DARIUS SHAHHEYDARI
QUYON June 17, 2020
The Community and Collective Garden at the Quyon Women’s Institute is now open to the public again, following measures set in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Silviana Geoffray, director at Pontiac Community Gym which helps put together the garden, said the Quyon Family Centre decided to . . .
bring back the community garden to provide a safe place for people of all ages to gather during this pandemic.
“We started in mid-April trying to get it going and now the garden’s up and going,” said Geoffray.
She contacted Elza Sylvestre, the recreation and community life director at the Municipality of Pontiac to see whether they could have access to both the building and the garden at The Quyon Women’s Institute, since having access to washroom facilities is crucial, according to Geoffray.
“The director was very supportive and she actually even lent us trucks from the municipality to help us bring compost that we bought from Mountainview [Turf],” said Geoffray.
Mountainview Turf is a sod supplier in Quyon that also lent them a tractor so they can spread the compost.
“Then I asked for farmers to help out and they donated compost,” said Geoffray. “Everyone’s kind of really helped out.”
Onslow Elementary School had plants donated to them by the Quyon Family Centre and Sainte Marie school – who has their own garden but cannot water it in the summer – was given their own portion of the community garden.
She also mentioned that the Quyon Women’s Institute was asked if they could provide storage for the workshop tools.
The garden also has its new health safety measures.
“We took the guidelines from Santé Publique and the idea is to minimize the people at the garden, to keep the physical distance,” said Geoffray.
Disinfecting spray is provided beside the gardening tools and encouraged to be used by the gardeners.
“We definitely encourage people to bring their own tools,” said Geoffray.
The Quyon Family Centre asked for a financial contribution from MNA André Fortin a couple of months ago.
“It seems like a very worthwhile initiative, like most things undertaken by the [Quyon Family Centre],” said Fortin about the garden. “We were happy to support it with our discretionary funds that we have at our disposal to help community groups.”
The community garden has been established since 2015, with Geoffray becoming the director in September.
When the schools in the area, Sainte Marie and Onslow, have their students come in to visit, the centre ensures there are not that many people there. Regardless, it has not been that busy, according to Geoffray.
“Eventually, when it gets busier, we are going to need a schedule,” said Geoffray. ‘But the garden is big enough.”
Vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and squash are grown in the garden. Geoffray also said she tries to diversify further with each plant.
“When I bought the tomato plants, I bought like five different species,” she said. “The idea was to show kids the variety of vegetables.”
A couple of weeks ago, the centre had an activity for the children where they would need to determine where each vegetable grows and its colours.
Geoffray said the garden is educational in that it teaches kids math as well as biology, as in where to grow a plant, for example.
“It brings us together in a way where we are working towards a common goal, which is food security and learning how to garden,” said Geoffray. “Everyone has been very enthusiastic and happy about the garden. It’s a place where people pass by and they can check how the vegetables are growing.”
