The salt gardens as time goes by.

Contrary to what one can think, the work of the salt grower (the "paludier" in French) is not only done in summer but all year long.

Schedule of the activities

Rayage vasière		Habillage de la saline		Levelling of the "oeillets"	The harvest of the coarse salt and the "Fleur de sel"					Special works
Jan	Fev	Mars	Avril	Mai	Juin	Juil	Août	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
	Curage de la bondre		Cleaning of the "adernes" Building of the bridges		Emptying of the "oeillets"	Bird watching		Loading and stocking of the salt		Two months off

Cleaning of the "vasière" and of the "cobier": the "poissonnage"

Every two years, there is a complete cleaning and emptying of the "vasière" and of the "cobier". Some salt growers still do this work by hand, but today a lot of them have chosen to use a mechanical shovel to do this exhausting work.

The salvage of the fish trapped in the "vasière" is made during the emptying of the "vasière". During this work the "vasière" is dried up, the water stays in the "raies" which are compartmented with little cross flood gates made of sludge. When the "raie" is dried, one can gather sea breams, eels, mullets.

The scraping clean of the "bondre", of the "guivres" and of the canals (for more information)

The scraping clean of the "bondre" - affluent of the "étiers"- is a team work made during the "mortes eaux" : the sludge banked up during the last season is removed. Then the "guivre" or the "guiffre" is cleaned. The saline is drained of the winter rain fresh water. Then the canals are scraped clean.

Cleaning of the salt garden - the "fares". (for more information)

It consists in draining the basins of the winter rain fresh water and with a kind of rake (the "boutoué") to peel off the sludge (mineral and organic deposit) which has been accumulated during the last season and during winter and to push it aside. The salt grower levels the mud near the bridges and take the excess near the bank. With a tool called the "lousse à  ponter", he puts this sludge bar on the bridge. With a kind of shovel called the "boyette" or "boïette" he throws the excess of sludge on the bank.

Cleaning of the "adernes"

The "adernes" are large water ponds. During the harvest period, they are the water stock of the day. It is the same work as for the "fares" : The salt grower pushes the sludge, puts the bar near the bridge and brings the excess near the big bridge (the"galpont") or near the bank if it is close. Then he puts the sludge bar on the bridge where it dries and turns into clay.

Chivelling of the cross banks of the "oeillets"

First of all the basins must be drained of water. The salt grower cuts and chisels the bridges with a shovel (the "boyette" or "boïette"). Then he delicately takes the sludge from all around the basins and sticks it on the bridge : one day on one side and the other day on the other side.

Peeling off the "oeillets" and levelling of the sludge.

With his "boutoué", the salt grower peels the sludge from the tour of the basins and of the "oeillets". He also levels the sludge of the "oeillets" to make them smoothed. This salted sludge must be taken away to the "galponts" ( big bridges that surround the "oeillets").

He puts the sludge very carefully on the "galponts" avoiding to put too much of it because as it is very salted it does not dry easily. The excess of the sludge is put into a "dump" basin.

Draining of the "oeillets"

One evening, the salt grower notices that there is a little "fleur de sel" in the "oeillets" and that the salt begins to crystallize. He decides then to drain the "oeillets" the day after. It is a very stressing and intense moment. The water of the "oeillets" must be pumped out into the "adernes" (the first up basins); then with his "boutoué" he pushes the last sludge -which has been peeled off thanks to the salinity- to one angle of the "oeillet"" near the "galpont", then he puts the sludge over the "galpont" into the "dump" basin which is next to the "oeillets".

Then the sludge is put on the opposite side of the "mud" basin to the "dumping" bridge where it will be stuck when a little dried. The clay of the "oeillets" will dry and harden till the sunset. Then in the evening the salt grower takes the water of the "adernes" to fill the "oeillets" : at last the salt can come.

Then the eagerly-awaited moment ! Every day the salt grower works according to the rhythm of the "oeillets". From the morning, he begins to harvest the coarse salt

Récolte du sel et de la fleur de sel

At the same time, he pours some water from the "adernes" into the "oeillets" by a little opening ( the "délivre"). With a rake (the "las") he unsticks the salt from the banks of the "oeillets", he pushes the water forward to a little platform near the "oeillets" (the "ladure") to unstick the grains from the clay, then he puts the coarse salt up on the "ladure" to make a beautiful heap of salt called the "ladurée".

Each "ladurée" represents 50kg to 80kg of salt. When he has finished this work, the salt grower switches off the water that comes from the "adernes" into the "oeillets". Now due to the sun and the wind , the "oeillets" are going to work all day long.

Each salt grower rhythms his work as he likes. He gathers the harvested salt with a shovel and puts it on a platform next to the salt garden (the "trémet" or "tormet") to make a heap of salt called a "mulon". Before the invention and the use of the wheel, the salt was carried on the head in a "gède" or on the shoulders.

All the season harvest is stocked on the "tormet". This work was done by women who were paid with all the "fleur de sel "that they had harvested.

The harvest of the "fleur de sel"

When the days are nice with a good eastern wind, in the evening the ""fleur de sel" is forming. The "fleur de sel" is the nectar of the salt. It is the salt you eat with food. At around 4pm or 5pm, some kind of ice patches are formed: it is the "fleur de sel". The salt grower carefully harvests the "fleur de sel" with a special rake called the "lousse à  fleur de sel". He takes care to pass under the "fleur de sel" not to make it sink. The "fleur de sel" is also called the "white salt" or the "fine salt".

End of the harvest : the haulage.

During the whole season, the salt grower works according to the weather. From the moment it rains, the salt melts and everything stops. One has to wait for the fresh water to evaporate to make salt again. 1cm of water and one has to wait for one week to start work again. Around September or October, a heavy rain puts an end to the season.

The days are not so long and the evaporation is less intense. It is the time of the haulage (the"roulage"). The salt stocked on the "tormet" or the "trémet" is loaded on tractors to be shipped to the salt warehouses called the "salorges". Here the salt goes on drying or draining. Then it is picked over or sieved before being packaged.

The salt of Guérande is an entirely natural product. There is no chemical additives. That is why despite a picking over or a sieving, you can find tiny clay balls, grass blades, etc. That is also the guarantee of the origin of our product.