If local governments can’t support urban agriculture, then they need to get out of the way of these community gardens.

Source: Montreal Gazette

There are chickens laying eggs at community centres, volunteer gardeners sharing the work and the harvest in 45 collective gardens across the city, and vegetables growing on top of the Palais des congrès convention centre.

But the blossoming urban agriculture movement is running into municipal roadblocks, say proponents pushing city hall to consult the public about the future of farming in Montreal.

Existing city bylaws make it difficult for people who want to practise urban agriculture to get started. They forbid livestock within Montreal city limits, except for in very limited cases in Rosemont-La Petite Patrie where community groups can get permission to have chickens for educational purposes. People aren’t allowed to dig up their driveways to plant vegetables. Farmers delivering produce for community-supported agriculture projects try to stay on the good side of residents living around their drop-off points to avoid traffic complaints being made to the city. Even people who want to compost in their backyards have gotten into trouble with neighbours complaining to city officials that their compost piles are too smelly…

Montreal has no policy on urban agriculture, although it is included in the city’s sustainable-development plan as a way to help green the city and reduce heat-island effect between now and 2015, said city spokesperson Martine Painchaud.

To get more information about the Groupe de travail en agriculture urbaine petition, go to http://eng.agriculturemontreal.info/

This is the solution to reducing crime and “terrorism” throughout the world. May freedom reign for all.

Source: The Urban Farming Guys

Source: Montreal Work Group on Urban Agriculture

Many obstacles are slowing the development of urban agriculture in Montreal, including:

• Pressure on land occupancy and use due to real estate development projects;
• The presence of contaminants in certain soils;
• The sub-optimal financing of initiatives and the absence of strategies in favor of urban agriculture;
• The lack of availability of plots in community gardens in central neighborhoods.

In order to contribute to creating a green city, the Work Group on Urban Agriculture proposes a collective mobilization to demand a public consultation on the state of urban agriculture in Montreal.

The Work Group on Urban Agriculture invites all citizens to sign a petition which will support a public consultation on Urban Agriculture in Montreal. The petition must be signed by November 8, 2011. There are many locations around the island of Montreal to sign the petition. Find the location nearest you (n.b. The petition may be signed in NDG at Coop la Maison Verte – 5785, Sherbrooke street West).

If 15,000 Montrealers support this action within less than three months, the City of Montreal will be required to hold such a consultation.

Visit the Work Group’s website for more information or Join the Facebook group.

Filmmakers Donna Read and Starhawk will be at the screening of the film Permaculture: The Growing Edge on June 22 at the Crowley Arts Centre, 5325 Crowley Ave. It is a fundraiser to celebrate the NDG Food Depot’s 25th anniversary. Tickets are $20 and available only at the door.

Starhawk is doing a two-week workshop on permaculture called Earth Activist Training in Audet, Que., from June 25 to July 9. For more information, go to www.earthactivisttraining.org

Source: Montreal Gazette

Beyond agriculture, permaculture is also a way of dealing with environmental and social problems, Starhawk said.

The film documents an oil-spill cleanup that used human hair to absorb the oil, which then became a planting medium to grow oyster mushrooms that convert the oil to sugar for their growth – a way to dispose of toxic waste without creating any waste products.

Permaculture can be an answer to problems like climate change, Starhawk said. Farms can sequester excess carbon dioxide in the soil, reducing the amount in the atmosphere, which leads to climate change, while urban agriculture reduces the amount of fossil fuels needed to produce food on a large-scale and transport it to cities, she said.

“Putting solutions in place doesn’t have to be grim and awful, it’s joyful and fun and it actually enriches your life,” she said. “It’s joyful, wonderful work to plant things and tend plants and it builds community at the same time when you’re gardening together.”

Concordia City Farm School’s Speaker Series (April 11th and 18th) sets the stage for the week-long urban agriculture school that will be taking place from Tuesday April 26th until Saturday April 30. It will introduce the theoretical and political roots of the methodology and subject of the practical training. Lectures are open to the public and provide both a contextual base for students participating in the training, as well as the opportunity for all facets of the Concordia-Montreal community to better understand the circumstance which has inspired the integrated approach of the City Farm School.

