If you are a fan of plants, herbs and local products, this article will certainly fill your day with wonderful fragrances!
Aline Aurias was born and bred in Paris-Saclay! She spent her childhood in Bures-sur-Yvette, and then studied at the school of sciences in Orsay.
After graduating with a master's degree in biology, she went to study for a year in Lille, to specialise in scientific journalism and started her career in this field!
At this time, Aline was also changing her lifestyle. She wanted to abide by consumption habits (and so also production!) that were more respectful of the environment.
She came up with the idea for 'L’Enracinée'. She wanted a change of scenery and so decided to go to Australia and do volunteer work in several permaculture farms, to discover the farming profession.
When she got back, she went on a few training courses in farming projects with Abiosol, an association working to promote organic and fair-trade farming practices. At the same time, she did work experience and helped out friends who owned a farm. She got to know the profession, and then studied farming practices specialised in dry plants. Her project started to take shape, little by little.
With her qualification firmly under her belt, she decided to go to Japan with her partner as he was sent there for work, and she put her own plans on stand-by for a year.
When she came back to France, she decided to go for it! The first step was to find a plot of land near Bures-sur-Yvette. It woldn't be easy. But she was lucky! Just two weeks after coming back from Japan, thanks to Abiosol, she went to visit a plot of land in Gometz-le-Châtel! She immediately fell in love with it. It was a big plot of land with a pond and it hadn't been used for dozens of years. Aline immediately signed on the dotted line!
The adventure began right there! In June 2018, during a period of drought, she began working on transforming this land, with the help of the owner. Just picture land that had been left abandoned for 30 years, overgrown with brambles, and a meadow to prepare for her crops... There was so much work to do! But the time it took her to prepare the land meant she was certified organic right from the start!
She planted her first crops in spring 2019, and the first products were ready to sell in winter 2019.
This producer's land can be found at the end of a forest track, in a magical setting. When we get closer to the plants, we can smell the wonderful scents and the colours are calming.
We take in the scents of each plant, one by one: savory, verbena… hmmm they smell incredible!
Do you know the difference between spearmint and peppermint? Aline explains to us that spearmint is used for mojitos and peppermint is used to make essential oils. But both of them make excellent herbal tea!
The plants are harvested between April and September and so this is when Aline is very busy working out in the field and on the drying process, the equipment for which she made herself. The rest of the year, she sorts the plants, makes her products, packs them and then sells them.
She went to live in Bures-sur-Yvette, and set up a workshop there in her garage. She thought of every last detail when setting up the workshop, making sure it was adapted to be able to work with her plants.
In the centre of the room was her hand-made drying equipment, surrounded by worktops and barrels where the dried plants and herbs for making herbal tea were stored, away from any light or humidity.
It is here in this workshop that she prepares the sachets of her mixed plants and herbs. Every gram counts and the products are all carefully weighed out. To guarantee the best possible quality, the products are only put into sachets when she receives the orders.
Aline produces herbal tea using a wide variety of plants, herbs such as wild garlic and thyme to add flavour to your dishes, and also flavoured salt. She also offers the more 'classic' products such as camomile and verbena.
L'Enracinée
4 rue Saint-Jean de Beauregard
91940 Gometz-le-Châtel
Tel. 07 81 87 81 43
Facebook : www.facebook.com/tisanesenracinee
Instagram : www.instagram.com/lenracinee91
L'enracinée
