manoir de soisay

photo Aline Le Grand

In Soisay, garden and farmland are managed according to the principles of agroecology, without watering and with natural fertilizers.

The main products of the garden are kiwis, pears, apples and herbs.

Hay, barley and clover are also organic products for animals. Soisay production plant is certified to European standards for organic by Ecocert.

The flowery meadows are natural and permanent. They harbor a large diversity of plant species that grow at different times of the year. They have a melliferous value, because their flowers attract pollen gathering insects that produce honey, and a good nutritional value for animals that eat their hay in winter.The flowery meadows can accomodate nearly 4 times more earthworms per hectare as plowed grassland. Earthworms stir and aerate the soil, they increase soil fertility and limit its loss by producing fine galleries where rainwater flows. They are good indicators of soil quality.

5 actions have been carried out to develop biodiversity and increase the resilience of flora in the face of increasing climatic hazards: creation of a pond, renaturation of a plot where human presence is excluded, filling in of ditches in order to better irrigate the bog, conservation of dead trees, construction of plessed hedges and breached hedges. 

Each year, a free eco-hike is organized  in the cultures, the meadows, near the peat bog and welcomes participants from various origins. Its objective: to enable everyone to become aware of the benefits of the growing biodiversity regularly observed in Soisay with the help of the Orne Fauna and Flora Association (AFFO)

The results of biodiversity inventories in 2023

The diagnosis of biodiversity in the crops and meadows of Soisay is available online