The Farm

Our farm is a 114‑acre feudal lot, that is to say, long and skinny. It is about half forested in mixed cedar and hardwood stands. The remaining land is pasture, divided into small fields by tree lines and windbreaks.

Our animals graze these luxuriant fields on a rotational basis, allowing the pasture to fully recover before they return. Deer, groundhogs, wild turkeys and raccoons are abound as well, but unfortunately they sometimes prefer our veggies to the surrounding pastures.

We currently cultivate approximately 5 acres of vegetables each season, which allows for long rotations to replenish the land between productive seasons. Our soil is a clay‑loam, which makes drainage one of our biggest challenges. Although it is still rocky, the boulders that line our fields indicate that many farmers have done a lot of work over the past centuries.

Our beautiful pond provides for our swimming and irrigation needs, and is also a home for frogs, herons and even a family of beavers!

Our Team

This year, our team is composed of 6 cooperative members and 4 employees (including two jobs subsidized by Emploi-Québec and one student summer job partially funded by the federal government).

Read the bios of the 6 members of the cooperative to learn a bit more about our current team! →

Jenna Jacobs

Jenna is one of the founding members of the farm and has been full-time ever since. Her role on the farm is ever evolving and she has participated in almost every aspect of the farm. She is most comfortable sitting on the tractor massaging the soil this way or that creating a beautiful vegetable garden.

Jenna came to Quebec in 2008 to do a PhD in forest ecology at UQAM. Near the end of her degree she joined a group of friends to start a cooperative farm while she finished her PhD. She was a good fit on the farm and decided to stay and grow a family on the farm.

Eby Heller

Eby Heller

Eby is another founding member of the farm. Eby has worked part-time for the farm for years and now is full-time! They love taking care of the seedlings and packing up veggies at the wash station. They do deliveries in Lachute and Montreal.

Eby completed a B.Sc. in Agriculture and Environment at the MacDonald Campus of McGill University and a M.Sc. in Geography at the downtown McGill campus. Eby worked for over ten years with the Canadian Association of Midwives.  Eby loves cross-country skiing, horses, swimming, and occasionally makes an appearance in drag, as Ryan Vetch.

El Horner

El has worked with the farm since 2018, participating in nearly all tasks at one point or another.  As coop member and current field team manager she spends her days supervising, teaching, and learning from the team in the fields, doing everything from planting seedlings to weeding to harvesting.

El has worked with various farms and community gardens in Vermont and the Maritimes and studied Fine Arts at Mount Allison University. She loves growing food for loved ones and sharing plant care knowledge. One of El’s favourite jobs is the fragrant task of harvesting herbs, particularly dill. When she’s not farming El makes art and poetry zines, creates silly dance moves, and cuddles dogs.

Laure Viens

Laure worked at the farm in 2020, was charmed, and kept coming back to grow vegetables. She makes sure everybody (especially the plants) have enough water, supervizes the growth of the microgreens and sows everything that is not transplanted, among other things.

Laure has a B.Sc. in ecology from the Université de Sherbrooke, which gave her a solid birdwatching habit. She also makes hats and plushes out of animal hides, and bikes and cooks a fair bit.

Mystère Wathieu

Mystère has been working on the farm since spring 2021. This year, Mystère joins the work cooperative and is excited to participate in the growth of the farm. They will be responsible for social networks, flame weeding, maintenance of the cherry tomato greenhouse, as well as the management of the washing station with Eby and Caro!

Mystère has studied art history at Concordia University (2015-2019), herbalism at City Farm School (2018, 2019) and permaculture at P3 Permaculture (2019).

In the fields and on the radio, we call them “Fire Nettle!,” because they love nettle and fire.

Justine Spits

Bio to come