Tag: montreal

By MONIQUE BEAUDIN, The Gazette May 21, 2011

On the SIDEWALK in front of Marci Babineau's house, I craned my neck to see if I could spot the birds. In the backyard, just beyond her root-vegetable garden and several fruit trees, a chicken stretched out a wing, then ruffled her black feathers back into place

Not exactly what a passerby would expect to see on a quiet, treelined street minutes from downtown Montreal (I can't say exactly where; more about that later).

But it's what urban agriculture enthusiasts across North America would like to see - micro-farms where city dwellers could produce fruits, vegetables, eggs and honey, milk from goats, and meat from rabbits.

Some Montrealers have already enthusiastically embraced the growing urban agriculture movement, which took off after Michelle Obama planted a vegetable garden on the White House lawn two years ago.

Chickens are pecking away in Montreal backyards, bees are buzzing around hives in industrial areas, lettuce is growing in container gardens downtown, and the Lufa Farms rooftop greenhouse near Marché Centrale is producing enough fresh produce to feed more than 1,000 people a week...