City Farm School has spawned gardening, food sovereignty and environmental awareness projects throughout the community of Montréal and beyond. We're still gathering testimonials from past interns and community organizations that were affected by CFS. If you have a story you'd like to share, please send it our way at cityfarmschool.media@gmail.com

PAST INTERNS

“I did City Farm last summer (2014). I wrote about my experience on my blog and near the end of the program last September, I applied for and received funding to travel to Belgium with LOJIQ as part of an exchange in urban agriculture (details here). Evidently, my experience with City Farm helped me get this funding. This was a good experience to see what is done elsewhere in terms of urban agriculture.”

–Marie-Eve Couture, CFS graduate 2014

“City Farm used to manage the old triangle bench/planters on Mackay. I helped out now and then, but was more of a cheerleader than anything else at that point. I would often tell people sitting there, eating there lunch to feel free to pick from the garden (we weren’t selling produce then!). A homeless man asked me for change nearby and I walked him to the gardens and showed him what could be eaten. We pulled out some Cosmic purple carrots and chowed down. I left him there and went back to work. I turned back before entering the Hall building to see him ecstatically explaining to some of the people seated nearby that they too could eat from the gardens. The metaphor of ripples spreading in a pond definitely came to mind!”

–Alexander Oster

“It was a great pleasure to work with Jackie Martin, she is a very knowledgeable and inspiring person. I really learned a lot from her, the greenhouse and the city farm school projects and they inspired me to grow my own garden which everyday is growing more. Three years ago, I was scared of growing plants because they used to dry and die in my hands after a couple of weeks and I was super scared of insects or disgusted (of bees & worms), but through these years I have learned how beneficial and important they are and I also realized how vulnerable they can be. Working the land in the city farm also made more conscious about the long and hard work that it can be to grow food and so made me put more pressure and awareness in my family to avoid waste of food. In the future, I want to keep growing my garden, keep providing information and creating awareness about sustainable food growing practices (by creating and/or supporting sustainability and community building projects), and keep promoting biodiversity.

–Renee Obregon, 2014 intern

“My name is Thaïs and I did an internship in sustainability under Jackie’s supervision during the Fall of 2013. During this internship, my responsibility was to design and coordinate a series of workshops linking plant science to horticulture. The topics covered were broad and included “Plant Anatomy”, “Plant Nutrition”, etc. Those workshops were fun as they all involved hands-on activities, such as plant propagation or seed saving. Jackie and I taught them bi-monthly at the Concordia Greenhouse. Overall, my work experience with the Concordia Greenhouse community was great. While I am not working on plants anymore, the research and teaching skills developed during my internship have proven valuable. Indeed, I continued on with research and am now doing a master’s degree in population genetics and evolutionary biology of freshwater fishes. Additionally, I still teach various classes at the university level. “

–Thaïs Bernos, 2013 intern

“I believe City Farm school is a solid program that makes students go through the entire agriculture season in an enriching way. The teachings of Jackie and Marcus are very useful and their dedication very inspiring. The teachers througout the program are generous and are part of Montreal urban agriculture context, which is great. I can say that City Farm School inspired me the creation of an off-shot project, which is The May Market. I am presently co-organising this event, allying gardening, food and art. Both a market and a knowledge-sharing event, we are meeting great people and are very happy to have City Farm School as a partner and vision supporter!”

–Sara Maranda-Gauvin, 2014 CFS graduate

COMMUNITY PROJECTS

“Interns from CFS helped the NDG Food Depot start and plant demonstration garden boxes when we were on our old location on Oxford. The city also dug up the narrow strip along the side of the building and we planted it with corn, beans, tomatoes and kale to show that a small area can be productive. Rob Philion was one of the interns, and they cared for the gardens throughout the season, volunteered at the fruit and vegetable markets held weekly and answered questions about urban agriculture to people coming in for food baskets. This was a super addition to our programming and they did a good job promoting fresh foods.”

– Bonnie Soutar, Director of Development at NDG Food Depot

“Last gardening season (2014), CFS helped out with the Incredible Edibles project that put 9 wooden planters and about 15 bins for edible plants along Sherbrooke Street between Marcil and Draper with food to share. I believe CFS gave soil for the planters as well as seedlings. Wayne (a CFS intern) was instrumental in mixing the right soil ingredients for the planters during the Launch on 31 May last year at the Cooperative de la Maison Verte, a fun-filled community event with food, music, and activities for kids, etc. that was noted in the local press. Incredible Edibles is a non-profit organization with no budget, relying on volunteers and help from neighbourhood organizations and generous individuals to accomplish our projects. We are most grateful to CFS for its donations!”

– Transition NDG (The Incredible Edibles project)

More Testimonials

“It was a great pleasure to work with Jackie Martin, she is a very knowledgeable and inspiring person. I really learned a lot from her, the greenhouse and the city farm school projects and they inspired me to grow my own garden which everyday is growing more. Three years ago, I was scared of growing plants because they used to dry and die in my hands after a couple of weeks and I was super scared of insects or disgusted (of bees & worms), but through these years I have learned how beneficial and important they are and I also realized how vulnerable they can be. Working the land in the city farm also made more conscious about the long and hard work that it can be to grow food and so made me put more pressure and awareness in my family to avoid waste of food. In the future, I want to keep growing my garden, keep providing information and creating awareness about sustainable food growing practices (by creating and/or supporting sustainability and community building projects), and keep promoting biodiversity.”

Renee Obregon, VP Internal LCSA and GUSS

“Last gardening season (2014), CFS helped out with the Incredible Edibles project that put 9 wooden planters and about 15 bins for edible plants along Sherbrooke Street between Marcil and Draper with food to share. I believe CFS gave soil for the planters as well as seedlings. Wayne (a CFS intern) was instrumental in mixing the right soil ingredients for the planters during the Launch on 31 May last year at the Cooperative de la Maison Verte, a fun-filled community event with food, music, and activities for kids, etc. that was noted in the local press. Incredible Edibles is a non-profit organization with no budget, relying on volunteers and help from neighbourhood organizations and generous individuals to accomplish our projects. We are most grateful to CFS for its donations!”

Transition NDG