"We've got an egg!" Blandine Rouche started her day by watching her three hens, rescued from an organic farm before they were sent to the slaughterhouse. "They don't lay eggs every day because they're too old, but it's enough for our needs," said the 25-year-old. "Without realizing it, we've given them names that match their personalities," said her partner, Robin Amaz, also 25. Jean Poule II [a pun on poule, "hen" in French] is supposedly very peaceful, unlike Poulice Municipale, a play on the words on poule and police, who had an annoying tendency to keep an eye on her fellow hens, before being killed by a predator. The couple talked so much about the henhouse because it was a vital part of their daily lives. Amaz explained: "Chickens are important for our diet. More importantly, they represent our only social interaction." Between May and September, the couple spent four months living self-sufficiently in the forest.
To find out more about their project, you had to arm yourself with a tent and head for Lac des Settons in Burgundy. "By hitchhiking or using a carpool service if possible," said the couple, who also recommended bringing along a supply of vegetarian food. Once you reached the heart of the Parc Naturel du Morvan in central-eastern France, you had to walk for another 20 minutes, following the GPS coordinates provided by the duo, and not letting the thunderclaps and showers of this late-summer weather faze you. In the middle of the forest, on a 10-hectare plot of land lent by a friend, the couple tested out a simple, self-sufficient lifestyle.
With the exception of grains, oilseeds and salt, purchased in bulk before the start of the adventure, food requirements were met by foraging and the vegetable garden, along with spirulina and crickets – two sources of protein that you can grow and breed yourself. That evening, the menu included potatoes, an egg and nettles picked from the ground – with gloves on, to avoid stinging yourself, Rouche pointed out: "This is a superfood, rich in protein and iron." A trained psychomotor therapist and passionate cook, she had also made a blackberry and angelica lemonade, the last flower of the season. "There are an enormous number of edible leaves, and I'd say we ate around 50 different varieties here," she said. A botany enthusiast, she reeled off nipplewort, wild sorrel and bistort knotweed.
The couple even managed to make a coffee substitute with pan-roasted dandelion roots and acorns, "but it's reserved for special occasions. We don't light the fire every morning," said Rouche. For more elaborate meals, the duo used a solar oven, made from wood, aluminum foil and glass. Amaz explained: "The temperature quickly rises to 100 degrees, so we can cook grains, as well as pies and cakes. We treat ourselves! Simplicity isn't about deprivation or regression. It's a gateway to happiness through a simpler life."
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