Living soil

The soil of Canabec Ar Leur is not tilled. What follows describes what we put into it and what we do not.

Where the method comes from

It does not belong to a single school. The House combines bio-intensive methods — density, living soil, surface work, returning organic matter to the soil — and regenerative methods — permanent cover, no disturbance, fertility built on site. It also draws on biodynamics for the choice and timing of the work, from working the soil to packaging.

Drawing on them is not claiming them: these are ways of deciding what to do, and when — not labels.

« J’ai l’impression que la culture et les méthodes de Pinnacle poussent bien l’expression aromatique du bouquet. »

“I get the feeling that Pinnacle’s growing and methods really push the aromatic expression of the bouquet.” (our translation)

Oro Oro, Testeur de CBD — tasting of September 8, 2026. Read the article

Why no certification

It is not a lack: it is a difference in standards. Every certification standard allows inputs and practices that this House refuses. The example is just below: inputs from livestock farming — poultry droppings, guano, animal meals — are permitted in organic farming. Here, none of them enters the plot.

The only outside check the House publishes concerns the finished product: one batch, one name, one COFRAC lab report — see The batches.

Not turning the soil

Every year, plowing destroys the structure that a soil takes months to rebuild: the earthworm burrows, the fungal networks, the layering of the horizons. The growing method is no-till. The soil is worked at the surface, covered, and fed from above, as it is under a meadow.

On sandy granitic grus, this choice has a direct, measurable consequence in July: the organic matter at the surface is what holds the water. Here, bare and turned soil dries out.

What does not enter the plot

It is the shortest list to write and the longest to keep to.

• No synthetic chemical inputs — no fertilizer, no herbicide, no fungicide, no insecticide.
• No poultry droppings.
• No guano.
• No input of animal origin, of any kind.

This last point deserves an explanation, because it is unusual and it is costly. Poultry droppings and guano are the most common nutritional shortcut in open-field hemp growing: they are concentrated, immediately available, and cheap. Giving them up means formulating differently, planning several months ahead, and accepting a slower build-up of fertility.

What does enter

Two families, and nothing else.

• Raw, ground natural organo-minerals, allowed in organic farming.
• Composts from a master composter, allowed in organic farming.

The formulations of the Pinnacle Garden range are blended on the farm. This range is also sold to other growers — so this is not a sales pitch in disguise, it is traceability information: what feeds the plot and what is sold under that name come out of the same workshop.

Cover crops

The soil is never bare when it can be covered. What is sown: three varieties of clover, vetch, phacelia, mustard, and a mix of honey plants.

Legumes for nitrogen, brassicas for structure and for cleaning the soil, honey plants for whatever flies. The cover feeds the soil from above, which is the only way to feed it when it is not turned.

Protecting without treating

Three levers, in this order: prevention, crop hygiene, beneficial biodiversity.

The preparations used are simple and natural, and they are applied preventively — that is, before a problem sets in, never as a rescue. The ten-foot spacing between the large plants is not an aesthetic choice: foliage that dries between two showers is foliage that does not develop botrytis. Under a rain that falls four days out of ten, airflow is a treatment.

The planted banks that border the plot shelter what hunts on our behalf — see Canabec Ar Leur.

Water

Hand watering. On sandy granitic grus, a plant does not get through July without water. It receives it by hand, plant by plant, which is only possible because there are two hundred of them and not two thousand.

The water comes from the Canabec Ar Leur borehole, on the plot itself.

The soil’s year

What is done, and when. No doses, no formulations, no protocols: those are part of the method the House passes on through consulting and training.

Swipe the table →

This soil fed four flowers currently on sale. See the flowers.