Our newsletter is also available on our website in English and French
July/August 2007
Summer Edition!
It's Wednesday morning and the Garden of Thyme is coming to life. Meg, Alaina, and young Amalia are setting up the play area and sending out words of encouragement to the beans and peas in the kids' garden... Message to Members
You wanted it and now it's here... Happy summer everyone! We are doing well, taking turns going on vacation, and enjoying the excitement our CSA veggie basket deliveries are bringing every week. We would like to welcome two new workers to our team, Franco and Kate, who are doing a wonderful job so far. We'd also like to welcome our new espresso machine. It has BIG shoes to fill, but we trust it will allow us to continue making the best coffees in the city (and the world).
Don't miss our summer Eco Logic blogs which focus on vacation themes, including Veronique Vendette's bike trip from Montreal to Cape Cod, and all the inspiring ecological initiatives she discovered on the way.
We also want you to know that our friends at Eco Contribution have a new campaign out to support Bill C-288 (the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act). You can get all the info and sign their PETITION on the www.ecocontribution.com website.
Finally, if you didn't sign up for an organic CSA veggie basket this season don't despair. Stop by the store Thursday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. to visit Ferme du Zephyr's Summer Organic Veggie Market offering organic seasonal veggies and other products for sale all summer long! Enjoy the harvest.
Thanks to: Gilles Rondeau, Johanne Deshaies - Translation; Johanne Bouthillier - Revision
Summer Tip 
Recent research shows that mixing regular sunscreens that contain oxybenzone with commercial insect repellents containing DEET dramatically increases absorption of both chemicals through the skin. Luckily we have safe sunscreens and all-natural insect repellents available for you!
Events
AUG --
Good news: If you'd like the chance to get your hands dirty in a real organic garden this summer you are in luck. Action Communiterre has room for more gardeners/helpers! Here are the gardens, days and times:
- Thyme Garden: Wednesdays 10-2 (without children) and Fridays 10-2 (with children)
- Rosemary Garden: Thursday 9-1, Saturday 10-2
- Cantaloup Garden: Thursday 10-2,
- Racines de Paix: Wednesday 9-1, Sunday 10-2
AUG 6
For more information on the nutritional, as well as environmental and social benefits of eating and growing local foods, join Registered Holistic Nutritionist (RHN) Jae Steele, and special guest Anna Lee-Popham, for Abundant Harvest: The benefits of local foods, Monday August 6th, 7:30 p.m. at Co-op La Maison Verte. $5-10.
New Products
- Energy-saving light bulbs by GREENLITE including outdoor floodlight, 3-in-1 power failure light and nightlight
- Re-usable anti-static sheets
- New clothing for summer from Abaka, OOM, Uniketik, Conscience Équitable and Goddess Garments
- All-Natural Avurvedic incense sticks www.toutnaturel.ca
- Jinjaa 100% Organic Spicy Ginger juice (simply divine!)
- And the Amazing Composting Toilet: perfect for the home or cottage, no odours, highly efficient! (Please phone Jason for more information.)
Member Specials
- July: 15% off all gardening products including natural fertilizers, grass seeds, coco-blox (peat moss alternative) and more!
- August: 10% off off Biobec all purpose cleaner in bulk & spray bottles and
- 10% off the new Biovert degreaser, stain remover and bathroom cleaner!
Members' Corner (continued from above)
We touch base about our weekends and what we plan to do in the garden today, while Amalia smiles broadly and works her way over to the sand pit and the miniature pick-up truck waiting for her. Meanwhile the radishes that veteran gardener Nancy planted are busting firmly and plentifully out of the soil, the second planting of carrots done in part by Anicka's little hands have surfaced, and our sweet potato has given a beautiful pale purple flower. We await the other gardeners' arrival.
As the animator of the Garden of Thyme, a collectively run garden in NDG's St-Raymond borough, I work with a diverse group of volunteers who come twice a week, from the beginning of May until the end of September, to garden. Part of Action Communiterre's Victory Garden Network, local residents sign up to plan, plant, compost, weed, harvest and otherwise care for the organic harvest. Some of us have years of experience with organic gardening, others have never planted a seed. A child-friendly space, Thyme's youngest-though not necessarily most silent-member is three months old!
In a world where multinational multibillionaire corporations spray dangerous chemicals on genetically-modified mono-crops (and then truck them for miles to grocery stores), our goal is to offer a practical, fun, hands-in-the-dirt solution through community engagement, local agriculture, and the preservation of biodiversity.
People are re-learning not only how to grow our own food, but the nutritional and social benefits of doing so. Our bodies benefit from more nutrient-rich foods that give us energy to help fight diseases and build stronger healthier bodies. Feeling a connection to your food and knowing how to grow it is also an important part of making our food systems more secure and sustainable. And nothing beats that rewarding feeling when you pick a tomato off the vine.
We plant seeds and pull weeds, we chat, we eat lunch (with a big salad of fresh-picked arugula, spinach and radish). We leave for the day, often with some veggies in one hand and a tired-out young person in the other. As the harvest season approaches our kitchens and our community will also reap the rewards of our efforts, as we share our bounty with the NDG Food Depot.
Perhaps by the next gardening day the beans will have germinated and the tomatoes will have started to ripen. Walking or riding the short distance home with fresh greens and herbs in hand for dinner-it doesn't get much more local than this!
Members' Corner is a place for members to write or suggest articles about environment or community-related subjects of all kinds. Email your ideas to newsletter@cooplamaisonverte.com
5785, Sherbrooke street West, Metro Vendome + bus #105 - call us! 514-489-8000