The Mackay Garden Project seeks to promote and strengthen food security initiatives and sustainable city-living practices for the Concordia community and the larger Montreal community. The project aims at greening Concordia's downtown campus, optimizing food production and engaging individuals in an opportunity to be a part of a social economy, rooted in community values that provide free, hands-on educational opportunities. Students, staff, faculty and other community members are encouraged to participate in a unique experience of growing and harvesting food in Montreal’s downtown core.
This project has been jointly overseen and funded by Concordia Facilities Management, Sustainable Concordia and the Concordia Greenhouse since 2010. The agreement between these three stakeholders is that Sustainable Concordia and the Concordia Greenhouse together coordinate the hiring of interns, maintenance of the gardens and community outreach. Facilities management provides feedback and the majority of funding for the project. The partnership between these groups has seen the transformation of what were ordinary urban flower beds beds, into productive community spaces for growing organic herbs and vegetables.
This summer we were fortunate enough to have 28 dedicated volunteers and more than 155 people involved in the project. We harvested over 25 Kilos of produce that we distributed amongst volunteers and donated to a “free-food” box at the University’s Cooperative, Organic Grocer: Le Frigo Vert.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
For the 2012 growing season the garden will be expanding in a number of ways. Firstly the area under cultivation will increase from 33 square metres to 85 square metres through the addition of four new raised bed gardens. This addition not only offers increased growing space, but a chance to showcase a wider diversity of urban growing techniques. What will be a mix of container gardening and raised beds, will give us the opportunity to demonstrate new techniques to the community, such as the use of cold frames, vertical growing techniques, green manure usage and soil building.
The focus of the 2012 growing season will be a) to intensify production as to obtain the highest possible yield of organic vegetables in the given space, b) to create strong links with community partners (such as youth groups, seniors homes, and local Peter-Mcgill residence) who will help to run and plan the garden, also ensuring a steady stream of volunteers, c) to take better advantage of the visibility of this garden and use it as a space to teach gardening skills. The two interns will work together on separate aspects of the project, as described below.
(1) Horticultural Intern
* research and create a plan and budget for the creation of new raised beds on Mackay
* create a horticulture plan for all the beds in the garden taking into consideration companion planting, inter-cropping methods and intensive production methods
* organize a meeting where the Concordia community can give input and feedback on the plan (especially those who work very near the gardens)
* create a plan for soil amendments, fertilizers and pest control
* plan for teaching workshops that could be delivered to our community partners and the general public
(2) Social Intern
* Solicit community partners who want volunteer their time to work in the garden
* Identify the needs of our partners, and work with them to organize how best to integrate them into the garden project
* Plan for teaching workshops that could be delivered to our community partners and the general public
* Help to promote the project (signage, advertising, media coverage)
* Find a community partner, possibly a charity organization, that is able to receive the harvest from the garden
