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A Norman... in Creuse soil!
She is sweet, has doe eyes and produces up to 15 liters of milk a day.
She is Oasis, a cow adopted by “
Les Amis de la Chassagne”
, named after the hamlet where she lives, in the heart of Creuse.
"Every summer, we organize a meal between neighbours"
, explains Sylvie Maquet, treasurer of the association.
Summer visitors who go to their second home are also in the game.
“
During an evening,
in
July 2021, a Parisian woman brought us a bottle of fresh milk.
We laughed right away.
We said to ourselves that it was silly to bring it back from so far, especially since we all have a lot of ground”.
Residents realize they have no fresh milk nearby.
The height for a region which has four times more cattle than inhabitants!
“
And if we adopted a cow
?” Then launches one of them.
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The idea is a hit with the audience.
“
If you buy one, I do it with you
,” replies a neighbor.
Then two, then three... "
Immediately, we created a WhatsApp group to discuss and keep us up to date
," says Sylvie.
The small community chooses to welcome a Jerseywoman, renowned for her rich and creamy milk.
This breed finds its origins on the island of Jersey, a Channel Island in the English Channel.
Share your know-how
To make the project a reality, they founded the association and registered it with the Chamber of Agriculture.
Twenty-four households, or about half of the local population, are members of the project.
"When we went to choose her, she immediately came to see us and licked our fingers
," says Sylvie.
The choice is quickly made.
Twelve families participate, for one thousand euros, in the purchase of the new resident, housed in the meadow of a former farmer.
In time to bring in an old milking machine from a neighboring village, they set up a rotation schedule.
Today, seven members take turns morning and evening - outside the summer season - to milk Oasis.
“Many links have been created between us
, continues Sylvie.
We learn to get to know each other better, to divide up the tasks and above all to share our knowledge
.
On their Facebook group, the inhabitants exchange recipes for concocting cheese, yogurts and other dairy products.
"
With good creamy fresh milk, our family makes a cheese that looks like Tomme de Savoie"
, explains Philippe Peu, member of the association, which hosts Oasis in its meadows.
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If the purchase of cattle was their first joint project, since then a plethora of other convivial initiatives have emerged: making decorations for Christmas, garage sale... Another ambition, in the spring: a biodiversity workshop with the installation of small nesting boxes, beehives and insect hotels in the hamlet.
A gesture for the environment and a new opportunity to share a moment of conviviality between neighbours.
“We are very sensitive to respect for nature.
We try to depend a little less on industrial products
,” says Sylvie.
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Everyone shares their know-how: the beekeeper is consulted for the hives, the florist for the maintenance of shared gardens, etc.
During their big flea market in August 2022, it is planned to relight an old bread oven at a Parisian in the hamlet.
It will also be an opportunity to harvest potatoes brought from the Netherlands by a Dutch neighbour.
And if all goes well, another cow will soon join the village... Because Oasis is expecting a little calf for the month of April.