Planting a Future - a documentary about urban agriculture in NDG, Montreal

Two Concordia film students approached Action Communiterre this spring, interested in urban agriculture in the borough of Notre-Dame-de-Grace (NDG), Montreal.  For their course, they visited different organizations and gardens around the neighborhood to get a sense of the work being done and its impact in the community.  There's even a short segment featuring the St. Monica School Garden!

Marche Locale - Concordia University's new local food market!

Congrats to my friend and colleague Amy Barrington on her successful organization of the Marche Locale at Concordia University.  The market provides a space in the heart of downtown where local producers (and extremely local producers from around the city!) can sell their organic produce to students and passersby.  The market can be found every Tuesday from 4:00-7:00pm at the Hall Building Terrasse on MacKay, near de Maisonneuve in Montreal.

Amy is a student at Concordia University and a Member of the Board at Action Communiterre.

Watch a CTV news clip on the market!!
For details and updates on the garden visit their website: http://marchelocalequartierconcordia.weebly.com/

Public Consultation: Urban Agriculture in Montreal - events schedule announced!

Great news!

The event schedule for Montreal's public consultation on urban agriculture has been released, along with a great new website!  This follows a campaign of local NGOs and citizens to gather signatures in support of the consultation.  Thanks to the City of Montreal's "Right to Initiative" the city is mandated  to hold a public consultation on any issue when a certain minimum of citizens (15,000 I believe) support the initiative.

On November 15, 2011 citizens delivered a petition with nearly 29 000 signatures to the city and the public consultation was confirmed in December.  After months of planning, the dates for the public consultation have been announced and will be held in May and June.

Citizens are also encouraged to submit their own urban agriculture activities to the website with a photo and description at: http://montrealacultiver.com/?page_id=54.  

I have translated the event listing below from French into English, as the English listing does not seem to be available elsewhere:

Exposition: Saturday May 12, 2012 - 11:00am - 4:00pm

CCSE Maisonneuve Chapter- 4375 Ontario st. East

This is the first information event where the public will have the opportunity to get to know the local actors involved in urban agriculture movement in Montreal.

Colloquium: Thursday May 17, 2012 - 9:00am - 5:00pm

Palais des congrès de Montreal Room 519
1001, place Jean-Paul-Riopelle(downtown near Place d'Armes Metro)

This is the first information event where the public will have the opportunity to get to know the local actors involved in urban agriculture movement in Montreal. Registration is required, space is limited: ocpm.qc.ca/agricultureurbaine/colloque.

 Public consultation sessions: in various neighbourhoods

1. Ahuntsic-Cartierville: 7pm - 10pm - Saint-André Apôtre Church - 10505 rue de l'Esplanade
2. Montreal-Central (i.e. Downtown, Plateau, Mile End, Villeray): 7pm - 10pm - Fraternité des policiers et policières de Montréal - 460, rue Gilford 
3. Montreal North: 7pm - 10pm - Centre récréatif Rivière-des-Prairies - 7650, boulevard Maurice-Duplessis
4. Cote-de-Neige/Notre-Dame-de-Grace:7pm - 10pm - Centre Communautaire St-Raymond - 5600, rue Upper Lachine 

Deadline for offering memories/testimonies on urban agriculture through the website:  June 14 at 4pm.

Final hearings for individuals and organization that wish to express themseleves on this issue: June 18, 7pm - 10pm: OCPM - 1550 rue Metcalfe, 14th Floor

For more information (in French) see: http://montrealacultiver.com/.http://montrealacultiver.com/.

Congratulations to Lauren!

Congratulations to Lauren who was recently selected as one of two inaugural PFF Community Leadership Fellows by McGill University.

The PFF Community Leadership Fellowships offer extraordinary opportunities to McGill students with innovative ideas, helping them to bring sustainable and positive social change to the communities in which they work.

After a very competitive selection process, Lauren received the good news that she was selected to have her project funded.  Beginning this week, Lauren is working with Action Communiterre and the English-Montreal School Board for 8-months to build a brand new school and community vegetable garden at St. Monica Elementary School in the Notre-Dame de Grace (NDG) bourough of Montreal.   She will actively engage the young daycare children and local youth in planting and maintaining the garden to grow all kinds of nutritious food for the community.  She will be complementing the work in the garden with workshops for the kids on health, nutrition and the environment, as well as hosting community events centred around extremely local food!

For more information on the PFF Fellowship see: http://www.mcgill.ca/internships/pffprogram/2012-fellows. 

"Environment A 'Vertical Greenhouse' Could Make a Swedish City Self-Sufficient"

This is pretty cool! I wonder if this is possible in all cities?

http://www.good.is/post/a-vertical-greenhouse-could-make-a-swedish-city-self-sufficient

So, what are you growing?

If you really want to know... here's what we're growing in the garden:

Arugula
Basil - Italian

From the left: Purple basil, Italian basil, lemon basil

Basil - Lemon
Basil - Purple
Basil - Thai
Beans, bush - French filet
Beans, pole - Blue lake
Beans, pole - Yard long, climbing
Beets -Touchstone gold

Calendula
Carrot - Purple Dragon
Carrot - Berlicum 2
Chamomile
Chives

Cilantro
Cucumber - Marketmore
Cucumber - Pickling
Cucumber - sultan
Cucumber - thunder


Dill
Echinacea
Ground cherry

Swiss chard and blue curled Scotch kale

Kale - winterbor
Kale - blue curled scotch
Lavender - English
Lavender - French
Lemon balm

Lettuce - red and 2 green varieties
Marigold

Mint - chocolate
Mint - pineapple
Mint - spearmint

Mustard greens
Onions - green multiplier

Pak choi - Tah tsai
Parsley - Moss
Parsley - Italian

Peas - snow
Pepper - carmen (sweet red)
Pepper, hot - Cayenne
Pepper, hot - Bulgarian carrot

Radish - Cherry belle

Hawaiian currant tomatoes are on their way!!

Rhubarb
Rosemary
Sage
Sunflower - giant
Sunflower - paquito
Swiss chard -  Bright lights

Tomato - Hawaiian currant
Tomato - Matt's wild cherry
Tomato - Potato leaf
Tomato - Purple Russian
Yarrow
Zucchini - Contours Dorés

"Urban agriculture" - just a fancy name for gardening?

It's true that saying "urban agriculture" does seem to add a little more legitimacy to my career path than simply saying, "um, vegetable gardens?"  But for me the term holds more meaning than just the noble work of vegetable cultivation.  Urban agriculture is also about questioning a way of life that is increasingly disconnected from the natural cycles of our planet.  It is a practical response to many of the fundamental challenges facing humanity today:  how will we feed our planet's growing population; how will we reduce our pollution and waste so we can become true stewards (and not parasites) of the planet; how can we become more self-sufficient in societies that are increasingly dominated by corporations; how can we as citizens become more engaged in our communities to bring about positive change?

As I'm sure many of you already know, these problems are interconnected and there is no "magic bullet" solution.  But there are valuable lessons to be learned and lots of ground to be gained by returning to the roots, plant roots that is, and reconnecting mama nature with her children of the city.  I hope you enjoy following our blog as we delve into the depths of urban agriculture and try to become better citizens of our city and our planet.