Crossover Cultivars
EcoFarm
About us
Beds formed as terraces at one of our gardens
Our Name,
Crossover Cultivars EcoFarm
Our name, Crossover Cultivars (or 'croisée des cultures' in French), reflects the facts that I select and breed plants
AND that many varieties we grow and love for their culinary qualities came from abroad - and successfully adapted to their new homeland.
As a diversified seed and vegetable farm, we grow and trial varieties of annual crops, mostly vegetables, on a little less than 3 acres.
Breeding and selection plays a major role in our seed to seed system.
We do also maintain (and adapt) OP (open pollinated) varieties and select our breeding lines in progress. We also offer recent OP and new Open Source varieties.
We added more trees too (biomass/coppice; plus maples and fruit trees) but many of them have not yielded yet as most were very young when planted - and the rest even younger was from sown seeds.
I was born in the hilly mid-north of Lanaudière region in Quebec where forests meant a lot to the local economy.
I must remember my first gardening place was almost surrounded by trees that cast a comfortable shade in the height of summer.
By definition, this could have been termed agro-forestry.
Trees and hedges yield organic matter, capture and extract nutrients from deeper and provide an important mycorrhizae network to support plant growth and health.
Hadashah Hétu, founder of the farm project
A professional approach, plant and seed-related knowledge + experience.
Here my acquired practical skills meet my recent agronomy knowledge acquired at Université Laval. Needless to say, I love to feed my appetite for exciting new research papers about the soils, plant interactions and of course plant breeding !
Saplings to be planted…
Sampling tomato diversity
Until adulthood, my search was about finding garden rarities, mostly ornamentals. Then in 2003, I came to realize I had missed something important from a culinary point of view. I learned for the first time about Seeds of Diversity Canada. To me, it was almost a shock finding out that ripe tomatoes could actually be not red. And what about beans and their incredible seed patterns and colors, shapes, tastes and textures,…
The same could just apply to poultry, swine and other animals: there are still rare breeds out there, with really different characteristics than what we are used to.
The way I perceived FOOD was completely changed.
Beans! From my crosses, selection underway. (How-to: check out my bean pollination & breeding page)
My first plant breeding experiments began in 2006, mostly perennials and edible flowers, like daylilies, but also summer squashes.
Pollination itself is a simple process, mimicking bees by placing one plant’s pollen onto another chosen plant’s stigma .
Daylily pollination, Summer, 2007.
In 2013 after some years in studying glassworking, I decided to come back to dedicate the following four years to obtaining a degree in agronomy.
I wished to learn more about how agriculture is doing today and what to try next to improve systems resilience in the face of biodiversity loss, increasing pollution, climate uncertainties and (accessible) resource depletion.
I identified some major points I wanted to address:
- My first point was about conserving genetic diversity (by growing out varieties and offering seeds for sale here) while breeding locally adaptable crops (find our mixes and, soon, selected varieties, tagged On-Farm Breeding)
- My second point was : to go back to agro-forestry, quick !
A tree is an essential component in creating habitats in our climate. It even remains as essential even after its life has come to an end, just like in this picture.
- I think I have a third point, too: to share freely: any relevant topic related to independent farming and seeds, homesteading tips I learned and tried, gardening ideas and DIY to improve our knowledge and skills on the land, to be read on this website and my blog Parcelles d’Essai - adding new pages as I go, while developing the farm site.
You may visit Hadashah's blog at Parcelles d'Essai to find posts about subjects as diverse as soils, seed biodiversity, plant varieties, her take on (small) farm entrepreneurship and other opinions on related topics -and of course seasonally inspired recipes (Often in French, although most gardening and cooking topics are also available in English!)
Canning the Garden’s Bounty!
While mostly a seed grower - I’m also involved in finding tips and infos, old and new, training ourselves to homesteading and self-sufficiency practices. In fact, I want to sell varieties I love to grow, eat, or preserve for winter. Local production and preparation: Seeds, Biodiversity and Good Food summarizes well our goals. We really love culinary experiences and try to contribute diversification for our tastebuds as well!
A partnership: Four hands are handier than two,
even more so with Sylvain. He was born in a village bordering Quebec’s Beauce region, a place that is renown for the creativity and workmanship of its inhabitants, and so does he deserve that reputation. His dedication, vision and sound remarks complete well our duo.
He enjoys working with well crafted farm tools and machinery, that are both simple and built to last long. Sometimes we collaborate to create or modify our tools designed to make farm life a little easier. The planning of our passive solar greenhouse project is another example that makes both of us think that ecology, business and life can (and must!) meet somehow.
At the moment I opened the seed store (2018), I was happy to start selling seeds from the Open Source Seed Initiative.
Why? Read more here
Agro-forestry and ecological agriculture principles guide our decisions. Trees are central to our farming: they provide a home to beneficial insects, symbiotic fungi, birds and many earth-dwelling small animals. They protect and enrich our soils with their organic matter, help regulate water cycles, provide shade, and more.
We think trees and high species diversity per acre are key elements that may help us along, while living through the next decades.
How we define ourselves
We’re somewhere halfway between a seed company, a private collection (or a seed bank) aimed at preservation of plant diversity, and a (tiny) plant breeding facility using only natural processes. We grow both local and adaptable varieties from abroad. Seeds and other items I sell is the sole funding I get right now and it's up to you, visitors and customers, to define our capacity to continue our efforts of offering an access to the varieties, if they sound important and meaningful to maintain. Thank you!
This project stems from our vision of preserving and enhancing our local/regional/national agricultural resilience to present and future growing conditions, by experimenting and growing this example at our small local farm.
Fresh, Simple, Local. Above all, Tasty!
- Let's grow it! Find out our available seeds here *
*online store opens 11 months/year except during update (Jan.)
Need more info: About our seeds
To find us
We wish to open for specific events in the coming future (some facilities to be built beforehand).
Our main farm site is nestled in a mixed forest, halfway between two localities in the Bellechasse county, along QC-279 road but has no public access yet.
Bellechasse region has some great panorama, especially in fall when maple trees turn golden yellow, orange and intensely red! Close by is the Parc du Massif du Sud. For many more local attractions and details please visit Tourisme Bellechasse.
To receive news about the official early winter reopening day of the seed store and various offers, links to my most recent blog posts, future activities held at the farm - in fact any other news from us! - simply enter email and click subscribe to our newsletter below.
Contact
email: ecomaraicherelacroisee@gmail.com
Mail address: *
Hadashah Hetu
70 rue Anselme-Jolin
Saint-Nazaire-de-Dorchester QC
G0R 3T0
Canada
*Please note that our catalog is only available online, due to limited seed stocks* To read more about that, please visit our FAQs
