Every garden, every farm can become a place of healing in the world.
Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer, Miraculous Abundance
Are you interested in learning more about the book, Miraculous Abundance by Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer? Well, I’ve just finished reading it and am excited to discuss it with you!
As both a farmer and someone with a degree in sustainable agriculture and food systems, I overall enjoyed reading this book. Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer have a wonderful way of sparking the reader’s curiosity and wonder. While reading this book, my excitement for permaculture was reignited and I found myself daydreaming of the farm I hope to have one day.
This book is great for both beginners who are interested in permaculture and more experienced gardeners. For beginners, this book is a great way to learn the basic principles of permaculture while getting you excited about all of the future possibilities. For the more experienced folks, this book is a great way to reinstill that excitement for permaculture as well as get you thinking about the ways you can expand your garden or farm. And although I found a lot of enjoyment in this book, there were some things I think could have been improved upon.
Let’s get into it!
Miraculous Abundance: Book Overview
In the first chapters, Perrine and Charles write about how they ended up becoming permaculture farmers. Perrine came from a background of law and Charles came from a background of sailing. The beginning chapters really emphasize Charles’ experience living with Indigenous peoples in a few areas of the world, particularly the Wayana people in the Amazon Rainforest. Charles claims that in his many months living with these people–observing the abundance in their ways of life and witnessing their creativity and ingenuity–his love for permaculture really started there. In particular, he tells the story of a young boy named Pupoli taking him fishing.
The book then goes into detail about they got their start on the land that would become Le Ferme du Bec Hellouin. In their beginning, they struggled through learning how to farmland that was deemed unfarmable as well as through learning as they went, as all new farmers do. They also discuss some modern leaders in organic agriculture, Elliot Colemen in particular, and their influence on the farm.
As the book progresses, Perrine and Charles bring up many studies discussing the sustainability of both “big ag” and modern organic agriculture movements. While writing about these figures, they emphasize the importance and sustainability of permaculture farming, micro agriculture, and what they call agrarian solidarity systems (farms that produce every resource a community would need).
By the end of the book, Perrine and Charles are describing their vision of a world completely fed by local microfarms. In these chapters, they explain how these farms could be the solution to climate change, hunger, poverty, and more.
Le Ferme du Bec Hellouin and Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer
Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer’s farm sits in the beautiful Normandy valley in France. Surrounded by conventional farms, the Ferme du Bec Hellouin is an island of permaculture paradise. As the book can attest, the farm is one of the first of its kind in France and in the World. Coming from a background of law and sailing, Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer discovered the dream of permaculture farming in middle age and, after a few years of tumultuous trial and error, transformed this quickly successful farm into a permaculture school and study with the help of scientist friends from local and global universities.
Miraculous Abundance was intended to be a prelude to a future book documenting the farm in a more scientific light. This future book will highlight the data behind the farm’s success as well as a guide for how farms can mimic their process.
I am very much excited to read the Ferme du Bec Hellouin study when it’s finally published!
Miraculous Abundance: Book Pros
There is a lot of praise that can be sung about this book. To start, Perrine and Charles do a great job of showing both the wonderful and the messy parts of the growth of their farm. From their rocky start on land that they were told couldn’t be farmed to their children getting to grow up in a paradise surrounded by abundance and love.
Second, they have clearly done their research into many forms of organic agriculture, as well as major activists developing these practices. Therefore, Perrine and Charles give us great information on these activists and how these organic farming practices compare with one another.
Lastly, they have a spectacular vision of the future of agriculture based on facts. Their idea of transforming the global food system from one of globalization to one of localization not only is food for the imagination but is sound in their research for what is realistic and sustainable. It’s not unknown that the current global food system is unsustainable (and one of the primary causes of climate change!). It’s also well known that localizing agriculture is one of the best steps we can take toward sustainability. This would mean creating less greenhouse gas via transportation, more sustainable agricultural practices, and more. In Miraculous Abundance, Perrine and Charles do a great job of envisioning how this localization takes place.
Miraculous Abundance: Book Cons
Although there was a lot of amazing content in this book, I have a few issues with it. Mainly, I am concerned about the lack of centering on indigenous voices in the movement toward living on the land sustainably. Because of Charles’ time spent with the Wayana people, I thought that he would do a better job of emphasizing the importance of putting Native peoples, globally, at the forefront of the movement toward sustainability. While discussing their visions for the future of farming, they don’t discuss the importance of Indigenous food sovereignty or Indigenous land rights, which are critical components of the conversation.
Second, there are some misleading facts in the book. For instance, they cite this UN study and claim that “world food production should increase from current levels by 70 to 100 percent by 2050 if it intends to meet the food needs of a growing population” (pg 11). Although this fact isn’t necessarily wrong, the fact isn’t complete because it doesn’t consider food waste. According to the UN, nearly a third of the food produced for consumption globally is wasted. If we were able to eliminate food waste entirely, we would have enough food to feed everyone in the world. The study Perrine and Charles quote doesn’t consider how much food will need to be produced globally in 2050 if the food waste issue is addressed. This is just one example of the misleading facts in the book.
Conclusion
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 stars
The Miraculous Abundance book is a great read for new and experienced farmers and gardeners alike. For inexperienced folks, this book will give you a glimpse into the world of permaculture farming and get you excited about farming yourself. For the more experienced person, Miraculous Abundance will reignite your excitement and imagination.
This book is not for those looking to learn about permaculture in detail. This book is intended to be inspirational, not a permaculture guide! Also, I wouldn’t put much authority on some of the figures they quote about hunger and global food systems and would do my own research into the Indigenous voices who are leading the way toward environmental sustainability (check out my suggestions here!). But overall, the book is lovely and very inspirational. I recommend giving it a read!
Have you read Miraculous Abundance? Do you agree or disagree with my opinions? Comment your thoughts below, I would love to hear them!
Thanks for coming by and happy reading!
Citations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Economic and Social Survey 2011, Overview, UN, 2011, p.7 https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/world-economic-and-social-survey-4/
Think. Eat. Save., Worldwide Food Waste, UN. https://www.unep.org/thinkeatsave/get-informed/worldwide-food-waste
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