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Contents 1 The Montreal Permaculture Guild 2008 Annual Report 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Participation 1.3 Budget 1.4 Current Projects 1.4.1 Urban Sustainability Course 1.4.2 Container Garden 1.4.3 Activities 1.4.4 Networking 1.5 Future Projects 1.5.1 Demonstration Site 1.5.2 CDP involvement 1.6 2008 overview 2 French translation

The Montreal Permaculture Guild 2008 Annual Report

Introduction

The Montreal Permaculture Guild is an active and dedicated group of wholehearted passionate folks! It is a resource for people in the Montreal region that are interested in learning about and practicing permaculture. We are working to become becoming a hub for education, skills and resource sharing as well as a hot pot of energy, ideas and motivation. As an urban-based group, we are particularly interested in researching, developing and promoting practices that are suited for Montreal's unique environment. Every week, we work to educate ourselves and the people of Montreal on how to live more sustainably, lower their impact on on the world, and bring their lives more in tune with the environment around them. We believe that gardens as well as communities are whole living organisms and we strive to give people the tools and awareness to build a long-lasting healthy equitable world. Everyone is welcome, with or without experience.

Participation

MPG has a core of regular participants between 12 and 20. We are open to the public, and our weekly activities draw many drop-ins - some of these people come for a single workshop, and some stay and become regulars. We have 40 registered members on our mailing list, and over the course of the year, we have had over 50 individuals attend workshops, including dining coop members who wanted to learn what we were up to, permaculture and sustainability experts passing through and spending some time with us, and some people who were just interested in an activity they read about in the MUCS newsletter.

Budget

MPG currently has no budget to speak of. MUCS is gracious enough to provide us with space, heat and light, and projects that require resources are usually funded out of garbage and recycling bins, junk closets, or participants' pockets. We have from time to time asked for donations from visitors to cover these out of pocket expenses. Over the course of 2009, we will be seeking sources of funding for various projects, including materials required for the Urban Permacourse, as well as to provide resources back to MUCS. We are currently seeking funding for some members through the Jeunes Volontaires program.

Current Projects

Urban Sustainability Course

We are preparing a two-semester course with a summer practicum, based on the study of permaculture and tailored to an urban setting, to be offered through the Montreal Freeschool starting January 2009. This massive effort, a vision by participant Eleuthera, has become a major alignment and focus for our group. Most classes of this type are expensive and remote. Providing one that is absolutely free inside the city is unique and a very exciting and challenging opportunity. A committee consisting of Marion, Eleuthera, Steve, Heather, Stefanie and Mathieu is currently working on the development of this curriculum, which will be organized and taught as a series of skillshares and practical workshops by the participants of the MPG and invited guest speakers.

Container Garden

Over the growing season, we have maintained a container garden in the Northcliffe square courtyard. This has served as a focus of activity, an educational model for several workshops, and to provide some fresh vegetables for the MUCS dining coop. This has been a successful venture, but will be redesigned over the winter to be more effective and as a part of the upcoming curriculum. All participants of the MPG have helped tend the garden over the year, and we hope the other inhabitants of Northcliffe have enjoyed the greenery and vegetables.

Activities

Every week, MPG holds a weekly activity open to the public, to educate and practice permaculture skills and theories. Recently, we've had a local beekeeper come and show us how she manages her apiary, and had experts talk on such issues as bioremidiation and water filtration, we've had a workshop where we designed and constructed small, efficient cooking stoves, and have had several "movie nights" where we watch films on issues related to permaculture or view instructional videos exhibiting growing or land management techniques. As it gets colder, our meetings are moving inside, and will change flavor a bit.

Networking

We are working to build and maintain a network with other groups doing permaculture-inspired work throughout the region. We are creating a wiki, as well as mailing lists and discussion tools to support this networking initiative.

Future Projects

Demonstration Site

We hope to develop a permanent functioning demonstration site, showing how sustainable living practices can be incorporated into urban life. As an initial step towards attaining that goal, we are currently actively looking for an in-ground garden space this summer.

CDP involvement

We hope to deliver feedback into the Community Design Project, working with them to increase green space potential and sustainability of the new facility. On a longer term, we are looking to one day create an urban permafarm at the new MUCS facility or elsewhere nearby, capable of supplying a high percentage of MUCS' food.

2008 overview

The Montreal permaculture Guild has been meeting every Wednesday since January, 2008. We have spent a large portion of this first year establishing ourselves in the community and learning how to host successful workshops. We have just had our first intense planning session for the coming year, and have established that we will continue to have these day-long sessions once per month. We are currently working on the shape our organization, as most participants prefer a very loose membership model, but recognize the need for roles and some form of cohesive structure. This is a challenging process, but we are well on our way to resolving it. The remainder of 2008 will be dedicated to refining our skills and community communications while continuing to plan the upcoming curriculum, which will start in January, just in time to get fellow Montreallers out in their gardens this coming spring.

French translation

La Guilde de Permaculture de Montréal est un groupe actif de passionéEs dévoué à l'éducation, au développement et à la pratique de modes de vie écologiquement et socialement durables. Le groupe se veut une resource pour tous ceux qui désirent apprendre et mettre en place un style de vie écologique et autonome. Nos activités sont ouvertes à tous, et sont le plus souvent gratuites.

La GPM a un noyau de 12 à 20 participants réguliers, et un total de 40 membres abonnés à notre liste électronique. Nous n'avons pas de budget. Au cours de l'année 2009, nous seront à la recherche de sources de financement pour divers projets, et notamment pour acquérir les matériaux nécessaires à notre cours de durabilité urbaine, ainsi que pour retourner l'aide qui nous a été offerte par MUCS. Nous cherchons en ce moment à obtenir un financement du programme "Jeunes Volontaires" pour certains de nos membres.

Nos projets incluent un cours de 2 semestres avec une session de pratique intensive durant l'été, basé sur l'étude de la permaculture et ajusté pour répondre aux exigences du milieu urbain; l'amélioration de notre jardin en contenants; la poursuite de nos activités hebdomadaires ouvertes au public; et un élargissement de nos efforts pour construire et maintenir des liens avec d'autres groupes pratiquant la permaculture dans la région.

Dans le futur, nous espérons développer un site de démonstration permanent, montrant des pratiques de vie durable dans un milieu urbain, et travailler avec le CDP pour augmenter la capacité et le potentiel des espaces verts ainsi que la durabilité du nouvel édifice.