Wake Up and Smell the Sustainability
Concordia Greenhousers Harvest, Eat and Advocate for All Things Green
Fall’s sharp chill has begun to startle students still stuck in summer mode into realizing their beloved season is a thing of the past. Without reason to rejoice the coming of autumn, most of us accept that it’s time to hit the books and wave goodbye to those things we called our “social lives.”
Unbeknownst to most Concordians, though, there is one tight-knit group of students celebrating this dreaded time of year.
“The Harvest Party is a celebration of the end of the growing season for the different gardens that we’ve had out here at Loyola Campus,” explained City Farm Garden representative Ruby Van Vliet.
Despite last Thursday’s event being met by light showers, the Concordia Greenhouse community gathered at the site of its youngest garden, the Loyola City Farm, to celebrate the vegetation they’ve been tending to all season.
With representatives from the People’s Potato soup kitchen on hand to chop and grill the fresh produce, interns, coordinators and supporters took the opportunity to address the importance of the university’s sustainability initiatives.
“It’s really about awareness more than anything else. In my opinion, the interest is there, but not the awareness,” said Dan Gartner, an intern for the City Farm Garden.
City Farm Garden coordinator Marcus Lobb said the challenge lies in getting more Concordia students to venture into the Loyola greenhouse.
“The fact that the gardens are out at Loyola is difficult because many students go to school downtown,” he said. “The City Farm project in particular is slowly growing, but more outreach is needed.”
Harvest Party attendees also emphasized the enlightening programs offered by the Concordia Greenhouse. Students are taught to spearhead and maintain urban agriculture projects with tips and tools that are basic yet effective.
The resources are readily available; it’s simply a matter of stepping back for a moment to understand the importance of getting involved.
The Loyola gardens have also taken on a charitable role, establishing an alliance with the Notre Dame de Grace neighbourhood food depot that saw the Harvest Party’s leftover produce donated to the organization’s kitchen. Lobb believes that the university’s continuous efforts could help alleviate hunger among Montreal’s poor.
Roxanna Casas, another of City Farm Garden’s interns, has high hopes that the greater Concordia community will follow the greenhouse’s sustainability movement.
“We just need to care about the gardens,” she said. “We also sell our things to The Hive, and we’ll start to make creams and salves from what we harvested. It’s growing.”
Regardless of the diverse faculties at Concordia, its greenhouse is an open forum for all students to exercise their green thumbs. Thursday’s Harvest Party not only boasted lush vegetables, but also an initiative that seeks to enhance and sustain the beauty of the planet.
With time and the persistent drive of each gardening project, Concordia could be well on its way to reshaping Montreal’s environmental outlook.
