Ste Anne de Bellevue Community Garden a Success

The push towards consuming local food has become easier for many Ste Anne de Bellevue residents, whose participation in a community garden project last summer was so successful the city passed a motion in the fall to make it permanent.

The garden located in Godin Park had 24 plots measuring 13’ x 13’. Twenty-four people grew a variety of organic crops including beets, onions, potatoes, carrots, broccoli and tomatoes. The city provided good quality topsoil to augment the park’s clay based earth. Water from the lake was used to water the plots, but a more efficient system will be used next summer. The only rules for participants are: no use of pesticides, proper maintenance of the plot and mini-farmers must be residents of the city.

Ryan Young of the Ste Anne de Bellevue Environmental Committee, which spearheaded the project, said that there had initially been opposition from some older residents who were fearful of the possibility the garden would attract animals or teens who would commit acts of vandalism. Young reported that no such incidents happened over the summer.