Les Jardins Collaboratifs du Moutonblon
0,5 ha acres12 chemin des Patriotes, Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, Québec, J0H 2G0Olivier Painchaud
Regenerative agriculture is about cultivating the land in a healthy way and respectfully interconnecting all the actors in the ecosystem—whether in the biological, geographical, or socio-cultural aspects of our projects.
Products
- About forty different varieties of organic vegetables
Regenerative Practices
- Minimize soil disturbance
- No-till (direct seeding, zero-tillage) The soil is not worked at any point throughout the season. residue from the previous crop is left on the soil surface, and its root system is left intact. the following crop is seeded directly into the soil without tillage.
- Minimum-till Minimum tillage is a soil cultivation practice that reduces the number, depth (0-10 cm), and intensity of tillage operations (no inversion of the soil) to minimize soil disturbance.
- No-till (direct seeding, zero-tillage)
- Keep the soil covered and maintain living roots year-round
- Cover crops Plants grown alongside, preceding, or following cash crops with the purpose of increasing soil fertility, reducing soil erosion, and suppressing weeds.
- Organic mulch Organic mulch involves covering the soil surface with a protective barrier to increase soil health, reduce soil erosion, and suppress weeds. the mulch can be composed of various organic materials such as straw, leaves, or compost.
- Plastic mulch Non-living, non-organic sheets of polyethylene terephthalate (pet) plastic applied alongside, or following, cash crops to protect the soil.
- Intercropping Simultaneously growing two or more crops adjacent to one another, on the same piece of land and within the same growing season. crops are paired based on their differing, yet complementary, space and resource requirements.
- Cover crops
- Protect and enhance biodiversity
- Companion cropping Simultaneously growing two or more crops together in the same field so they complement one another by improving nutrient cycling, suppressing pests and weeds, and enhancing biodiversity.
- Diverse crop rotations Planting crops with different characteristics in sequence on the same field over time
- Pollinator buffers Patches or rows of diverse flowering vegetation that provide pollinators with permanent habitats and food sources. they can be planted as intercrops or at the edge of fields.
- Habitat conservation/creation/restoration The conservation, creation, and restoration of ecosystems to improve habitat value for wildlife. forests, prairies, riparian areas, or wetlands can be restored along farmland.
- Companion cropping
- Optimize input use
- Compost Organic matter that has been recycled through a composting process into a form that can be used as a soil amendment.\r\ncompost is the stable, nutrient-rich product of decomposed organic matter—such as plant residues, manure, or food scraps—that has been biologically processed under controlled aerobic conditions.
- Minimal to no use of synthetic pesticides Any product, device, organism, substance or thing that is manufactured, represented, sold or used as a means for directly or indirectly controlling, preventing, destroying, mitigating, attracting or repelling any pest (health canada, 2024).\r\nin canada, the most used pesticide active ingredient types are glyphosate, 2,4-d, glufosinate ammonium, and mcpa (all herbicides). then, there are also insecticides and fungicides such as chlorpyrifos, clothianidin, or chlorothalonil.
- Minimal to no use of synthetic fertilizers Fertilizers that are derived from synthetic sources. \r\nas plants extract nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur are the four most important nutrients) from the soil during every growing season, they must be replenished through fertilizers, manure, legume cover crops (through nitrogen fixing), and compost added to fields annually.
- Compost
- Preserve and restore natural ecosystems
- Maintain living roots year-round (agroforestry and perennials)
- Perennial crops (grasslands) Crops that regrow each year in a specific climate without needing to be reseeded.
- Windbreaks A single row or multiple rows of trees and shrubs to break the force of winds.
- Native perennial vegetation conservation The conservation of existing—or reintroduction of—native perennial vegetation, those that occur naturally in a region in which it evolved. it includes grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, and coastal habitats.
- Perennial crops (grasslands)
- Improve water cycles
- Water conservation The optimized use of water for crops and trees, or strict water use during critical periods of crop stages.
- Wetland restoration Reestablishing the natural hydrology, vegetation, and ecological function of a wetland area that has been drained, degraded, or altered.
- Water conservation
Observations
- The widespread use of wood chips throughout the garden over the past five years has clearly increased the soil’s organic matter content and made working with clay soil more enjoyable
- Adding birdhouses definitely attracts birds, mainly tree swallows, which are great predators of harmful insects and a joy to watch as they flit around the garden—without being a nuisance to us!
- Flower beds surrounding the gardens attract pollinators throughout the entire cultivated area.
How to buy
- Directly on the farm, by coming to farm them with us! The farm is going into collaborative mode - we still have room for people who want to come farm with us!
