After a beautiful season, it’s time for the urban agriculture team to take off their gardening gloves and put up their feet until the return of spring. This year’s team featured Noah, Eliana, Ashlee, myself (Frankie), Rachel and guest star/former urban agriculture manager Magali! Everyone supported the program’s mission by contributing their respective strengths and knowledge. We made a great team!
And how can we talk about our workforce without mentioning our volunteers? This season, nearly 150 volunteers contributed more than 1,100 hours across the three gardening sites: the rooftop, the Terrasses Roy, and the Cité-des-Hospitalières. We are so grateful!
We continued to host Friday Hangs from June 27 to October 24 this year on the Terrasses Roy, featuring 2,109 bowls of soup, more than 15 varieties of fruits and vegetables at the food kiosk, local Indigenous crafts created and sold by the Tlachiuak cooperative, hosting five special kiosque karaokes, and serving fruits, vegetables, and free soup to more than 1,500 community members.
Although the break in farm production was reflected in the quantity of vegetables offered at the food kiosk, the urban agriculture team managed to offer a nice selection to passersby at the Terrace every Friday. People also benefited from $485.50 in sales paid for by Carte proximité, a food stamps project by the Carrefour solidaire CCA,Carte proximité (a food coupon program that supports local food systems) and $151 in donations to our pay-it-forward vegetable & egg bank,
There have been a few new developments in the Terrasses Roy gardens, including a new compost bin (designed by Ashlee) and a major redesign: we’re saying goodbye to the mound and hello to a new spiral garden in its place. We will continue to work on this space to create a meditative area with a flowery spiral, welcoming both pollinators and passers-by at Terrasses Roy!
2025 saw the success of the sixth edition of the Pizza Garden program, featuring two kindergarten classes from École au Pied-de-la-Montagne, as well as dozens of delicious pizzas assembled first by little hands and then prepared by the masters at the neighbourhood butcher shop Volailles et Gibiers Fernando. Since the start of the school year in September, we have welcomed two new classes from the school for the new cycle of the program.
We have also taken the first steps toward a new partnership with Tasiutigiit, a non-profit organization that supports families of Indigenous children who have been adopted or placed in foster care. We welcomed two groups of participating children to the Cité-des-Hospitalières garden this summer, where they picked and planted flowers, caught insects, and painted rocks to mark the garden beds. We also hosted workshops for summer camps Camp Cosmos & ARMP, playing garden-themed games, harvesting fruit, and enjoying time in the gardens together.
Each season is unique in the pleasures it brings and the challenges it presents. Thank you to everyone who participated in urban agriculture at the Roulant in 2025, whether by offering their time, their labor, or simply the pleasure of their company. Have a great winter, and see you in the Spring!
– Frankie