), et sophie!

name: Amélie Bourbonnais

aurélien always looks so serious

name: Aurélien Pochard

age: 29

astrological sign: Sagittaire

hometown: Landerneau (France)

previous farming experiences: aucune…

what else have you done besides farm: éclairagiste de théâtre, France et Canada

favourite vegetable: Courge delicata (et tomate…)

least favourite vegetable: Chou fleur

recommended farming book/movie/etc.: Restoration Agriculture (Mark Shepard)

what are you excited about for this season: Un extraordinaire apprentissage, avec une dizaine d’individus très très intéressants !!

THE WOLF

name: Greg

age: 31

astrological sign: Aquarius

hometown: Philadelphia

previous farming experiences: I’ve worked for shorter periods at organic farms in Washington State, New York and Arizona, and for longer periods at farms in Montana and Nova Scotia. While in Nova Scotia I was lucky enough to do some farming with three wonderful draft horses.

what else have you done besides farm: I was on track to be a doctor of philosophy before leaving my PhD program (after five years) to pursue farming/homesteading/natural building and a generally more natural and connected life. While I was a graduate student, I taught several college courses about things like ethics, metaphysics and the human/animal relationship.

favourite vegetable: Eggplant!

least favourite vegetable: Would I sound too much like a farmer to say I don’t really have one? At least I can’t think of one. I tend to like pretty much every vegetable.

recommended farming book/movie/etc.: One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka. A book of great wisdom and also practical farming insights!

what are you excited about for this season: I’m excited to ask a lot of questions and have a lot of conversations with the five farmers of Tourne-Sol and with my fellow apprentice-farmers to broaden my own picture of organic agriculture. And, I’m excited to eat all the fresh, healthy and (I’m sure) delicious food we’ve been working to produce over these last few weeks!

she refused the purple background; said it “wasn’t her colour”

name: Sophie Descôteaux

age: 27

astrological sign: scorpion

hometown: Trois-Rivières

previous farming experiences: agriculture urbaine et expérimentale dans une arrière-cour de banlieue

what else have you done besides farm: musique et environnement, efficacité énergétique en particulier

favourite vegetable: céleri-rave

least favourite vegetable: endive

recommended farming book/movie/etc.: je réfléchis encore…

what are you excited about for this season: apprendre davantage en production de semences et obtenir le prochain grade en conduite de tracteur avec remorque

anything else you want to add: J’adore récolter des légumes avec une forme saugrenue; ils font toujours partie de mes points forts de la journée.

yours truly

name: carol fraser

age: 23

astrological sign: cancer

hometown: winchester, massachusetts

previous farming experiences: houseplants, wwoofing in germany, worked at ferme lève-tôt and sangha farm in massachusetts

favourite vegetable: potato, tomato

least favourite vegetable: carrots (shocking!)

recommended farming book/movie/etc.: The Botany of Desire (Michael Pollan), World Without Bees

what are you excited about for this season: learning more about coops, eating extremely well, making new friends and enjoying the company of my co-workers

our canine co-workers

these guys clearly work the hardest on the farm. i hear their favourite vegetables are “sticks” from any plant.

angus was not ready for his closeup

goose would really like you pet him now