The nurse who took the key to the fields

In fact, the nurse who has become a market gardening continues to provide care, but rather than administering, among other things, prescription drugs, she grows vegetables overflowing with vitality. Great good.

She is 35 years old and two children, Zachael, 7 years old, and Eliza, 4 years old. I immediately present them since their arrival in his life is not unrelated to this surprising change of course.

Bachelière in 2012 of Laval University, Valérie began her career at intensive care at the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec before crossing, two years later, the doors of the Center Hospitalier Affilié Universitaire Regional (Chaur) in Trois-Rivières.

Valérie worked in cardiology, urology, alarm clock, radio-oncology, emergency … “In the same week, it’s rare that I was twice in the same place. I didn’t really have a team, ”says the young woman who had to adapt to a new environment each time, to another step to follow.

“A chance that I was asking a lot of questions, but it was difficult to do satisfactory work.”

Valérie began a reflection on her future between two pregnancies. She tried to reconcile her atypical hours with her family routine, but after the birth of her second child, it was too much …

In 2019, the young woman decided to leave a profession whose working conditions, many times described by her colleagues, no longer responded to her aspirations.

Carried by values ​​of humanity, the nurse aimed at the excellence of the care provided. However, doing your best was not enough for the one who concedes: “I did not have the detachment for that.”

Valérie was rather animated by an ideal …

“For me, health goes a lot through prevention and healthy lifestyles. There, I found myself giving pills and taking blood pressure. We more treated the diseases that we encouraged health. ”

Be or not to be

Valérie presents herself as a “daughter of the city” who grew up in the heart of Trois-Rivières. We will say it, it was not in his plans to turn his back on the nursing profession, even less to ask existential questions at the turn of the thirties, with two toddlers in addition …

“What do I like to do?” What gives meaning? ”Asked Valérie who was not very long in short.

“I like to play in the earth.”

When she was younger, she had learned the basics of gardening with her father Marc who had been initiated by hers. In the rural landscape of Pointe-du-Lac, Ernest was well known for his large vegetable garden and her vegetables sold in the garage adjacent to his home.

His granddaughter visited Nicolet’s agricultural school where his vocation appeared to him as a revelation. She was going to follow a horticultural production training to better start a business production company. And not anywhere …

Valérie Gauthier is the seventh generation to cultivate the family land of the rank of the bitch. She bought it in 2021 from her father, a construction contractor who acquired him from Ernest in 2013. Before them, there was Gérard, Edmond and James who began to plow these fields somewhere in the 1800s.

Retired, Marc Gauthier gives a precious helping hand to his daughter. The man lives in the house on the land he rented to farmers before Valérie talks to him about her market gardening project.

“We had quite a bit everything you need to start cultivating: tractors, plows, casters …”, lists the one who did not try to discourage his daughter whose face is now associated with the Pointe gardens.

“At one point, you have to follow your inner ambitions. There are many who will continue a job for the salary, but they find themselves in burnout. ”— Marc Gauthier

Dad is right. It must also be said that the ex-infirmière did not embark on this blind adventure.

“It started really small,” said Valérie who, the first summer, sold fifteen baskets of vegetables to as many families. The second year, their number increased to 40, then to 65 …

The current trend is to prepaid cards, points out the agricultural entrepreneur by adding that it allows people to present themselves to the kiosk where a self-service system allows them to choose the fresh vegetables they wish to find on their plate, including the “unloved” that the market gardener makes discover by offering recipes to come back.

Very present on social networks, the neo-farmer focuses on education, simplicity and conviviality to publicize its harvests who also find takers from restaurateurs prioritizing local purchase.

The nurse who has become a market gardening is not immune to stress. “The two trades are demanding, but in different ways,” said Valérie Gauthier.

This country decor is exposed to bad weather, which is thought of the torrential rains and the strong winds, drought, frost or heat wave.

Last summer, after the storm passage DebbyValérie found herself with three feet of water in her garden … “Are we going to lose everything?” What do we do? ”She wondered before making champs to empty the fields and save-as much as possible-her harvests. This is part of the risks of the profession.

“Over the years, we get used to it,” says Valérie smiling.

No, she is not bored to wear the nurse uniform. For nothing in the world, this lover of nature would go back.

“I like the diversity of my work. There are always projects and challenges. It’s very jack-of-all-trades! ”Depicted the one who, in the summer, will be entitled to a week’s vacation with her children, even if the season is in full swing.

It was her faithful employee who offered to give her a well -deserved break while she will take care of the vegetables in her place. She herself a mother of three, Johanie knows that he can be energizing to have a good time with the family.

Valérie has pleasurely accepted this offer which does not refuse. The two women are made to get along …

“We have the same path!” Johanie was a pharmacy technician before returning to Cégep to study in agriculture. ”

It too, one day, had enough of the pills.