March 16th at Smith house from 5h30 to 7h30 pm.

Agriculture on the mountain was important until the beginning of the 19th century. The Smith house in the park was in the center of a farm property when it was built in 1858. Today, a new interest from Montrealers for urban agriculture had lead to original projects around the city. Come to this special forum to learn about it.

1- Take a piece of nature home with you! 5:30- 6 :45PM
Interested in gardening? Never had the space? McGill Nursing Students are pleased to present a workshop to teach you the benefits of urban gardening and how to build your own urban garden on a rooftop, balcony or inside your home.

2-Exploring urban agriculture in new ways. 6:45- 7:30 pm
Ecological and sustainable urban agriculture production (P.A.U.S.E.). An initiative of multi-fieds students from university of Montreal to put in places an agriculture project on the mountain campus regarding: honey and mushroom production, container production, composting, research and education about urban gardening.

Registration: tieghan.killackey@mail.mcgill.ca

Architect's rendering of Lufa rooftop gardens

Now, this is progress!

Again, Montreal leads the world in sustainable solutions. Other worldwide firsts include CommunAuto car sharing and Bixi bicycle sharing.

Growing veggies in a population-dense, urban area, year-round is a great idea and should especially appeal to the many “foodies” in the city who are particular about their greens.

Source: Montreal Gazette

This event looks to be in French only.

Presented by Toad in collaboration with the Regional Conference Elected officials, the City of Montreal and the Faculty of Sciences and the Institute of Environmental Sciences at UQAM.

WHEN: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 in the Grand Hall at 200 Rue Sherbrooke O;
- 5PM Opening Reception – free entry
- On the menu: wine, appetizers and games
- 6:30 p.m. Opening Conference – Free entrance – heart of the Amphitheatre Science UQAM
More info: http://www.coeurdessciences.uqam.ca/acces.html

Topics:

• Towards green cities and nurturing: Prospects and elsewhere
• Patron of the event in Earth City

Speakers:
* Louise Vandelac (sociologist, professor, activist) *
* Vikram Batt (McGill University) *
* Christopher Bryant (University of Montreal) *
* Eric Duchemin (University of Quebec at Montreal) *
* Moderator: Anne-Marie Legault (project manager at the Regional Conference the Chosen) *

This conference will gain an overview on the practice of Urban Agriculture in Montreal and around the world. Gardening class programs to community gardens, through the agricultural enterprises, institutional and home gardening, this presentation will report on the multifunctionality of agriculture in urban areas while considering the constraints and opportunities that are offered today to transform our cities and towns towards a green future.

Guest speakers will help us understand the magnitude and theoretical understanding of this growing movement here in Montrealand elsewhere.

10th Annual Seedy Weekend Seed Fair in Montreal at the Montreal Botanical Gardens

This event aims to promote seeds of the open-pollinated variety which have been grown locally and sustainably.

Please note this year’s changes outlined below as there have been quite a few. You can contact Action Communiterre for a more in-depth interview at animation@actioncommuniterre.qc.ca

This year’s seedy weekend will take place over two days, Saturday, February 13th and Sunday, February 14^th 2010 in order to accommodate the public’s growing interest in this event. For that same reason, the layout of the room will also be modified to allow for greater circulation. The fair will run from 10 :00am to 4 :30pm. Access is free, but a voluntary donation would be greatly appreciated, as the event is organized as a fundraising opportunity for Action Communiterre (a non-profit, community organization that sponsors collective gardening and works on issues related to urban agriculture and food security) and les Amis du Jardin Botanique de Montréal, who’s mission is to support the Botanical Gardens and it’s cultural, educative and scientific development. There are however fees for parking at the Botanical Gardens.

There will also be a snack kiosk in one of the adjacent rooms catered by Au Pois Chique, a non-profit organization taking care of a local ‘meals on wheels’.

Location :
Montreal Botanical Gardens
Pavillon d’accueil
4101 Sherbrooke Street East, Montreal

To get there: The parking lot entrance of the Botanical Garden is located on Sherbrooke Street, between Pie IX and Viau. The Botanical Gardens is also accessible by metro, Pie IX station
Important notice: The parking lot now has parking meters. The cost is $10, payable by coin, or by credit card