Jacko Breault picking baby corn from his orchard.
Jack Breault, originally from Quebec (Canada), and **Anna Colomer, **daughter of Arbúcies, in the Girona region of La Selva, eight years ago they started a path and a joint life project. As if they were two branches of the same tree, they share and coincide in the way of seeing, living and understanding the world.
Directly connected to nature since he was a child, Jacko has always lived in contact with agriculture, vineyards, farms and forests. With a technical background in agriculture, he has created a corner full of magic in the bowels of the forests of Arbúcies, in Gerona, through a self-taught process based on research and trial-error. Anna shares and accompanies him in this way of life and, under the name deBosc (in Castilian “of forest”), also creates in a totally handmade way a series of products made with all the herbs she grows herself in her garden: ice cream, vegan cheeses, spring nougat, chocolates and natural cosmetics.
Jacko Breault and Anna Colomer, founders of the deBosc project.
“Our processes are reversed. Jacko produces and collects a raw product, raw, which the chefs then transform in their kitchens. On the contrary, I turn what is born in our garden into something else”, Anna tells. Complementary works that both carry out in a unique and personal way with the goal of bringing new herbs and vegetables to the people.
TUned FREQUENCY
After observing them move and live, it is clear that this couple does not feel work as a burden or an obligation, nor are they slaves to it, but rather they vibrate at the same frequency as the environment and merge with it. “We put the energy and distribute it in our own way. For us it is essential to listen to each other and every day we choose to work in nature to feel part of the wheel of life. This gives meaning to ours and forces you to be very present with what you do and connected to what surrounds you. No pressure, flowing and being organic”, something self-evident for them and almost-alien for others.
Jacko hidden in the deBosc orchard in Arbúcies, in a long valley between the Las Guillerías and Montseny mountains.
THE HAPPIEST GARDEN
What most of us understand by orchard, Jacko calls it productive ecosystem. What he has achieved is to integrate himself into nature in order to produce something without leaving a trace. "Is a gentle agriculture that cares for the environment and blends in with him. Quite the opposite of conventional agriculture that tries to have control throughout the entire process,” says Jacko.
They are a part of everything that happens in the forest. They do not seek to take control but to be part of the landscape to live from what is produced in it. With that collector mentality –And not as a producer–, Jacko gets up every morning at 5 am, happy to go take care of and “comb” his land. “ Happy land, happy products, happy people: this is my goal." He explains to us surprised that something as logical as this seems like a utopia today.
deBosc supplies many of the best restaurants in and around Barcelona.
For Jacko it is essential that the cycle ends in an honest and coherent way. Namely, taking the collected products once a week to some chefs of the best restaurants of Barcelona and surroundings with whom he has been working for years. Restless chefs, sensitive to nature and who are committed to this way of producing and living.
“These chefs do not make orders, I bring them what I have collected that week and they understand that this is a seasonal product and choose what they want to include in their letters. The only way to understand this is to work with people who respect the cycles, who do not demand but are willing to improvise. and adapt to the natural cycle”.
His motivation and his pleasure is not to produce a lot but to see the satisfaction of the cooks and the clients. “I know which client at which table will end up eating my products and that creates a personal relationship. Knowing what these chefs need, I can give it to them.”
Mild agriculture Mild agriculture does not seek to be in control but rather to form part of the landscape and live from what is produced in it.
A SLOW LIFE
Anna's roots are in Arbúcies, where her entire family has always lived off the land and the forest. A land that Jacko considers "of welcome, abundance and opportunities. It was important that our base camp be a clean, private and intimate space. It is because of that my ecosystem is located inside the forest.”
A hidden space that allows them grow different vegetables, many of them rare and some unknown. Products that care and with whom they interact by thanking them as a daily ritual. “We want to propose new and surprise with the simple. The intention is that people enjoy its aesthetic beauty and the pleasure of an authentic flavor.”
The founders of deBosc have opted for a slow life that follows the cycles of nature.
Basics that respect the season, each season, and less common ingredients such as sisho leaves, hemerocalis flowers, physalis, patisson, basils and mustards from all over the world, Andean herbs, Nordic roots or salsify buds. The paradise of curious palates and lovers of new flavors.
After meeting Jacko and Anna, their message goes deep: it is still possible to be connected to the essential. They, nature alchemists with a passion for discovering, researching and experimenting, they have chosen to come out of a centrifuge system and, as Josep Pla would say, live a slow life