Montreal. September 11, 2007.

Alternatives, Santropol Roulant and the Minimum Cost Housing Group of McGill University’s School of Architecture invites you to join us for the Rooftop Garden Project’s Harvest Festival at the Edible Campus Garden (Jardin du Roulant) on Thursday September 20th 2007 from 5 to 10 pm in front of the Burnside Hall, on the main campus of McGill University.

Come witness the results of an innovative partnership that created this collective garden - a model sustainable project in the heart of Montreal. This 100 square meter container garden, installed in the center of a university campus, is a unique initiative involving citizens in the creation of green, edible and community spaces. It allows for the exploration of new strategies for increasing food production in the city, by exploiting underutilized and neglected spaces such as urban corridors, rooftops, balconies and terraces, commonly found in Montreal and other urban centers. In addition, this garden demonstrates how productive planting can be woven into urban spaces without diminishing their utility or functionality. Maintained by a community of volunteers, this garden meets one-third of the needs of fresh organic fruits and vegetables of Santropol Roulant’s meals on wheels program that serves 100 Montrealers per day, making it a model of a complete urban food cycle. Moreover, this project serves as an exploration space for students in architecture and urban design.

Since 2003, Alternatives has created 17 collective gardens in Montreal. These gardens are part of a network and volunteer gardeners, including youth and elderly, are trained to participate actively in the greening of their everyday environments and the sustainability of cities (www.lesjardins.ca). In parallel, three informal urban settlements were upgraded by the Minimum Cost Housing Group incorporating productive planting (http://www.mcgill.ca/mchg/projects/).

Schedule for the evening:
• 5 pm garden visits
• 6 pm speeches
• 6:30 pm Artistic « Live Dining » performance by Nicole Fournier and corn roast
• 7:45 pm Public vote for the winner of the Balconies in Bloom contest
• 8 to 10 pm Live music

For more information, please contact:

Alternatives
Rotem Ayalon
jardins@alternatives.ca
514-982-6606 poste 2243

McGill University
Minimum Cost Housing Group
leila.farah@mail.mcgill.ca
514-398-1619

Santropol Roulant
Elana Ludman
Elana@santropolroulant.org
514-284-9335

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Posté par rotem le Mar, 11/09/2007 - 4:45pm.