Our biggest project, the Jardin Collectif de St-Jérôme (community garden) was established trough a land use agreement with the city of St-Jérôme. It is the main platform on which our outreach projects are built.
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This 50,000 ft2 garden features an assortment of themed gardens combining beauty and productivity.
The Iris Garden
The Large Vegetable Garden
The Islets
The Nurturing Forest
The First Nations Garden
The Asian Garden and the Water Gardens
The Mandala Garden
The Eye of Horus Garden
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Here, one finds perennials, annuals, many vegetables and herbs, berries, fruit trees and native plants all creating a vast functional biodiversity. We use ecological cultivation methods and observe the principles of permaculture both in the garden's and in the management of employees, participants and volunteers.
Next to the Collective Garden, Les Serres de Clara also makes available community gardens plots to families or groups. The cost is $ 20 or $ 30 annually, depending on the size of the garden.
Tenants have access to advice and technical assistance from horticultural employees on weekdays.
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To reserve a garden plot, or for information please contact us at 450-565 2998, ext. 121
The collective gardening project was founded in 2006 as an innovative response to a food insecurity problem in the region. Since then, more than 180 participants from community organizations and institutions in St-Jérôme have had the opportunity to learn ecological gardening through collective projects.
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By creating and maintaining market gardens, participants contribute tangibly to their own autonomy and food quality. They also benefit a variety of training courses, workshops, educational tours, internships and professional supervision in the garden.
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Our average harvest in the last five years exceeds 2,500 kilos of vegetables, fruits and herbs. All the harvests are redistributed to the participants in proportion to their time contribution.
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The success of the Collective Garden project has depended on the active collaboration of organizations and institutions in St-Jérôme.
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In the pursuit of food security, St-Jérôme can also count on the Coup de Pouce counter, which supports nearly 450 people annually with weekly food baskets.
To help our gardeners bridge the divide from the garden to the table, two training components are made available.
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First, workshops present unusual fruits, vegetables or herbs, giving participants a chance to learn the benefits of a plant by piking it, eating it in differentl ways, and learning about its various uses.
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To discover a fruit or vegetable is to be open to including it in your diet.
The second component features processing workshops, where participants can learn about basic recipes and culinary possibilities of a given food. These courses are designed to teach participants how to complete the food production cycle for themselves and their families.
