This Couple is Creating the Dream of Mother Earth

Welcome to Le Rêve de Gaïa in Southern France! Le Rêve de Gaïa translates to “The Dream of Mother Earth.” Antoine and Margot are the Earth workers behind this special project to create a self-sustainable and symbiotic ecosystem where humans, animals and nature can co-exist in productive harmony. They want to show the world what is possible, inspiring and educating others to follow suit. Their example extends beyond this land; they strive to set an example and show how sustainable practices can easily be integrated into anyone’s life. 

Antoine has lived there for seven years and after completing his forestry school he decided to share his knowledge with others and set an example of sustainable and harmonious living. The five themes that they cover in the Dream of Mother Earth are forestry, agriculture, living with animals, sustainable construction and the magic of life. 

When Antoine started the project, he searched for land with a lot of forest since that was his profession. He decided on a plantation of spruce trees that was mostly a monocrop. His goal is to regenerate it overtime into a thriving, biodiverse forest by planting a diversity of tree species and smaller plant species, selectively thinning trees as needed and more. They plan on transitioning some of the forest into a food forest.

Antoine and Margot apply permaculture principles like composting, companion planting, crop rotation and mulching. They choose to not use any chemical pesticides on the food. “We would rather have the insects eating some food than use pesticides on the food that we eat,” Margot shares. The small amount eaten by insects is already calculated into the amount of food that they plant, so it is not a problem. 

Part of their project includes living with animals such as chickens that provide eggs, sheep to cut the grass and produce wool for insulation and other animals working in productive harmony. They have pigs that plow the ground for them. 

They have two tiny houses on-site and they plan on building more. This sustainable construction is made of trees grown and harvested on site, selectively harvesting from the forest to regenerate it.  

Margot sums up the magic of life beautifully: “The magic of life is actually not magic, but it is the theme that connects all the other themes. It’s about being a platform where people feel free to share their beliefs, backgrounds and experiences from all kinds of disciplines.” The Dream of Mother Earth continues to inspire many people to share their ideas and humanity freely, making Mother Earth’s dream come true!

Learn more about Le Rêve de Gaïa and follow them on social media: Website – Instagram – Facebook.

Thank you to Guerrilla Foundation for funding this video of solutions.

This article was written by Lindsey Morrison.